Any Disc Brake install tips.

[Awann99]

Alright so I’m finally doing the front disc brake swap on my lwb rear leaf 69 gmc 1500. But because I live in the middle of no where I wanted to go with parts available at most parts stores so I wouldn’t have to order anything from a company and wait a week for the part. I went with stock 72 spindles out of a parts truck. The rotors are almost new so I’m reusing them. Got the rebuilt calipers at autozone along with the pads, tie rods ends and outs. Adjusting sleeves. Upper and lower ball joints. The only custom parts I had to buy were conversion brake hoses from early classic enterprises. I purchased a new master cylinder/ booster kit with the proportining valve and brackets from LMC. And I have the 72 steering shaft to connect to the 72 ball joints.
Does anyone have any extra tips to help this install go smoother. I need to bench bleed the master cylinder before I install it. But I would like to get all of this done over the weekend if possible. I also am swapping in the 72 5 lug leaf spring rear end into my gmc.
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[siggyfreud]

Should be pretty straight forward and sounds like you have all the parts. If you have access to a vacuum bleeder it makes the bleeding process quick and easy.

Make sure you have fresh cotter pins and all the castle nuts. Plenty of threads to reference for the torque figures. Do you have new bearings and seals for the spindle/rotor? If not now is an easy time.

[Awann99]

Originally Posted by siggyfreud

Should be pretty straight forward and sounds like you have all the parts. If you have access to a vacuum bleeder it makes the bleeding process quick and easy.

Make sure you have fresh cotter pins and all the castle nuts. Plenty of threads to reference for the torque figures. Do you have new bearings and seals for the spindle/rotor? If not now is an easy time.

I have purchased those as well. Thanks for the vaccum bleeding advice.
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[68Stepbed]

Originally Posted by Awann99

Alright so I’m finally doing the front disc brake swap on my lwb rear leaf 69 gmc 1500. But because I live in the middle of no where I wanted to go with parts available at most parts stores so I wouldn’t have to order anything from a company and wait a week for the part. I went with stock 72 spindles out of a parts truck. The rotors are almost new so I’m reusing them. Got the rebuilt calipers at autozone along with the pads, tie rods ends and outs. Adjusting sleeves. Upper and lower ball joints. The only custom parts I had to buy were conversion brake hoses from early classic enterprises. I purchased a new master cylinder/ booster kit with the proportining valve and brackets from LMC. And I have the 72 steering shaft to connect to the 72 ball joints.
Does anyone have any extra tips to help this install go smoother. I need to bench bleed the master cylinder before I install it. But I would like to get all of this done over the weekend if possible. I also am swapping in the 72 5 lug leaf spring rear end into my gmc.
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Keep in mind that tie rods, tie rod adjusting sleeves, drag link, and ball joints are different from 69-72, so make sure you have parts for the 72. Also, get the drag link from the 72 since I keep hearing those aren't available from parts stores anymore.

[Furno68C20]

I had to us an air hammer to get the ball joint rivets removed. Its a pain in the butt but if your careful they will pop out and use a drill bit to clean up the holes.

[siggyfreud]

Indeed they can be a pain. I think I ended up shooting out the center with a plasma then hammering them out. But I had a cheap air chisel that didn't do squat.

[tim_mc]

I have new Raybestos calipers, hoses and banjo bolts on the rear of my '67 that were leaking at the hose/banjo bolt. I don't think the calipers have concentric grooves in the hose recess for sealing the crush washer. The hose fittings do have the concentric rings. I tightened and reseated the copper washers a few times and got the RH side to stop leaking, but I'm still getting a very slight leak on the LH caliper. After a few hours I get a drop of brake fluid on my finger when touching the banjo bolt. Today I plan to replace the copper washers with a pair of Murray 5/16" ID A/C sealing washers (P/N 24401). I've read that these A/C washers will seal leaks when plain crush washers won't. These are similar to the Earl's Performance Stat-O-Seals with an o-ring mated to an aluminum crush washer (P/N 178005ERL). The Murray washers were all I could find locally and are cheaper at $1.79 each. It may be a good idea to have a few of these on hand, or just use in place of copper washers.

[BigBird05]

Keep an eye on those washers and see if they begin to leak over time. Brake fluid attacks seals over time and we would like to know if this is a permanent fix for this problem.

[tim_mc]

Thanks...will do. I'm using silicone-based DOT5, so hopefully it won't attack the rubber like glycol-based DOT3 & 4. I did find slight moisture on the rear RH caliper bolt, but gave it a snug after installing the Murray crush washers on the rear LH hose. After a few hours, both were still dry - fingers crossed. DOT5 might be something else to consider if you're doing a complete brake system rebuild. It doesn't affect paint like the older brake fluid formulas.