10 inch backing plates

[barbee6043]

I have several early A bodies projects, I will call them, as none are exactly finished!!! working on a 66 belvedere I drug home. its a slant car but I will eventually change it over to a big block. it has 10 in drums, I want to get it on the road and drive it to work when I go back to my piddly part time old fart job in the spring!!

question is, I will rebuild the 10 in brakes, but I will later change the k frame and add discs to the bel. BUT, can't I use the 10 in drums stuff ( backing plates out) on one of my early A cars that is a slant with 9 in drums???? 10 in brakes for it will be a step up for now.... thanks

 

[Killer6]

The short answer is no, you need a knuckle designed for 10" drum brakes. The
more complicated part is would you be able to use your belvedere knuckles w/the
'73 and up upper arm/large balljoint. NAPA list's the same lower and upper ball-
joints for your B and the '73& up A w/discs, but I'm not sure about the knuckles
heights/angles being OK. The width of the 10" A vs B shoes also will factor in.
Early A's had I believe 10X1.75, not sure about the '66 B width, but later were all
10X2.5 . Later A's '73 and up also went to that size. Unfortunately my old catalog
isn't quite old enuff.

 

[barbee6043]

when searching Classic Ind. catalogue, I noticed this: out wheel bearings same early A to B front. the brakes shoes are 2 1/4 in on the A and 2 1/2 on the B, the wheel cyl. are identical.

 

[kesteb]

The same rules apply for using the B body drum brakes as using the '73 and up A body disk brakes. Since the drums offer a minimual brake increase, nobody bothers with this particular change over.

 

[barbee6043]

admit I never had any qualms about driving my big block b bodies with drum brakes, but then I also live way out in the country. and yes some an 11 in drums too.

I will eventually do the FMJ swap on the belvedere. I have 10 in drums on my 65 273 cuda, to me stops way better than the other A cars with 9 in drum and slants!????? would be nice to still find 73-6 a body disc setup for swaps but pretty much gone like the 8 3/4.

the aluminum hub swap thing (scarebird) scares me. me lawn mover has aluminjm spindles on it, the first went South with 25 hours! that's a lot MSD!!!!!

maybe there is a reason they call it "scarebird" !!??????????????

 

[Killer6]

While I don't agree the improvement is "minimal", I certainly wouldn't go out
buying parts just to make it happen either. Since you have both setups in your
possession, you might want to go out w/the tape measure and check the knuckles
to see,if they are not compatible then you have nothing.
A member was selling 10" A knuckles awhile back, but as some disc conversions
are using them,that's where I would go if I would bother to buy them. Also,the B-
drums are 4.5"BP so...,were you planning on changing bolt patterns as well?
Again,even if you could use the knuckle-LBJ-drum-brakes, you would have to get
'73 and up upper arms to use them. Which means buying parts to get it done.

 

[barbee6043]

anyone have real world driving experience with the "tapered bushing" used to allow the usage of the "big" upper ball joint in the upper A arms of pre 73 A bodies, sold by Dr, Diff and etc?????