Anyone done front or rear disk brake caliper brackets by using their old backing plates? I have extra front and rear pairs that I may be able to use. Any thoughts, ideas, pics or comments?
My caliper brackets are 7/16" thick. Backing plates are what, 1/8" at most? just not enough meat there.
You can cut out the area for the bracket and caliper to make the backing plate into a dust cover. If you are open wheeled, a 1" wide piece of flat stock welded to the inner lip helps hide the rotor. Here's one I did with a '36 Ford backing plate.
We put rear disks on my buddy's late model truck; I traced out the caliper brackets if you want to make some of your own.
A search should turn up some tech on this. I know of at least one thread that covered the whole process. Frank
Awesome repsonses guys. I saw the one with the additional caliper bracket attached to it. It seems I have seen it done with just the backing plate, but it may not be stiff enough as it's been said. I was thinking with all of the contours typically in one they may stiffen it enough, but I am not sure. I also realize there should be sufficient surface area where the caliper places the force on the bracket. Trying to do a lo-buck challenge but brakes are not an area you want to be marginal in. Plus my truck's not an open wheeler so aesthetics aren't as critical but I don't really want anything looking hokey either. Keep the thoughts coming!
I read some where in a mag years, (and I mean years!) ago about doing this with the backing plates on a K-5 Blazer (I think). Seemed like a bad idea to me then and I was maybe 12 years old reading this. It seems like it would be worth the effort to do the bracket behind the backing plate thing.
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