I have a 31 chevy pickup WITH a 52 chevy pickup front axle. i bought some various disk brake parts BUT now haveing trouble getting them to work together. i have the stock spindle then the little bearing adapter that slides on the spindle then i used a early Camaro 1970 rotors and bearings. all this fits reasonable BUT it puts the wheel (6" with 3" back spacing) to far out, about an inch or less from the lip of the fender. has anyone done this ? what did you use? THANKS Jay D.
A few possible solutions, you probably won't like any of them... Get skinny wheels and tires. Get some 51-59 truck backing plates and 51-54 car hubs/drums, to replace the disc brakes. It's a light truck, isn't it?
That's one of the rubs with putting disk brakes on almost anything with over the counter parts, The wheels move out a noticeable amount. I'm thinking that there are a couple of kits with custom rotors that don't move the wheel out so much but you pay for that space. Best I can say is get a wheel with more backspacing and less outside offset. My 48 had a 40 or earlier axle in it when I bought it in 1973 and it wasn't until just a few years ago that I figured it out because my original spindles inner bearing mount surface was a smaller diameter than 41 and later. When I put on the 54 car drum and backing plates in 1973 I had to mix and match the inner races to the bearings. Bearing and outer race are the same but earler spindles have the smaller ID on the race. axle width is the same.
I adapted Ford granada discs in the early 2000's. I had to machine a spacer for one bearing, made a strange shaped bracket to bolt the caliper on and it seems to be in my feeble memory that I had to cut a little of the threaded portion of the spindle off so the dust cover would fit.
This actually looks nice (imo) you could run the same size wheels on front and back, gives the illusion you’re running wider wheels on the rear. I ***ume the conversion is going to be 5 lug, so new wheels will be needed anyways.
Well you’re experiencing the problems to over come by a narrow axle. But you’re still going to have a scrub radius issue. Figure out what part of the front end or body that you’re married to and change something else to accommodate the other. Personally I’d try for a “2 for 1” solution that didn’t mess up my scrub radius and delivers the finished look. Having disc brakes would be low low low on the list unless it were a daily, dealing with inclement weather and rush hour freeway traffic constantly. Fix the scrub and fit the fenders needs a wheel with lots more backspace, That rotor probably comes with 4.75 bolt circle. Most guys like the look of a deep wheel but you can’t have that, yours will be shallow. You could go skinny wheel to fit fenders but that probably won’t fix the scrub radius.
Cheapest, quickest, and easiest fix is different front wheels and offset. Anything else will likely cost you more time and money.
what is this scrub radius you talk about and how is it going to affect me? I'm seriously thinking of narrowing the axle, 2" would really help. i'm also thinking of later dropping the front but that creates more problems with the fenders. another idea i have is to go the g***er look with a straight axle, you can buy them in the width you need. THANKS Jay D.
The distance from the line where the kinpin axis intersects the ground, and where the center of the tire intersects the ground. here's a highly exaggerated drawing, as it relates to go carts...
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