55.2-59 59 Disc brake conversion using Toyota parts

[57tailgater]

Originally Posted by BlouDon

Howzat?

Looks good.

[BlouDon]

Today I made a more accurate bracket as per the above design and consequently made a few changes. Here is the bracket I hope will work in all respects.

Having it made from 7075 Alu x 16mm thick.

[_Ogre]

i just realized your from south africa. gotta admire the guys from other parts building american muscle without the plethora of parts we have here and you're rockin 2 chevys and a mopar. you probably have a month or more for parts shipped from usa, i get mad when amazon takes 3 days

post up a couple of pics of that jensen for us (me)

[BlouDon]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

i just realized your from south africa. gotta admire the guys from other parts building american muscle without the plethora of parts we have here and you're rockin 2 chevys and a mopar. you probably have a month or more for parts shipped from usa, i get mad when amazon takes 3 days

post up a couple of pics of that jensen for us (me)

Correction: 2 Mopars....

Its weird though.... I once ordered parts from the UK, after close of business (local time) on a Friday afternoon. The very next Monday, I had in my hands delivered to my door. Parts from Summit also arrive in less than a week... But shipping, clearing, duties and taxes is often more than the cost of the part.

The red one is still fairly standard, but because I do long trips (800miles one way), I fuel injected the engine of the white one and complimented that with a 4L60e transmission. Both engine and transmission managed by Megasquirt.

[dsraven]

cool cars. haven't seen anything like those before.
a pic of the new part would be awesome.

[BlouDon]

Originally Posted by dsraven

cool cars. haven't seen anything like those before.

That's amazing! I thought they were rather sought after in in the US.

Featured as Lettie's car in a Fast&furious movie as well as Bond's car in (Solo - the four wheel drive version called "FF")

American muscle (Mopar 383 or 440 + A727);
Italian style;
British manufactured (complete with Lucas electrics).

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by BlouDon

That's amazing! I thought they were rather sought after in in the US.

nice cars

[BlouDon]

Got my discs and hubs back today.

The engineer decided to only machine the discs to allow the hubs to fit inside them. I would have preferred both hub and disc being machined to only allow about 0.3 - 0.5mm play between hub and disc. Anyway, its done.

I was worried that the studs would be too short but it turns out they were long enough because now the wheel nuts are flush with the studs when fastened.

Hoping to get my brackets tomorrow.

[_Ogre]

i've driven tf trucks since 1974 (old i know), 6 studs looks so strange anymore

great ronnies backdrop for the cars

[BlouDon]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

great ronnies backdrop for the cars

Like the US has R66, we have R62. Ronnie's is a very well known bar and not at all what the name suggests.... Its worse.... Massively disappointing when you walk in. An ordinary bar with lots of ladies' undies hanging all over the place. Feels septic.

But the rest of R62 is fantastic!! I think I should drive R62 in my Apache. Yep, that goes on the bucket list.

[mr48chev]

I haven't checked in on the thread for a while and wow what impressive progress. You really took that and ran with it.

I have a feeling that in the future this may be a point to thread for guys wanting to do something similar when the conversion parts aren't readily available or when as in your case, easy to find locally sourced parts are far more economical than buying and having conversion kits shipped.

[mr48chev]

On that lower caliper mounting bolt, is there possibly room to put a stud bolt in the lower hole in the bracket and slip the caliper over it and put a nut on it.

Or with the correct length bolt put the bolt in the caliper and slip it in between the bracket and the arm? As long as you have a full thread showing on the other side of the bracket you should be good.

I am really impressed with what you have been doing with that.

That model of Jensen is Pretty rare here. Rare enough that a lot of guys have never seen one. There are a few here in the PNW but even when they were new you didn't see many. There were only 6408 produced in the whole 10 year run. I've maybe seen five of them since they were new and most of them at car shows. I did see one on a car lot in Seattle in the 80's that my dad pointed out when we were out running around but the price was way more than I could afford on a teacher's salary then.

[BlouDon]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

Or with the correct length bolt put the bolt in the caliper and slip it in between the bracket and the arm? As long as you have a full thread showing on the other side of the bracket you should be good.

That's the plan. Hoping to use the same M12 x 1.25 bolt that was used on the Toyota to bolt the caliper to the bracket, as you describe.

Originally Posted by mr48chev

I am really impressed with what you have been doing with that.

Thank you! Yes, I am hoping that others can take inspiration from this for cost-effective solutions.

[BlouDon]

Got the brackets back today.

Good news and bad news:
Good news: Some of my original measurements were remarkably accurate;
Bad news: Some of my original measurements were remarkably inaccurate.

I had moved the caliper 1.75mm closer to the hub with my 2nd design. Turns out first design was closer to the target.

The latter mostly in those relating to the size of the spacers required between the bracket and the spindle mounts. I had it 17mm, turns out its closer to 4mm (as in pic). I had drawn the disc profile wrong and also made another error too hard to explain.

Consequently, I had to grind a bit of the bracket away at the top of the spindle (visible in the one pic).

The steering arm is indeed now interfering with the bolt head that hold the caliper to the bracket. A plan that came to mind is to simply have spacers between the arm and the spindle. There is enough adjustment on the track rod to take up the resulting inwards positioning of the arm.

The mounting bracket is interfering with the inner brake pad. The "twin ears" design would not have presented this problem.

Sorry! I had forgotten about the portrait vs landscape issue on this forum.

[BlouDon]

Today, I had the energy to modify the bracket to allow the inner brake pad the freedom it needs. I'll update the drawing and post.

In the end the caliper did interfere with the wheel, but ever so little. I did grind a little bit off the caliper but that was not enough, and I was not prepared to grind it more, so I made a 3mm spacer that goes between the wheel and the hub. That gave the required clearance and the studs still had enough thread for the nuts, although now the studs are recessed relative to the nuts by between ½ and 1 full rotation of the nut. That's fine in my book....

I decided to remove about 1mm from the head of the lower caliper bolt that sits behind the steering arm. That should be enough to allow the arm to be pulled tight against the spindle as it should be. The concern I had yesterday turned out to be a bit of a false alarm. Just now and then we need a bit of luck don't we???

I also did the fitment for the RHS - which went much quicker now that I had all the issues sorted.

Now I have to sort out the brake lines on Monday, and then its time for final fitment complete with grease, seals etc. Then its the moment of truth: Does it work?

[BlouDon]

Final design of the caliper bracket having encountered new issues during implementation.

[mr48chev]

Thanks for the update.

I've got a feeling that this may become an internet go to send someone to thread in the future when the question arises about putting disk brakes on something that doesn't have disk brakes or an easy purchase bolt on option. It is an excellent tutorial on how one can design his/her own bracket and then fit a rotor to an existing hub. Front axle/rear axle the basics still apply.

I just wish I had those cad design skills. That is something I haven't mastered.

[BlouDon]

Took the truck for its first drive today , now with the disc brakes.

It works very well!! :-) OF course the front pads have to bed in properly but a few circuits around my block has shown lots of promise. The pedal feels like it hits a mechanical limiter. Modulating the braking effort is now just a case of applying more or less pressure without any noticeable pedal movement. I'm almost tempted to let a bit of air into the system to allow a bit more modulation....

For the record, my truck has the local Ford Ranger "T6" rear wheel drive high-rider rear axle with the 3.15 diff ratio. I mention this since its rather unlikely that this axle will have the same diameter brake pistons as the original Apache axle. This MAY have contributed to the overall success of this conversion.

[dsraven]

Check google for how to burnish new brakes. It cures the resins in the friction material so brakes will work as they should.

[BlouDon]

Originally Posted by dsraven

Check google for how to burnish new brakes. It cures the resins in the friction material so brakes will work as they should.

Instructions that came with the pads says to brake from 20mph down to 5, wait 30secs. Repeat 10 - 20 times. Avoid panic stops and do not tow or haul heavy loads for first 150 miles.

In other words, be gentle on the brakes for the first 150 miles.

[_Ogre]

sounds good
what master did you use?

[BlouDon]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

sounds good
what master did you use?

Original 1 channel. Brake pedal and M/C all original 59 Chevy.

[BlouDon]

Herewith a pic of the inner oil seal that came with the Performance Online roller bearing kit. I recon its a very high quality product.

[BlouDon]

And another perspective.

[mr48chev]

Looks good, here now folks won't have turn their screen sideways.