Front Disc Conversion

[1949d100]

Hey guys,

I have been looking at a few forums and Rustyhope.com comes up fairly often for the front disk conversion. Have any of you guys used them? If so what did the donar parts come from? if not what did you use for the conversion?

-James

[PatS....]

I have Charlies kit for my 49 Chrysler. Simple and inexpensive.

Highly recommended.

[1949d100]

What did the Rotors and calipers come off of?

[Merle Coggins]

I've got one of his kits and recently I was searching for the best price on the needed parts. He will provide you with a list of part numbers for Napa or Advance Auto. The numbers cross to several different models, but this is what I put together to make it a bit simpler to look up.

Rotors - '85 Dodge Diplomat

Outer Wheel Bearings - '85 Dodge Diplomat

Grease Cap - '85 Dodge Diplomat

Wheel Seals - '85 Ford F150

Calipers and Pads - '85 Buick LaSabre

Inner Wheel Bearing - '85 Buick LaSabre

Brake hose Banjo bolt - '85 Buick LaSabre

Brake Hoses - '85 Buick Riviera (2 left fronts)

From using online parts catalogs I found the best prices at O'Reilly. Based on their online catalogs the total parts costs from the 4 major stores near me would be;

Napa - $286.83

Auto Zone - $245.14

Advance Auto - $236.83

O'Reilly - $134.69

Merle

[Olddaddy]

I am impressed with the parts info you came up with, nice work. I've always just gone with the numbers as my local NAPA guy knows them by heart. The rotors are from anything like a 73 Dart/Valiant etc up throught the Volare/Aspen cars. Calipers are similar, fitting various GM vehicles. The one difference is the truck and car kits use a different caliper, so use the info in the kit to make sure you get what you need. I've got the kits at $200 including shipping to lower 48 addresses. Let me know if I can make one up for you. Charlie.

[Merle Coggins]

I was bored one day, Charlie. I also found that you have a typo on your parts list. For the calipers you have Napa #'s 242-2048/2029. 242-2029 is correct, but 242-2048 is something completely different. It should read 242-2028. I was able to confirm this by crossing the Advance #'s.

Then while I was back tracking everything to see what all they fit, I noticed that 1985 was a common year for many of the vehicles that the parts fit. I probably could have chosen another year, but that happens to be the year I graduated from High School, so I went with it and put together my list.

As you said, most of these parts fit multiple vehicles. The rotors, for example, fits Cordoba's, Fifth Ave's, Imperials, LeBaron's, New Yorker's, Town & Country's, Aspen's, Challenger's, Charger's, Dart's, Diplomat's, Cuda's, Duster's, Fury's, Roadrunner's, Volare's, etc, from the early 70's thru the late 80's. The only thing that seemed to only fit one vehicle was the brake hoses.

Merle

[Dennis_MN]

I will bring my floor jack along to Mopars in the Park which will make it convenient to take a wheel off either my truck or Dan's from Rochester. We both have kits on from Rusty Hope. I had my adapters Powder Coated in Black but you never see them normally.

Mopars in the Park, is now the Midwest Pilothouse Weekend BBQ

Dennis

[DanOlson]

The disk brake conversion is by far the #1 upgrade I made on my 53.

[Olddaddy]

My current updated parts list:

1. Calipers GM Advance #184020/21, Napa #242-2028/29

2. Pads Advance #MKD52 Napa TS728AM

3. Rotors Advance #YH141145 Napa 4885566

4. Caliper bolts Napa #82205

5. Inner wheel brgs Napa #BR6

6. Outer wheel brgs Napa #BR2

7. Seals Napa #19743

8. Grease caps Napa 730-2436

9. Wheel nuts Napa 641-2024

10. Cotter pins Napa 8080-4788

11. Brake hose Napa 36959

12. Banjo bolts Napa 82703

13. Spindle nuts (optional) Napa 630-1521 B

Thanks for the heads up on the caliper typo!

[villageidiot]

Love the list. Thanks Merle and Charlie. Been thinking about the conversion and to have that info up front just rocks.

Rob

[KJ's Dodge]

Would this upgrade work for one of the big trucks? I know I am going to have to tackle the brakes on my B1-RA 172 which is a 2.5 ton.

For those of you who have completed this upgrade, how many hours does this project take approximately? May get to this this summer.

Thanks,

KJ

[Olddaddy]

My fits 1/2 and 3/4 ton trucks, and can be made to fit 1 ton, but not 2.5 tons. You might be able to adapt something from a later model truck that had discs, but doubtful.