Brake Conversions

So I'm finally in a place where I'm getting ready to do the Chevy Disc Front/11" Drum rear conversion on my '70 CJ5. I did some googling/searching and found a list of the donor rigs/part numbers for the disc brake parts, but I haven't been able to find the same for the 11" Drums for the rear. Can anybody shoot me a link or two? So far I haven't had much luck. I'm not sanguine on the possibility of finding plenty of Wagoneers or CJ's in the boneyards around here (but I may be surprised), and I seem to recall some mention of being able to grab the backing plates off of a Ford Pickup/Bronco?

 

so long as the plates and brakes are bendix and 11"x2 you should be good unless there is a different offset on the plates with the ford. you can use the drums from a amc 20 but not the plates. dana 30, dana 44 from cj, waggy, j truck will work.

 

Pretty sure you will need spacers with the early Ford F100 backing plates. You will definitely need to drill new bolt holes and enlarge the center hole. If you can find an F100 backing plate, I'd expect you can figure out what you need to do to adapt them. Here is some very sketchy info - http://cj3b.info/Tech/Brakes11inch.html

There were lots of cars and trucks that used the 11"x2" Bendix brakes. If you look up the hardware on RockAuto, that will give you a list of the vehicles that used these brakes - like the Wagner H2541 for a '72 CJ-5 http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=541741&cc=1309430&jnid=442&jpid=2 I also expect you'll want to use drums from a CJ-5 or Wagoneer, since they will have a larger center hole that will fit over your hubs.

I remember that, back in the day, 50s Mercury brakes were a hot conversion for the CJ. Apparently someone else has heard of this too http://www.fourwheeler.com/how-to/transmission-drivetrain/154-0609-early-jeep-brake-conversions/ The Utilty Truck and Wagon also have 11" brakes that will bolt on, but not self-adjusting.

Used to be buying a complete kit for the rear axle wasn't wildly expensive ... R&P used to sel them http://shop.rp4wd.com/product/drum-kit-2 but their site shows they are sold out. If you are interested, I'd give them a call. Their rear disk brake kit is not that much more.

Seems there are also disk conversions being done using Subaru calipers. A Google search may be informative.

Contact member Daryl - I recall he salvages Jeep parts in the NW, and may be able to help you.

 

I did disk all around. The fronts are easy. might require some grinding depending on your axle. All the info is on this site. Either buy the kit from R&P or source your own parts from chevy truck stuff mid 70's or so to mid 80's. The rears are a bit tricky. The same chevy stuff will bolt up on the rear as the front, but depending on your axle the mount may need some shimming to work correctly. The price for the parts if you source them yourself can be very cheap. The kit will bolt right on though with no issues. R&P ,I believe, has a kit that will give you a real emergency brake in the rear.

 

In addition to contacting Daryl, you my look here:

http://oly4x4.com/

Do a parts search on their site or take a drive. Snohomish is not that far from Renton.

 

Thanks guys, that gives me a pretty good idea where to start. Really not looking for kits. Been a while since I've done any wrecking yard crawling, and I've got a jones for it.

 

The only thing good in a wrecking yard pulling for your application are the caliper mounting brackets from a 1/2 ton chevy. Even then, they are 85 bucks a set new and drilled to clock any way you like. The calipers are under 30 bucks a side from rock auto as are the rotors and they are new.

 

Right. I'm only doing discs on the front, and I need the junkyard calipers for the core charge (I've got an in with a NAPA store, so I get the good pricing on loaded calipers, I'm just a cheap bugger, and don't want to pay the core), I'll be buying fresh rotors anyway, along with the longer wheel studs for the front. The rears, I'm just updating from the 9" Original drums, to a later 11" Bendix, so all I *really* need are the backing plates, as I'll just be buying fresh shoes and a hardware kit anyway, and I'll probably upgrade the master cylinder to a corvette unit, as they're plentiful, and you can get them just about anywhere anymore. I don't mind getting dirty to save some money.

 

If you scavenge Bendix rear brakes, be sure to get the parking brake levers, strut and spring. Also the shoe guide plate for the spring post. They are not available aftermarket AFAIK.

 

Thanks for the heads up, I was planning on grabbing the whole works anyway, but good to know.

 

If you find a '72 - '76 CJ/with drum front brakes the backing plates will fit your rear 44. They use the finned drums.

 

I know you are after rear brake info, and this may be redundant, but here is an article from JP magazine a few years back. Just for added reference with future searches.

 

@ITLKSEZ Excellent! That's actually better than the disc info I had found. Thanks!

 

Woot. Wandered up to Pick-n-pull in Arlington this morning, as they're 50% off until Monday, and got me the Caliper Brackets, Calipers, and Brake lines off of a chevy in there. $40 out the door. (there's a couple more in there that have all the stuff, for anybody in the seattle area that's interested.





If you're going to go chasing them, a word of advice, don't forget your Torx bits. the other rigs have torx screws holding the hubs on. I got lucky, and one had allen bolts in the hubs.

Now to get those backing plates into some toilet bowl cleaner and get the rust off =]

 

Heh, possibly, but I can't get up there today, and I'd actually have to go *buy* some torx bits =]

 

At the moment, I've still got the stock dual that came in my '70. I'm probably going to swap out for a corvette master, it's the same one I have in my hotrod, and has the proper residual valve built into the master for the disc brakes. I can dig up a NAPA part number if you give me a bit.

 

Couldn't find my notes, and had to give my Dad a call. I had my vehicles mixed up, it's actually the master for a mid-seventies Ford Econoline, NAPA's part number is NMC M2220