1970 K10 Driver

[03ZO6]

This is my first post.

I've owned a 1970 swb K10 with granny low 4 speed, 350, and all the accompanying road rash for almost 20 years now, and would like to rebuild it in a way that I could use it as a daily driver again.

The plan includes (eventually) an E-Rod in front of an NV4500.

The question is, how do I get the old beast to stop when I need it to?

It still has the original drum set-up front and rear, and that's not going to safely accomplish what I need it to do.

And, to at least somewhat complicate things, I'd like, if I could, to keep the original axles with the 308 gears under it.

I'd keep it stock height.

So, is there a VERY good, safe, reliable disc brake conversion already engineered for this, or will I have to resort to going to newer axles with discs already on them?

As is, the truck handles well, tracks straight and has been driven on the interstate highway system quite comfortably. It should be a fantastically fun vehicle to own and drive if I can get this done correctly.

Thanks!!

[Bigdav160]

Just my opinion, properly done drum brakes stop just as well as the disc setup on the square body trucks.

To answer your question, I am not sure there's any easy way to add disc brakes to your truck without changing axles.

[03ZO6]

Yep, I'm not a huge fan of stock square body disc setups, at all, which is why I've left this as a standard set-up so far.

The underlying question here is, "Why even make a daily driver out of it?" The answer to that is that I'm liking this body style far better than anything newer.

And, nothing has ever looked better to me than the 69/70 blue bowties.

[03ZO6]

General Motors first used the open knuckle Dana 44 front axle in the 1969 Chevy Blazer (The GMC Jimmy was not released until 1970).

According to the GM Parts Books, Chevy and GMC 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton Suburbans and pickups kept the closed knuckle Dana 44 through the 1969 model year although there may be some late production 1969 vehicles with the open knuckle 44.

The open knuckle GM Dana 44 axle has tighter turning radius compared to the previous closed knuckle axle.

This from a sales brochure for upgrading the disc units on an axle swap to a later set of axles...

If I'm reading it correctly, I'm betting I have the open knuckle set up. This thing steers quickly and turns on a dime. Not quite how they're describing the closed knuckle unit. Gotta confess, the truck isn't new to me at all, but it's the only unit I've ever gotten this close to, even with an imaginary wrench.

So, if this is the open knuckle axle, does that make converting the existing axle feasible at all?