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disc brakes

6K views 16 replies 4 participants last post by  1971BB427 
#1 ·
Building a 1947 international kb2 pickup. I'm trying to keep as original as possible but I upgraded engine to a chevy small block and tran. to a turbo 400. With the h.p. added I want to upgrade brakes from drum to disc on the front end but can not find any conversion kits any ideas ?
 
#2 ·
original ?

Do you want to keep the front I beam, A friend has a resto rod 22 dodge and he has a 50's 60's chevy pickup front axle.He said the spring spacing was the same also check out ford pickup axles for dimensions, there are off the shelf kits for Ford or chevy. We have a 46 KB and a Jag Ifs in the parts pile, there is a lot of info on the HAMB forum on Jag IFS into older pickups. Years ago I use Olds spindles. new bushings, reamed to match the king pins, but had to bend the axle to get the camber right. Too much work to do again, Another Swap I wouldn't do again is to use AMC disc brake bolt on spindles, cut off the stock stub. It was cheap, only $ 20 at a pick and pull for the parts.
 
#4 ·
How handy are you? If you can do some fab work, then you might consider making up your own "kit". The big question will be the hubs, and their diameter/bolt pattern. I've adapted GM calipers to various cars, and I almost always use Speedway weld on caliper brackets. I don't weld them on, but they have plenty of material to cut and rework to allow them to bolt to the stock backing plate spindle bolt pattern.
The next step is to either find rotors that match your bolt pattern, or redrill the pattern. You can pull the studs and redrill the stock hub, or redrill the rotor to match your hub. Most older hubs will have the drum pressed or riveted to the hub, so need to remove the drum first. Some patterns might interfere with the old bolt pattern, so at times that requires welding the old holes shut if they do interfere.
Once you've got rotors fitted, and the calipers mounted to the brackets; you can determine where to trim the brackets to fit the spindle, and how much spacer you'll need on the mounting bolts to center the caliper/pads on the rotor.
Might take a day's work to get everything set up, but it saves a ton of money over any kit. I usually spend between $125-$150 for all the parts needed to convert a front to disc brakes. Here's a setup I did on a friend's '69 Nova, with Ford Econoline straight axle:
 
#5 ·
Thanks 1971BB427 i'm pretty handy and my work has a full machine shop for any fab. Any idea on part numbers and brands on the items you use . any idea how I may find a disc hub to fit my spindle ( where I need mesurments or anything.) or is it just a guessing game . thanks
 
#6 ·
Thanks 1971BB427 i'm pretty handy and my work has a full machine shop for any fab. Any idea on part numbers and brands on the items you use . any idea how I may find a disc hub to fit my spindle ( where I need mesurments or anything.) or is it just a guessing game . thanks
 
#7 ·
You don't really need a disc hub. But you do need your hub to fit inside a donor rotor. On the Econoline I pressed the drum off the hub after grinding the rivet heads off, and then we used Aerostar AWD rotors over the hub, as they had the same 5x4.5" bolt pattern. Had to change the studs out to longer studs, as the rotor was thick enough to make them too short. I also looked at Jeep Grande Cherokee rotors, which would have given a larger diameter.
I used GM metric calipers from late 70's GM cars, and the Speedway 3" weld on axle brackets were $20 a pair. Calipers were $30 a pair, and rotors were about $65 a pair. I have part numbers for everything, but not sure what your International has for a bolt pattern? It might be 6 bolt, and so a 6 bolt rotor would need to be used, if you want to stay with that? If you know the pattern, or if you can pull the hubs and take them to your machine shop, then you can redrill the pattern, and fit a rotor to match.
Let me know what your bolt pattern is, and pull the hubs/drums, to see if the drums can be separated.
 
#12 ·
more ? for you

Next we need to know what is your wheel bolt pattern. the method shown for 5 lug wheels is a very close estimitation. NOT close enought to do machine work. but it will tell what size.
MRW - How to measure bolt pattern
question no 2 , Can you post a pict of your front hub and brake drum. If you Have a brake drum that is rivited or screwed to the hub it might be easier.
question No 3
What is the bolt pattern of your rear wheels
 
#13 · (Edited)
ebay hub

There is a poor pict of a front hub-drum on E bay that looks like the drum and hub are seperate pieces, If so you can press out the wheel lug studs, then remove the drum from the hub. Then find a brake rotor that will fit on your hub "hat" . Sometimes you will have to turn down the hub so the center hole on your new rotor will fit , that way replacement rotors will fit out of the box. The Calipers you use will have to match the thickness of the rotor.

waiting for more answers.
My info says the kb 1/2 ton uses the Ford pass small pattern , 4.5 by 5 bolt pattern. you should be able to do as BB427 posted. Same as he did on the econoline axle .
keeping your stock axle-springs.
 
#14 ·
The top needs chopped

When we got the kb, we looked at all the possibilities, finding new spindles, new hubs, a new drive train. the latest idea is to Jag the front and rear, . that will lower it quite a bit, channel the cab down until the bottom of the doors just clear the running boards, Then a modified top chop.
A good friend teaches the streed rod program at UVU an has done a couple KB chops
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUtgNlCEcdE
No picts of the KB. What he does is LEAVE the doors alone, remove the interior metal roof, cut the windshield top header loose, slit the A posts and remove a few inches of the windshield side. Then he slides the header down leaving the door side of the a posts alone. He does a lot of slitting, hammer work to take big bubble out of the roof. I think I will make a pattern and look for a lower crown roof skin to use. Another someday project we are gathering parts for.
 
#15 ·
Since your hub is 5 bolt, the job of finding and mating rotors will become much easier. If you've swapped rear axles, then I'd either redrill the hub to match that pattern, or if your present pattern is a common one, I'd redrill the rear to match the front. Rotten Leonard's makes a drill template kit to do this easily, but since you have machine shop access, you can do so there also.
The center of your hub is part of the concern, as it needs to fit the new rotors, but you can turn down the center, or open up the rotor center. Either accomplishes the same result. The outside diameter might be an issue also, as I found the Econoline hub was too large to fit into the donor rotor, and took about 1/4" off the total diameter to allow it to sit inside the Aerostar rotor. An easy fix for that part of the clearance.
 
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