Wheel spacers to run drum wheels w/ disc?

[yossarian19]

Has anyone done this with success? I'm running the POL kit, much to my dismay. I tried a little grinding on the caliper, tried about 3/4" of washers (as many as I could get on the stud) and never did quite get the original '57 drum wheels to fit.
Considered buying Wheel Vintiques 12 Series, considered finding used that'd work.
How about a 1.25" spacer? Anyone gotten drum wheels to work w/ disc this way?

[G&R's57GMC]

Spacers not such a good idea, creates a lot of stress on the studs.

Go with a new set of wheels that are made to clear the disc brakes.

Remember these old trucks are lug centric (wheel is centered by the lug nuts and studs)
unlike todays trucks and cars that are hub centric.

[mr48chev]

I dug up the info on that kit and read the bottom line in the description.
**************************************************************************************************** ************************
This kit for 1949-59 Chevy and GMC trucks is a great way to upgrade your straight axle to disc brakes and keep the original 6 x 5.5" bolt pattern.

Great for the enthusiast who wants the added safety but Classic look!

Kit uses existing vehicle's hubs.

Includes:
• 12" Rotors
• Calipers w/brake pads
• Dust Caps
• Spindle Nuts
• Rubber Brake Hoses
• Mounting Brackets
• All necessary hardware
• Limited Lifetime Warranty

Will not work with factory 15" drum brake wheels. These wheels can be modified to fit. Contact us for details.
**************************************************************************************************** *******************************
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^
Have you contacted them to see what wheel modifications need to be made?

I think you will be far ahead to just find some disk brake steel wheels that will fit and clear the calipers but you may have to go to 16 inch wheels. I'd find some later model six lug disk brake steelies if it were me and try one on the front end to see if it will fit.

[yossarian19]

Yeah, POL says "You can send them to xxx, and they'll modify them for $100 apiece"... which is obviously not going to happen.
I called POL and they said "Oh, yeah, spacers. That should work just fine"
At $70 for a pair of spacers or $70 per wheel for wheels that won't quite clear my power steering, I'm going with spacers. I'll get custom wheels with 3" back space some day, maybe, but for now... I want to get this thing rolling on the cheap.

[Gator Alum]

I am in the process of installing the POL kit. I managed to make it work with two of the POL spacers per wheel and some grinding the the caliper. Instead of buying more POL spacers, I just purchased some 1/4" ones off amazon. The 1/4" are slightly thicker than the 3/16" ones provided by POL. I hopefully won't have any issues. I'm on my way to install them today!
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[yossarian19]

Yeah, I found 3/4" worth of spacer + some grinding would do it. I opted for 1.25" wheel adapters to avoid trimming studs & to get full thread engagement on the lug studs.
Incidentally, how did your stuff fit Gator? My kit didn't fit worth a damn...

[Gator Alum]

The 1/4" spacer + the one provided for POL + a little grinding did the trick for me.

Yossarian19- What exactly didn't fit with your kit? The fit on mine was ok. The only issue I ran into was the MC bracket being a little off where the brake pedal attaches. Other than that I was fine.

[yossarian19]

On mine the caliper slide bolts wouldn't line up with the brake pads in place; the inner pads wedged between the brackets & rotor. This was using the POL roller bearings too. I had to clearance the bracket a bit with the die grinder to get everything to fit - even then, I think the rotors may be over spec for thickness, or the pads are, because though everything lines up and there is no more bracket interference there is drag on the rotor as I turn it. All I can think is "bunk parts"

[Gator Alum]

Now that you bring it up, I actually went to AutoZone to buy different pads as the pads would not slide over the rotor at all. The AZ pads were .1 thinner so they slid on without a problem.
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