I wanted disc brakes on my 39 Plymouth coupe but didn't want to subframe. It's got a good strong frame, plenty strong for the 56 Hemi that was going in and upper and lower control arms and the kingpins were brand new. So off to the salvage yard I go with my tape measure. After a bit of looking I found a 1972 Monte Carlo that looked like it would work. The inner bearing was the correct size but the Plymouth spindle was 7/16th's longer than the Monte Carlo, That was ok we can fix that. After getting everything back to my shop I started eyeballing things and this is what I did. I removed everything from the coupe and bolted the top of caliper to the spindle where the drum brake backing plate bolted on.
Next after more measuring I had a 7/16 inch collar made about 1000th smaller that the inner spindle diamiter, that's it on the railroad rail ( which makes a dandy anvil ). Next I warmed the collar a bit with the torch and drove it on the spindle with a porta power pipe, It went on fairly easy.
After that I put on the rotor and found out the outer bearing was different. But the stock 39 bearing fit perfect. Then I trimed the caliper mount to fit the rotor and drilled a hole for the bottom bolt. It work's great.
Here is a photo after it was all put together and the wheels put back on. The only problem I encountered was I had to mount them on the back side and the bleeder valve is on the bottom so to bleed the brakes I had to take the caliper off, turn it upside down and use a board between the pads to bleed the brakes. Not a big problem for me but the next guy might skratch his head a bit but I'll be gone so I wasn't worried about that much. It shouldn't be a problem with a vacuum bleeder though. I installed a rear steer rack and pinion out of a K Car so i hade to take the steering arm off the right side and put on the left and make a new one for th e right to cure a bump steer problem I had but it works great now. So if ya can do a little measuring and with a little enginuity you could probably do this on several older front ends that are in good shape. I hope this will help somebody save some time and money.
that looks realy intresting - I wonder if this would work on a 34 plymouth too - the spindles and frame looks like the same but I'm not sure do you have another pic of the steering please good work!!
GEEZ,Cadlights, How cool! Now I'm going to see if the same approach will work on a 37 Plymouth Delivery! Thanks for sharing!
You probably could swap side to side if you used the stock steering but with the rear steer rack and pinion the steering arms are in the way. I don't have any photos of the steering but I'll take some and post em later. I built a bracket to bolt to the bottom of the crossmember for the rack, then I had to cut the tie rods on the rack cause they were to long. Then I took the adjusting sleeves off the stock steering and welded them to the tie rods on the rack. But first I threaded the tie rod ends so I could thread them into the sleeves for more strengh before I welded them. It took a lot off measuring to get em the right lengh but it works well and I'm very pleased about the way it works.
Here's some photos of the steering, You might be able to install them on the front of the spindle I don't know it just worked out better for me this way with the brake hoses on top and the steering arms on the bottom.
Yes, everything except the outer wheel bearing is from a 72 monte carlo. Ya know I was thinking even the inner bearing could be replaced to fit any aplication. We have a place down here called Utah bearing that can match about anything you need. Ya just need to take the outer diameter and the inner diameter measurements and they will find a bearing to match, and that is the secret, the bearing sizes the hub could be off just about anything. My old bud Leon who p***ed away awhile back had 68 Camaro discs on his 33 Chevy sedan delivery. Also we put Monte Carlo hubs on my other old bud that p***ed away's 53 Chev with a Fat Man mustang 2. Just use your imagination and a tape measure.
YEAH, I DID SOMETHING SIMILAR TO THIS ON MY 55 PLYMOUTH. i USED A ROTOR WITH MATCHING INNER AND OUTER BEARINGS THOUGH. AND I HAT TO FAB BRACKET FOR THE CALIPER. I THINK ALOT OF FRUSTRATED PEOPLE WOULD BE HAPPY TO KNOW ABOUT THESE SIMPLE SOLUTIONS TO PUTTING DISC BRAKES ON CARS OTHER THAN CHEVYS AND FORDS.
There is a guy in Oregon at AAJ brakes that makes kit for these he uses GM parts and a self made braket. http://www.aajbrakes.bravepages.com/index.html Nice Tech thread..by any chance do you have picts of your rack and pinion setup..?
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