Disk Brake Conversion Advice

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longarm

longarm

Car sold back to original owners
Joined
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Will the disk brake parts from a 1979 Dodge Aspen
fit on my 70 Dart Swinger, and what parts do
I need from it to make it work.
I have an oppertunity to buy the parts tommorrow morning.
 
Yes, they bolt on but you most likely will need a custom brake hose to make it work correctly. The swap can be done several different ways depending on the type of anti-sway bar that you have on the car.
 
Need a bbj upper control arm set up too or Dr Diff sleeves for your current sbj arms
 
Spindles, backing plates, calipers, caliper brackets, rotors if they are useable, dist/prop valve and master with lines inbetween and I'd get the rubber brake lines too for matching up the fittings on the new lines.
Nothing else will fit so dont bother with the UCA's, LCA's or steering arms.
 
With FMJ stuff, you need to get 73-76 A body lower ball joints.
 
crackedback said:
With FMJ stuff, you need to get 73-76 A body lower ball joints.
Click to expand...

Agreed plus Grade 8, 5/8"-18tpi (fine) 2.5" length bolts and nuts to hold the Abody lower ball joints onto the spindles as the lower ball joint 'arm' on 73-74B, F, J, M and R body's are threaded on unlike the A body arm/ball joint assemblies.
 
..master cyl piston size very critical.
.anything bigger than 1" starts to increase the leg required.

.
 
Heres some pix anyway....
 

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Thank you for the pics.
So looks like I still need the lower ball joints
and upper control arms.
Any disks available with 4" sbp so I can use
the wheels I have.
 
Yes you can get the original Kelsey Hayes disc setups. Four piston calipers, pretty nice but seems to be a little harder to find, and a little more of a pain (most calipers are nasty, so you're looking at about $100/ea for a rebuilt one or trying to find parts and doing the cleanup and rebuild yourself).
 
longarm said:
Thank you for the pics.
So looks like I still need the lower ball joints
and upper control arms.
Any disks available with 4" sbp so I can use
the wheels I have.
Click to expand...

This is one of the damned if you do and damned if you don't situations. Unless you can find a donor car laying around that you can out your hands on cheap you are going to fork out some money.

The Kelsey Hayes lower ball joints have larger mounting holes for the spindle so you either replace them or drill them out to fit.

Like crackedback said you can buy sleeves and the proper hardware so you can use your existing UCAs from Dr. Diff for $50.00 a set plus the ride.
 
MemphisDart said:
What did you use to remove those original bolts from the knuckle arm?
Click to expand...

I'm guessing a ratchet and socket. :D

They just thread in, although they can get pretty crusty. A little kroil or WD40 should help with that.

If they're off the car you'll probably have to clamp the F/M/J ball joint in a vice to get enough leverage. Air ratchet would be best, but a breaker bar will do too. I've pulled a few sets at the wrecking yard with a cheap ratchet and a BFH, cheap ratchet so you don't worry about stripping the gear mechanism.

And, it looks like the Grade 8 hardware fits just fine...
 
I actually had a bit of a hard time removing them as the spindle assemblies were no longer on the car. I ended up bolting them down to my engine hoist then used a 1/2 inch drive breaker bar with impact socket. (my impact wasnt strong enough to break em loose)
 
Re your question of front disks w/ SBP wheels, there are two options I know of. The original 4-piston Kelsey-Hayes setup and the Scarebird conversions (9" or 10" drum versions, Chevy & Toyota parts and drill rotors). The K-H parts are getting rare and expensive, though almost the same was used on Mustangs. Simplest is to buy a whole refurb set which a guy near me rebuilds on the side and posts here occasionally, but ~$750. You would spend almost that much to piece together a system yourself, and a lot more work. The disks used to be ~$90 ea, but now $25 from Centric. I bought 2 for a custom plan. Wilwood and SSB have kits (~$1000), but check if they still allow SBP. For all front disks your existing wheels may not work unless 14" or even 15", depending on the exact wheel.
 
72bluNblu said:
I'm guessing a ratchet and socket. :D

They just thread in, although they can get pretty crusty. A little kroil or WD40 should help with that.

If they're off the car you'll probably have to clamp the F/M/J ball joint in a vice to get enough leverage. Air ratchet would be best, but a breaker bar will do too. I've pulled a few sets at the wrecking yard with a cheap ratchet and a BFH, cheap ratchet so you don't worry about stripping the gear mechanism.

And, it looks like the Grade 8 hardware fits just fine...
Click to expand...


yeah i'm using the ratchet and socket, but its killing my patience...gonna use my neighbors vice today
 
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