For Those Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

It has been brought up time and time again about doing disk breaks on these 60-66 chevy trucks. So I am going to post this as a sticky in hopes that it will help everyone wanting to do the change. This will be a quick run down list. Ask questions for details.

as time allows I will sit down and edit this post and and a little more detail and then move it to the FAQ section. This thread then will have a redrect to the FAQ.



1.)remove the old brake lines.

2.)remove the upper and lower A-arms with the spindles attached.

3.)Get a set of arms with disk spindles attached.(72 and up)

4.)Install the newer upper and lower A-arms.

5.)install updated brake lines and hardware.


This will work for 1/2 ton 3/4 ton ect.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

What type of modifications are required for the control arms to bolt up or is it truely pop and swap? I'm assuming that my 61 Chevy is different than the 66, as no one really offers anything for the 60-62 trucks in the aftermarket lineup.

Thanks,

Daniel

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

:agree:i'd like more info as well....when you have time of course :)
i want to switch mine over to disc brakes without spending $500+, but want to be able to go back to original just in case. thanks for setting up this sticky! i was about to post a thread asking about it.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

I am in the process doing such conversion. I didn't replace upper and lower control arms. I did, however, replace the upper and lower ball joints because the control arms are basically the same as the 73-87 trucks. (My truck is a 1965 3/4 ton) I bought a kit from classic perform, but I was not pleased with the metric parts. It's an AMERICAN MADE TRUCK!!!!! NO METRIC PARTS ALLOWED!!!! Of course I didn't find out that they were metric until a couple of years later when I started my project full-on. So, no returns, and more money out of pocket...DANG IT!! I bought inner and outer tie-rod ends, kept the same center link, and got new spindles, calipers, pads, booster/master cylinder, etc. for the disc system. I will replace all of the steel lines and hoses. As soon as I get the frame cleaned and painted I will install all of the aforementioned parts. Right now the frame is bare, with a couple of fuel lines and brake lines attached. I would like to convert the '69 Dana 60 to rear disc but haven't heard of any available kits.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

Looking forward to more info on this subject. This is going to be my first big project on my truck.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

I used the entire front end of a 72,crossmember, a-arms,spindles and so on. It was a bolt-in swap. I also used the mastercylinder and brake booster. I think I had to lengthen the brake push rod or used the 72. I also used rearend from same truck and modified the locator bar.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

Could you tell me if the control arms and spindles can be swaped from a 73-87 year truck or just 72' do I need to change anything else? how about the rear end? thanks

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

Ok I'm about to do this change over on the 61 burb in the avatar. Heres the question has anyone done this with a truck with a hyd clutch? I would like to keep the hyd clutch but not sure how to overcome the dual clutch/brake master cylinder. I'm considering going with a wilwood clutch cylinder behind the master on the fire wall but at this point it's only a theory. Any thoughts of experience would be wonderful.

Thanks!

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

I did it on mine, got a donor from a 87 suburban. Upper and lower control arms bolted right up. Keeped the calipers off the sub also. I put on 2.5 drop spindles so i went ahead and bought new rotors also. Went pretty smooth, pretty much the only problem i had was get the upper and lower arms off the suburban not much room to work. I also snagged the brake booster, master cyclinder and the proportining valve off the sub since they already went with the setup. Works well.


Forgot to add my truck is a 66.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

Someone post some pics of this conversion, inprogress and some after. Thanks alot.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

What mods did you have to do to get the booster/mc to work with the stock pedal/rod?I really need to do this because I cannot rely on all drums,not the way people drive these days.Also,how much am I to expect to pay for a set-up like this or would it be close to the price of a new kit?

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

1966GMC i also used the push rod off the suburban and the little lever that attached the push rod to the pedal and made the lever work with my stock pedal. For the booster the bottom holes mounted right up i had to drill 2 new holes through the firewall to help supported the booster, was easily done though. The proportining /booster i hooked to the brake light so when i hit the pedal it charges. The hardest part i thought was having to rerun brake lines and get the right bends and bleed the brakes. I forgot to do picks as i was doing the job mainly because i was to dirty to grab the camera but here are a couple of the booster / cylinder and push rod pedal setup afterwards.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

I added a couple extra holes to the brake pedal to adjust the level of the brakes that i felt most comfortable with.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

Thanks for the pics, Badriand. Going to have to do the same, but want to install new ball joints on my new control arms before I make the swap.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

No problem, i forgot i had to get a new set of adjusting sleeves for the tie rods off of classicperform.com to go from the smaller stock tie rods to the larger ones for the suburban. Also they don't tell you this and it may not happen to all but i had to flip the tie rods the opposite direction to get them to work with the adjusting sleeves because of the left handed threads. If i remember right i took the stock ends on the inner side and the suburban ends on the outside.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

I remember what i did now, i had to take the stock outer tie rod ends and put them on the inside the stock inner tie rods would not work. The suburban outside rods worked fine with the adapter.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

I have a 73 donor truck that I am using to swap my 63 to five lug discs. I understand that there is no need to swap the crossmember, but what about the tie rod ends, center link and drag links. Anyboby that has specific information about what I'm going to run into there would be greatly appreciated. I'm pulling the parts from the 73 in two weeks and will bring them home to rebuild. I hope to put them in the 63 sometime before February. Any experienced help would help resolve my reservations about jumping into this.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

Deryl, what I have learned from my inprogress swap is this. I am using parts from a 71, installing the upper/lower control arms, first I am going to replace the ball joints. This is were I made my first mistake, I order ball joints for a 64 and not the 71 control arms. The one thing I would check if I was you, would be make sure your outer tie rods will fit properly, lucky for me, my 64 tie rod will work. Just my .02.

Mike

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

It's done! :two: I swapped upper and lower control arms, steering box (I already had a leaky early 70s power steering box), tie rod ends, center link etc. and the booster, master cylinder and proportioning valve from the 73. The master cylinder and calipers were used for cores for reman. units:

I had to drill two more holes for the booster bracket so it would bolt up with four bolts. I cut the original brake rod end off after a careful measurement and welded it to the new rod making it 1 and 7/8 inches longer. I'm going to relocate the hole on the brake pedal arm because like a previous poster said the pedal goes almost to the floor. It stops on a dime though.

I replaced all of the control arm bushings and ball joints, but all the tie rod ends, center link etc were in great shape. The donor truck only had 77,000 miles on it and had been well maintained. I didn't even have to replace the wheel bearings. I had to drill one hole for the idler arm. The other hole lined up with an existing hole in the frame. The only glitch I had was that the splines on the new steering box did not line up with those on the existing rag joint. I bought a steering coupler kit from the help isle at Auto Zone and used half of the coupler off the 73 to match the splines.

All and all it was pretty straight forward. The biggest pain was bending new brake lines. I replaced them all since they were 45 years old. I made a bracket and located the proportioning valve on the inside of the frame rail a little to the rear of the firewall.

I finished at 2:30 am Sunday morning and after a short test ride, I drove it 95 miles home. I'll get an alignment done tomorrow, but on the ride home it drove straight as an arrow even though I know the toe in is way off. The difference in the drive, ride and stopping is amazing.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

Deryl,
This part will test you patience, this is were i spent most of my time. Bending and re-flaring lines.:dohh: Attached an image of my prop valve setup to also help give ideas.


This is attached on my right frame rail below the booster.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

My neighbor had a 73' C-10 that had been sitting in his yard for several years. I asked him if he would like to get rid of it and he gave it to me.:metal: I used the whole cross member and power steering box in my 63. That way everything fits. No matching tie rod ends or drag links. I even used the motor mount towers. The frame on the 73-87's are taller so I cut the towers and welded them back up and it was a slick setup. I then bought headers for 73-87' and they fit beautiful. I used a 9" disc brake reared and bought a new booster/master for 4-wheel disc from CPP. I also disassembled the power steering box had the casting powder coated then sent it to CPP to be reassembled with new internals. That was when CPP was small and you could deal with the owners. They only charged me 20.00 to reassemble. Probably the cheapest thing I did. My steering column is a donor from a 67' Impala I made up the rag joint from parts from both rigs. Can't really remember what i did there. Guess I am going to have to go look. All worked well though. The other thing that is nice about the 73'-87's is they have the rubber bushings as opposed to the metal as 71-72's. I rebuilt the entire front end but, if someone wanted all that would really be required to do the swap is unbolt the entire front cross member roll it under the front of your 60-66 and bolt it up. Mount the steering box, need to make a couple of spacers and weld to the frame, booster/master, brake lines and your done. Of course the engine would have to be out. Makes it easier to make brake lines anyway. The 60-62 requires a bit more work as those years used the torsion bar suspension but, is still an easy swap as well. Just a quick note. The front cross members are basically the same from 63-87 so it makes it an easy swap with updated parts.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

I originally planned to use the crossmember, but there was really no need. I've got the front end alligned now and this thing is sweet. Now I need to find a donor swaybar.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

Badriand, if you don't mind me asking. Could you explain where each brake line is going from your Pro valve, also what about that elec connector? Sorry for the newb question, just tring to get my conversion done and want to do it right. Also on the brake booster I have a vacuum line I believe, where does this get connected. Also, if anyone could post a pic of the linkage connection at the firewall in the eng bay would greatly be appreciated. What to see how you have it set up. My brake booster is off a 71 donor. Thanks

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...1/P1260004.jpg

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

If you look at the above pic of the pro valve on the frame rail, the far 2 right lines run up to my master cylinder. Bottom right goes to the right front disc if your facing the front of the truck. Bottom left goes to the left front disk, line at the back goes the rear brakes. The electric connector i ran through a hole in the firewall and connected into the rear brake lights off of the brake pedal. So when you hit the brakes it kicks off the booster. I have an edelbrock carb so i just ran the vacuum line from the booster into the rear of the carb vacuum. You can use any other vacuum ports you have available i just choose that one to make it look a little better. If your referring to the carb linkage check this link out.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...t=carb+linkage

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

Badriand, thanks. Now will it matter if I still have drums on the rear? Also, did you use the two stock holes and made two new holes to mount the booster? Thanks

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

I still have drums on back, a lot of new vehicles still have drums on back. I used the 2 stock holes and drilled 2 new ones through the firewall.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

Thanks again, all these questions, should of read the earlier post where you explained that. doh.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

Also, where is the best place to get new brake lines for a decent price. How about if I bend my own, where can I get the supplies. Thanks again.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

Most any parts store but, you might try looking for a clutch and brake supply. That is where the parts house buy them from as well and more than likely you can get a better price. Good Luck

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

I'm fairly new to this site, but I did this same swap about 10 years ago on my 65. I already had the truck complete and did not want to repaint anything, so I just swapped out ball joints in the upper and lower arms, used spindles from a 82 (for free, a buddy put on dropped spindles). Bought new calipers, rotors, bearings and brake lines at an Advance Auto Parts (I think, may have been a Western Auto). New outer tie rods for a 82, used my existing outers as the inners and used the new adjusting sleeves that I got from Fatman Fabrication. At the same time, I swapped in a 9" with disc brakes into the rear and used a 69 Corvette 4 wheel disc master cylinder. No power booster. I adjusted the bias with a wilwood prop valve.

Truck was great and stopped on a dime. When I redo the truck soon, I will ad a power booster of some kind.

The great thing about the front suspension on these trucks is that it remained the same from 63-87. The only changes along the way was to rubber bushings in 73, the lower arms attached with 2 ubolts that were larger starting in 73, and of course the spindles for discs starting in 71. The spindles changed again in 73 to work with the better ball joints and the tie rods were updated along with the center link and the idler arm. The same basic crossmember and solid bushings where used in the 1 ton trucks upto 1991 (cab & chassis and the crew cab versions). Suburbans where the same until 1991 also.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

so the big question remains, what about the torsion bar trucks? those of us with 60-62 would like to hear some success/horror stories too :)

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

It is basically the same swap. If you can find a 73'-87' front cross member use the whole thing. As aggie mentioned the 73'-87' use the newer bushings and ball joints and are much more available.You just have to drill a few extra holes to mount the cross member and mount the steering box. It will go right in. Its no big deal. One thing to keep in mind because you will need to use the full front cross member is it is easier to pull both the engine and trany to make the change over. In the long run it will be worth it. Good Luck

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

Thanks for the info. My biggest 'concern' would be about how this will work with the boxed frame on the '62 (that wasn't done in the later years)

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

I have a couple of friends that have done this swap. I really isn't a big deal. You just have to get in there and do it. I am buying a 61' tomorrow and will be doing the swap as well. I am sure it can be done in a weekend.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

So am I reading this right...? I don't have to replace the upper/lower arms? Just replace the ball joints, and get newer spindles and brake hardware? and tierods too...

It would be easier on me if this was the case.

Could someone spell this out in plain-speak? Thanks

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

Grumpy, First of all what are you working on? If you have a 63-66 Then yes you do need to replace the upper and lower A-arms, spindles, center link, tie rod ends and, master cylinder to accommodate the disc brakes but, if you have 60-62 it is easier to replace to whole front cross member with a cross member from a 73'-87'. You can use the 71'-72' as well but they are harder to find and use the steel bushings and old ball joints where the 73'-87' uses the newer rubber bushings and ball joints and is much easier to come by as mentioned in the earlier posts. Personally I like using the entire cross member regardless of the what year. That way you can rebuild everything roll it under the rig bolt it up and go with the exception of mounting the steering box. Just have to make a couple of spacers drill a couple of holes and mount the steering shaft. This is no be deal . Its not that hard. Just do it...

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

The only thing you have to keep in mind is the ball joints you buy should be for the year of the spindles. I made this mistake. The control arms are the same, you will have fun grinding the rivets on the old control arms ball joint. New ball joints come with nutz and boltz. Have fun and good luck.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

If you do not mind the harsher ride the steel bushing give you, then YES, you ONLY need to swap out the Ball Joints, Spindles, and get the new Adjusting Sleeves that use the later model outter tie rods and use your existing outter tie rods as the inner ones. I did it that way.

At the time I did my swap, my existing frame, suspension was already custom painted and I did not want to have to get the later model arms repainted to match and replace the rubber bushings. My steel ones were new and doing it the way 502tripower suggest, meant A LOT MORE work. All I had to do was detail the spindles, calipers, tie rods, adjuster sleeves and the new rotors and I was done. Once all the parts were ready, it took a Friday evening to take it apart, Saturday morning to put together and had the brakes bleed that evening. I did not swap to power steering, I did not even have to take off the center link or idler arm. I was very happy with my swap and would do it again with or without the power steering.

502 is correct in that the 73-87 upper and lower arms would result in a better ride. BUT that is more work if your existing bushings are in good shape. Save that part of the swap for when you need to replace the bushings.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

aggie, Excellent advice. I was looking at this as a rebuild not a spindle and brake swap.

Re: For Thoese Doing Disk Brakes. 60-66
 

I think for the 60-62 guys, you could just do the ball joints/spindles/etc I outline above. I am not real familiar with the a-arms on those years and what the ball joints look like.

Can someone post up some pics of those areas?