disc brake conversion question

[Jvsapp]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

Yes, it will work.

TXfiregfighter, thanks again. this will make it much easier to do. looking forward to doing it now

[my67chevytruck]

Originally Posted by chev-obsession

i apperciate all of the help, but i know this guy that did one before and he said that was the biggest pain in the a$$ to get that cross member in and out. he said that the frame tweaked when the crossmember was out, have you guys had any trouble with that? also if i were to go the other way... would i only need the brake booster, rotors, calipers, tie rods, spindles and proportioning valve, or do i need the a-arms too?

We didnt have issues with the frame tweaking at all, but there was not a drivetrain in our parts trucks or the 67. we had several jackstands for support. we removed the brakelines first, then removed the tierod from the power steering pump, we then removed all 14 bolts. at this point we used a floor jack with a 4x4 under the frame to lift the frame up enough to roll the crossmember out. I have serveral pics in our 67 buildframe. we chose to do the '72 front xmember and rearend swap, so my son and i would know that the complete suspension is for a '72 (tierods, bushings, etc.) I was skeptical at first but now that i have done it , i would do it again.

good luck with your swap.

[chev-obsession]

Today i went and got just about everything, except for some of the mounts for the brake booster, and the spindles. i would of had gotten the spindles too but i couldnt seem to get them off. do you have to take the springs off to get the spindles out? i put the jack underneath the top a-arm and jacked it up a little bit and the ball joint didnt come loose from the spindle. how am i supposed to get them off? and btw i decided not to take the whole crossmember out since i didnt want to pull the motor and such.

[my67chevytruck]

Originally Posted by chev-obsession

Today i went and got just about everything, except for some of the mounts for the brake booster, and the spindles. i would of had gotten the spindles too but i couldnt seem to get them off. do you have to take the springs off to get the spindles out? i put the jack underneath the top a-arm and jacked it up a little bit and the ball joint didnt come loose from the spindle. how am i supposed to get them off? and btw i decided not to take the whole crossmember out since i didnt want to pull the motor and such.

support the fram with jackstand, and place floorjack under lower control arm. jack it up until its very close to the LCA but not touching. loosen the lower and upper ball joint nut but do not remove the nut all the way. get a hammer and hit the spindle , this should unseat the upper/lower ball joint enough to allow for removal. it is a good idea to chain or strap the sping to the upper control arm/frame for safety purposes. as you lower the jack slowly, the spring will decompress and eventually fall out allowing removal of the spring. I had to ligtly tap on a pickle fork to remove the upper ball joint from the spindle. this would be a good time to get the upper and lower control arms if needed .

Good Luck!!

[my67chevytruck]

Heres some reading for you:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...oving+spindles

[liljimsrodragz]

Have some spare 71 front disc brake parts for sale. PM if you need anything.

Thanks, James

[chev-obsession]

Originally Posted by my67chevytruck

support the fram with jackstand, and place floorjack under lower control arm. jack it up until its very close to the LCA but not touching. loosen the lower and upper ball joint nut but do not remove the nut all the way. get a hammer and hit the spindle , this should unseat the upper/lower ball joint enough to allow for removal. it is a good idea to chain or strap the sping to the upper control arm/frame for safety purposes. as you lower the jack slowly, the spring will decompress and eventually fall out allowing removal of the spring. I had to ligtly tap on a pickle fork to remove the upper ball joint from the spindle. this would be a good time to get the upper and lower control arms if needed .

Good Luck!!

ok thanks for the advice. your saying that i sould strap the coil spring to something so that it doesnt fly off and hit me? and i dont understand where and how i am supposed to hit the spindle. should i just cut around the ball joints on the a-arms with a torch? i dont want to cut anything if i dont want to. and i was'nt clear on how to jack up the control arm. do you have any pictures?

[70 Suburban]

Put a jack stand or jack under the lower control arm... Leave aobut an inch for the arm to drop. There will be a flat spot on eather side of the spindle thats where you hit it with a bfh (big f***in hammer) the shock from the hammer hits should drop it off

[Jvsapp]

if it's only a parts truck and you are planning to not use the springs, you could heat them with the torch to relieve the tension, and then use a pickle fork to break loose the ball joints.

but if you followed the link my67chevytruck posted, there is a video on there that shows exactly what you need to do. the first whack with the hammer releaded the top ball joint. the 6th whack to the bottom one released it. the trick is to keep the castle nuts on a few threads, not snugged all the way down. you need some play for the tension from the spring to unseat the ball joint when you hit it with the hammer to release the friction bond. make sure you keep the floor jack under the arm, not touching it but very close. you need some play for the arms to move down. the floor jack is there mainly to keep the spring from shooting the lower arm down. it's more for your saftey, then once the ball joints are loose, you can use the floor jack to slowly lower the lower arm safely.

follow the link and it shows the best method. also good reading there

[chev-obsession]

oooookkkkkk........ i get it now! i was at school and our school blocks all homemade video websites such as you tube and photo bucket. (i dont know why, but they do) ok, that makes a lot of sense now! Thanks for the help!! i really appereciate it! i will give it a try!

[chev-obsession]

ok i got the spindles off, the tops only took 2 or 3 hits and the bottoms took about 10 hits, nothing broke so i assume that they are fine. the car has sat for who knows how long, so should i get new calipers too? because obviously i am going to get new pads, rotors, tie rods, seals and bearings... i took some pics of the spindles, they still have the rotors and calipers on them.

[Jvsapp]

calipers look pretty new, how's the rubber around the piston? that would be my deciding factor. if they are frozen, then i would be replacing them. how did the fluid look when you removed the lines? clear or slightly yellow would mean there was little to no moisture in the fluid. brown would indicate rust and moisture in the fluid and i would be replacing the calipers.

a little more money for peace of mind knowing your brakes will work properly.

been a while since i seen slotted rotors like that... last one i seen was on a nova subframe i got.

[chev-obsession]

well i didn't take anything off yet, but i plan to pretty soon. we cleaned the calipers and spindles up a little. i thought that those rotors had that slot to indicate that when they go bad, then there wont be a slot? and i dont know if the brake booster off of that suburban will work it sticks way out there and i thought that the ones for our trucks bolt right up against the cab?

[Tx Firefighter]

Your rotors are fine. The early rotors had that groove in them from the factory.

As far as calipers, I always change them. They run under 40 bucks a pair for rebuilt ones from your local parts house.

As far as the booster, the original boosters for these trucks stick way out of the firewall. Way out.

Some guys use the 73-87 boosters and master cylinders on these trucks, but there are some modifications needed. I do believe there are threads here on the board already that detail the mods needed to do this.

[my67chevytruck]

my rotors are slotted like that, they are off of a '72 c10. i would get the booster and MC, and any brakelines you can get. you will need the proportioning valve to work with the disk/drum rear. you are going from manual drum brakes to power disk brakes so the difference is the booster if i am thinking correctly.

[chev-obsession]

yeah i got the master cylinder and brake booster, spindles with everything on them, power steering box, power steering pump, drag link, tie rods - the whole works and proportioning valve, but i forgot to get the steel brake lines, i will have to go back for them. would it be allright to use the old tie rods? i was just going to buy new ones anyways. and i wasn't sure if that was a suburban thing or not (if the brake booster/mc was supposed to stick way out there).

[chev-obsession]

my67chevy my brake booster/ master cylinder looks about the same as the one in the picture where it is on the truck and doesnt appear to be leaking any where and held fluid, should i use it? and would it be safe to sand blast? and if not what is the best way to clean it up in order to paint?

[my67chevytruck]

Originally Posted by chev-obsession

my67chevy my brake booster/ master cylinder looks about the same as the one in the picture where it is on the truck and doesnt appear to be leaking any where and held fluid, should i use it? and would it be safe to sand blast? and if not what is the best way to clean it up in order to paint?

if you are going to run it as is, i would atleast drain and put fresh brake fluid in it. i dont know about sandblasting it, it could be done with caution i guess. i plan on sanding ours down the old fashioned way using sandpaper and elbow grease, then cleaning with a wax/grease remover, then painting it.

good luck...

[70 Suburban]

i dont see why glass bead would hurt just tape up the inlet and outlet. i would never waste the time to sand it

[70 Suburban]

as far as paint. thats kind of a waste also. brake fluid is one of the few things that you can never realy get out of metal. it would look good for a little while but the paint will peel

[chev-obsession]

i forgot about the brake fluid eating away paint... good idea! i went to the parts store today to get a price quote for all of the things that i thought that i might need and it came out to $1,300, the guy said that "that was for the best of the best" but i think i can do with out some of the things. So my question is what all should i replace? i think that the rotors can be turned. what does something like this usually cost you guys?

[Tx Firefighter]

Clean and reuse the rotors unless there is damage we can't see in the pictures. Don't even turn them. I sand them with a DA sander and 80 grit paper to remove the rust and glaze. You'd be suprised how few of these rotors warp on these trucks. As long as there aren't grooves worn into them, don't sweat it.

Clean and reuse the wheel bearings unless they are bad.

New pads, calipers, grease seals and the brakes are good.

four ball joints if needed.

Control arm bushings if they are really worn. You'd be suprised where a little wiggle in the old control arm bushings never hurts a thing.

Tie rod ends as needed only.

Clean and regrease everything that doesn't give you reason to change it.

I think you'll come in way, way, way under that 1200 dollars.

[my67chevytruck]

Good advice TX..

[chev-obsession]

ok, so i was just gettind excited about geting new parts lol. you really dont think i shouldn't turn them if there isn't more damage??? i think that the calipers are ok, he price quoted them for $70 each. he also said that on his computer that there was a difference between light duty and heavy duty brakes how can i tell what i have? also, i need the 1971 ball joints, right??? and i figured i would get some shocks for it too.. and the control arm bushings, they are the rubber pieces right? i guess not since on the paper they are priced well over $100. i am not trying to cheap out and save money because i know that the brakes are the most impornant part of the truck. i have never done this before and all the advice i get from you guys is extrmely helpfull!!

[John H.]

You will not need the control arms if you plan on changing your ball joints. They are different sizes.

It would be best to swap the cradles out. If you notice, the drum brake hard lines mount on the back of the cradle where the rubber lines attach. The disc brake hard lines go on the front of the cradle and have the mounts welded on there. I have cut the drum mounting tabs off the frame and bent them to make a mounting spot and drilled holes on the front to hold the new hardlines to the cradle. Looks factory with the exeption of a small bolt holding them to the frame.

Order a set of new brakelines from "The Right Stuff Detailing" out of Columbus, Ohio for the 71-72 system. They are totaly different from the drum setup. I can send you pictures of the factory mounting spots from a 19K original mileage truck I used as an example for mine.

I took my cradle off when I had my frame and cradle powdercoated. It was easy putting them back, but the frame was bare.

Take the calipers whether you are using them or not. You will need cores for rebuilt ones.