Disk brakes 39-47 pickup slightly OT

[Young Ed]

Posting this on the car side assuming my 39-47 trucks are closer to you guys then the cars. Soon I'll be building a 40 plymouth pickup. Already have a T5 lined up for it. Next thing to figure out is disk brakes for the front. Now if I go with standard wheels its not an issue. However trying to use what I already have I'm trying to come up with a way to use 6bolt dakota wheels. I know from the 39-47 yahoo group that dakota rear ends fit so thats not an issue. So what do I need to check to see if I can get a 6bolt rotor adapted to the truck axle? Charlie help please! The other thing that might kick this in the butt quick is the backspacing of the wheels. They might be too close to the steering components on the left side.

[Merle Coggins]

Maybe you could use Charlie's kit with a Dakota front rotor. A quick look at Napaonline shows this one for a '94 Dakota. It's about 3/8" larger diameter than the Diplomat rotor but it may work.

P/N NB4886247

[Young Ed]

3/8s overall isnt much. Thats only 3/16s per side.

[Plymouthy Adams]

early Dakota hubs are 5 x 4.5 while this may not help you as you have a 6 lug donor already on hand..the buying of the rotors will be an advantage for the cost of machine work..an average here in my ara..complete rear gears at a pcik and pull are 60.00 a toss..unless you have a good friend in the business..last shop I approached for maching work made buying a complete other parts car an affordable option..so unless you just dead set to alter these..economically, these may be a disaster for you..

[Young Ed]

Tim not talking about altering. Just using those 6lug wheels pictured above. If the wheels don't fit for backspacing issues then I'll just go back to 5x4.5 rims and get an earlier dakota rear end. I haven't bought a rear end for the project yet.

[Merle Coggins]

You gonna get new hoops for the Ol' Dakota? Maybe some nice 20"ers with salad shooter spinners?

[Young Ed]

The dakota has stock rims on it. I used to run those in the summer but now that its gotten rusty I don't anymore. So I thought this would be a good use for them. They also have nearly new Cooper radials on them. Not those low profile tires in the picture. I actually have 3 sets of dakota rims. Sold a 4th set to the neighbor too.

[Dave72dt]

Start with brg dimensions, distance between brgs, distance between wheel mounting surface and inner brg seat. should tell you if you have a chance of indstalling a six bolt hub or not. Check backspacing on intended wheel and make up a simple heavy wire jig/template you can bolt to a hub and spin in a circle to check for obstructions.

[Olddaddy]

Well, I would say the simplest solution if you are set on using 6 lug wheels would be to redrill the Volare rotors to your 6 lug pattern. If you are careful in your layout you can do it on a home drill press. Or take it to a machine shop and have it done. Those wheels don't look like stock Dakota. Have you checked under the caps to see if they might be unilug? If you end up with a five lug rotor it would be easy to use an adapter on your rear end. That would space the wheels out a bit as the Dakota rear is about 1" narrower than the stock rear. While the two Dakota rotors interchange, either 5 or 6 lug they wont work with my kit. I don't recommend making changes to the kit, too many variables. Another option would be to simply set your cab and sheet metal onto the Dakota chassis. It's all too much work for me to even think about anymore though. I am slowly racing towards completing my Suburban wagon before my family takes my keys away from me.........

[Don Coatney]

I am slowly racing .........

How does one slowly race:eek:

[Plymouthy Adams]

slowly racing is when you are going in the right direction but with loss of traction..lots of spinning of wheels..as in I'm going nowhere but I'm getting there fast..

[Young Ed]

Well, I would say the simplest solution if you are set on using 6 lug wheels would be to redrill the Volare rotors to your 6 lug pattern. If you are careful in your layout you can do it on a home drill press. Or take it to a machine shop and have it done. Those wheels don't look like stock Dakota. Have you checked under the caps to see if they might be unilug? If you end up with a five lug rotor it would be easy to use an adapter on your rear end. That would space the wheels out a bit as the Dakota rear is about 1" narrower than the stock rear. While the two Dakota rotors interchange, either 5 or 6 lug they wont work with my kit. I don't recommend making changes to the kit, too many variables. Another option would be to simply set your cab and sheet metal onto the Dakota chassis. It's all too much work for me to even think about anymore though. I am slowly racing towards completing my Suburban wagon before my family takes my keys away from me.........

Good info. You are right those are not stock dakota rims. They are american racing wheels. And they are only drilled for the dakota 6bolt pattern. No plans to build the truck on a dakota chassis as I plan to run a flathead with a 5spd behind it. Already have that part ready. Drilling the volare rotor out to 6bolts would work great.

[Merle Coggins]

I had looked at the possibility of redrilling my rotors to the 5" bolt pattern I needed but it would have put the studs so close to the inner wall of the rotor hat that I feared I wouldn't be able to get the studs in. So I just went with adapters. What's the circle size of the 6 bolt rims of the Dakota?

[Olddaddy]

Racing along as in moving forward as best and as fast as I can.......slowly as in everything seems to take longer to get to and to do than it should....four years later my car is still in pieces. Nicely painted pieces, but still pieces. The joke in my family is that I will finish the car just in time to be too senile to drive it any longer.....

[Young Ed]

I had looked at the possibility of redrilling my rotors to the 5" bolt pattern I needed but it would have put the studs so close to the inner wall of the rotor hat that I feared I wouldn't be able to get the studs in. So I just went with adapters. What's the circle size of the 6 bolt rims of the Dakota?

Good question I have no idea. How does one measure that on a 6bolt pattern?

[Merle Coggins]

6 bolt is easier to measure than 5 bolt. Just measure the distance between two opposing stud centers. A trip back to Napaonline shows the rotor for your Dakota to have a 6 x 4.5" bolt pattern, so you should be OK. You can buy templates for different bolt patterns. I picked up one at a swap meet tool vender that has the 5 x 4.5" and 5 x 5" patterns on it. You can use them to lay out your drill pattern. I've seen them with 6 bolt patterns too.

Merle