disc brakes on a duster

[THE STEVE]

i have a 72 duster, and it still has the small pattern drums up front.

i have a complete front disc brake setup for a 76 aspen rt including lower control arms.

will this setup work on my duster?

thanks

 

[swing69]

your duster LCAs are fine. The prop. valve, rotors, calipers work. You need 73+ A body UCAs. Aspen is a F body.

 

[THE STEVE]

ok, so i need to get upper control arms off of a 73and up duster with disc brakes?

a guy told me that the f body setup would all work, but who knows if he was right. thanks for the info

 

[4404spd]

Your gonna need the a body spindles also, the upper ball joint is bigger.

 

[THE STEVE]

ok, so to get this straight, i need Abody spindles and UCAs because the ball joint is bigger?

so my 72 Abody UCAs will not work with the Fbody spindles, correct?

sorry for any dumb questions, havent done much with mopar suspension. thanks guys.

 

[THE STEVE]

ive been reading up. ive heard both sides. some say that fbody disc brakes can work on my duster ond others say that itll mess up the steering. ahould i just buy a new kit? the fbody stuff was free to me.

 

[swing69]

There are 2 slider type spindles really: A body (shorter), and B/E/F/J/M (taller). some say the taller can result in bump steer, some say its improved. I've used them both on Abodies....not a difference that I can tell. IMHO; use either / or.

The 72 and earlier drum / disk cars had the small upper ball joint (smaller hole in the UCA). 73 and later disk cars (slider type calipers) got the large ball joint UCAs. SOME 73 and later DRUM cars, still used small bolt pattern and small upper ball joints (small hole UCA).

Both spindle types fit the large ball joint. LCAs were interchangeable from 63-76 - the only difference is the sway bar positioning.

63-66 are narrower, thats why you can't use 67+ sway bars on the "early As"

Aspen UCAs will NOT fit an A body. Neither will the LCA - F/J/Ms use a transverse torsion bar, 90 deg. rotated from the A bodies.

 

[THE STEVE]

thanks for the info. ill start locating 73+ abody UCAs.

 

[dustoff440]

I know where there is a 73 small bolt pattern with the 73 up larger ball joint/ spindles with the single piston caliper that swing69 spoke of if anyone is interested. Not trying to hijack the thread. It will allow sbp wheels with the advantage of 73 and up single piston caliper and larger ball joints on a 65-72 car. If I hadnt already done my KH 4 pistons I would be all over this as it is cheaper to build and easier to find parts for.

 

[THE STEVE]

last question. do the 73 and up UCAs have to be off of a disc brake car? or can they be off of a drum brake car?

again, sorry for all the dumb questions. i just want to know exactly what i need before i do the swap.

 

[crackedback]

Any 73-76 UCA should work. They all should be large ball joint.

The F body spindles you have will work fine.

 

[mtandrews]

Any 73-76 UCA should work. They all should be large ball joint. The F body spindles you have will work fine.

yup, I've used them a couple of times now (since I've been hanging here!) with great results. Read Crackedback's signature and that tells you the story...

 

[THE STEVE]

yup, I've used them a couple of times now (since I've been hanging here!) with great results. Read Crackedback's signature and that tells you the story...

i went to read it and all i saw was boobies. but thanks for the info guys.

 

[swing69]

MAKE SURE YOU CHECK THE BJ SIZE ON THE 73+ UCAs.

There ARE some small ball joint, drum brake 73+ cars out there. Chrysler was using up stock 73 into 74!!!! You want 73+ up DISK brake UCAs. 72-74 B/E and 76-80(?)FJM spindles are 1/2" taller and I've used them plenty.

CRackedback////you have a signature? I can't get past the vid!

BTW: let me check tomorrow. I think I have a spare set of UCAs with new busings and new"er BJs, blasted and painted, ready to install..... I'll post a pick tomorrow.

 

[THE STEVE]

ok awesome! thanks.

if you have a spare set i might want to purchase them off you

 

[swing69]

no parts for sale now. everything is on hold.
I'll relist parts in the classified in a few weeks....

 

[THE STEVE]

ok, i got my f body spindles, and my 73 and up uca`s. i went to put them on and i realized that the lower ball joint is different from the 72 duster drum to the f body spindle. the bracket that holds the ball joint on the 72 drum setup wont bolt on to the f body spindle. its too small. what do i do?

thanks

 

[green1]

Get the bigger ball joint, and new bolts.

 

[mtandrews]

Get the bigger ball joint, and new bolts.

yup. I got my bolts from a M-Body (5th Ave) but I don't see why any F,M,J car bolts wouldn't work.

 

[THE STEVE]

ok, i got 73 duster disc lower ball joints. they look like they should work. is this correct? thanks guys for the info.

 

[mtandrews]

should be good to go. your stock bolts that came with the drum setup that bolts the lower ball joint to the spindle are going to be too short. Use the bolts off of the disc donor car.

 

[THE STEVE]

well the lower ball joint bracket fits. the only problem is that neither the spindle or the bracket have threads in them for the bolts. im thinking get longer bolts and some nuts?

the fbody spindles i got the bracket bolts threaded into the bracket. the 73 duster disc brackets have no threads in them.

this is pissing me off. im half tempted to saying screw it and mount skis to the front of my duster and have a stupid fast snowmobile

 

[mtandrews]

like I said I got my bolts off of a M-body and they fit perfect...

 

[THE STEVE]

my bolts fit perfectly. but theres no threads in the bracket nor the spindle.

 

[mtandrews]

there are no threads in mine neither, nut and bolt... from a M-Body...