front disc brakes on a 46 Hudson Coupe

Unknown

Now that I did the terrible deed and put a sbc 350 in my 46 Super Six coupe I find the old drum brakes are barely acceptable. Is there an easy, inexpensive way to put front disc brakes without a whole new front clip?? When I change out the rear I will probably put in disc brskes in rear. Thanks JR

Unknown

Jr--does that hub use lug bolts like the stepdown and is it the 4 1/2 " pattern? also do you have a spare hub and brake drum---i am thinking you will have to cut some rivets out of the hub to release the brake drum---if the job gets too daunting you may want to rerivet the stuff together so you can drive around some more thinking it out.......the crux of the job is popping the drum off

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install some threaded racing lug studs from the rear of hub (wont work if there are left hand threads on the left side) take off the backing plate and let it hang out of the way---make a template with cardboard from cereal box--the template first will locate the top 2 backing plate holes with the lower trailing one and then make a radius about 10 inches out from the spindle----now place a 96 jeep cherokee front rotor on the hub and secure with 2 lugnuts

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the caliper to use will be an 85 cherokee with the mounting bracket (get the whole thing at the junkyard-including the pads too) you can later get a rebuilt caliper from autozonechecker but they wont have the bracket----with the template located over the 3 holes (with bolts from the backing plate---carefully place the bracket with the pads over the rotor and secure it with a pair of finger grips to hold it in place----now the really hard part of the job is locate the two bracket holes into the template---(but dont worry--it can be adjusted)---after the template is marked then take the whole thing off

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using scissors pare down the pattern to a manageble size---now put the template down on a piece of cold rolled sheetmetal and transfer the pattern and cut it out--drill all the appropriate holes----put it all together again---bolt the pattern to the axle--leave the inside pad on the bracket and bolt the bracket to the pattern---put the hub/rotor in place secure with 2 lugnuts (put the lug nuts on backwards--the flat side of nut works best) put the outside pad in place

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now how does it look?----if you need to move it in or out you can

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i just mig weld on a couple of appropriate sized washers to show the new hole location----if it looks pretty good then i make a whole new pattern----and put it all together again---now its time to find a laser cutting shop---avoid the ones that tell you how expensive it is to put the pattern in the machine to cut it---all they do is scan it on the HP scanner and let the computer in the cutter do the rest

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a year ago i did the same project to put 12 inch rotors on 60/70,s amc cars and the brackets only cost $10 each---(i did 5 cars for $100 on the brackets)

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now for the rears--i had a mickey mouse ears looking bracket cut to allow me to use 96 cherokee rotors again, covered with Lincoln Mark VII calipers---but these brackets need to welded onto the housing with a mig welder----i have done about 30 axles with this setup mostly 8 3/4 and dana 60 with one 9 inch thrown in

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to do a chevy 10-12 bolt you only need the caliper and bracket off a tag axle toronado/cadillac and you drill 4 fresh holes to match the housing---while the axle is out to bolt the brackets on you have to turn down the hub of axle 1/16 inch to let the stock rotor fit over it----hey hows that for a run on sentence----bob

[Deleted User]

GREAT thread. I hope to be able to try this on one of my 47s soon. Currently plan on putting one of the Commodores back to stock but the other Commodore, the coupe and the sedan will probably get the hot rod treatment and this information will be invaluable. Has anyone used any Ford model rotor and/or caliper or can this only be done using Jeep parts?

Ducor Kid

Savoy64

Have you done this on stepdowns?

I want to put disc on my 50 Pacemaker.

Larry

[Deleted User]

Hi Hudson Dave here . If you want to put disc brakes on your hudson give me a call I will be more than happy to explain step by step proceeders for disc brakes for under $125.00 The last time I explaind on the form I had bruses on me for weeks . LOL Hudson Dave [url]www.FatWhiteWalls.com:[/url])

Unknown

hey i started doing a stepdown front per an article in the white triangle news---the guy used a thin lincoln rear rotor--as i did it i didnt like how it looked----so i put it back stock----then i did a javelin with lowering -plates and a 12" rotor off a 98 cherokee and the caliper off an 85 jeep cherokee----right now i am setting up a loose hudson differential with the lincoln town car (thin) rotor and subaru front calipers----hey all the new crown victoria police cars run these thin rear rotors so why not

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and the subaru fronts have long very flexible emergency cables on them----you can run them anywhere you want--tie them in knots even----bob

Unknown

birdman you can use any caliper than uses a bolt on bracket----most of the new stuff out here has the differential with cast on brackets to hold the caliper----some guys like the chevy fronts that ride on 2 pins--and speedway sells bracket kits for the chevy, fullsize and metric----when you are wanting an ebrake on the rear you get really limited---lincoln MK VII and a GM tag axle car--for a vented disc---and this subaru caliper on the thin disc is really good---another good and plentiful bracket front is off any mopar rwd car or truck--2 bolts----make a plate to fit

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after i get this rear end looking right i am going to pull the loose drum off the pacemaker and start the setup again with a vented 96 grand cherokee rotor and see which caliper/ bracket fits over it the best----bob

[Deleted User]

Hudson Dave

Could you supply a link to the thread where you described the disc brake conversion. Have looked but can't seem to find a search tool for this web site. Thanks!!

Unknown

Hi I am trying to change over to discs on a 37 Terraplane front. If you are abvle to get info on that I would be happy to hear about it. I have some Ideas but they would not apply to the coil independant of yours. I am looking at Toyota discs that seperate from the hubs if I take off the drum and us the rotor in its place then build a braket to support the caliper I have chance. Still looking the clearances. Val

Unknown

hey oldmoparguy

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there are alot of rotors out there that already have the 5 on 4 1/2 pattern drilled in them--that toyota should have 6 holes in it----the ones i looked at are the 96 grand cherokee-99 intrepid-96 maxima and the 85 lincoln MK VII rear----for my 50 stepdown the lincoln has just about the right offset to work with a 90 S10 front caliper--i have made a steel plate pattern (1/8 inch thick) and found it will have to mount on the backside of the flange to work---this is the flange the drum backing plate bolts onto----this monday i am going to the laser cutter and have him burn a couple of brackets out of 1/4 inch plate for the first mockup----when i have them back i am going to have my son take pictures of the assembly to show how it works then i will post it on a new thread---i will also hopefully have pictures of a stock hudson differential with mounted calipers and discs--a different style on each side--for show and tell---one side will have the 96 cherokee rotor covered by an 85 lincoln rear caliper(i have done about 15 of these on 8 3/4-dana 60 and 9 inch axles) the other will be a thin rotor (crown vic or taurus) covered by a 90 subaru front caliper

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now back to that toyota idea--awhile back i was told that some rodders were using the toyota front caliper because it had twin pistons and was fairly compact design---now i am going to have to take a peek at the toyota stuff at the pickapart next time----bob (anothermoparguy)

Unknown

Hey guys,im a noob of course but i was wondering will any of these set ups work with a 49 plymouth,or any ideas.there arent to many people around here that get it if you know what i mean.Also the wheel base is 118 inches and some one said i might be able to justswap out the whole frame ,but its fine ,and i dont want to use a sub frame,just for brakes.

Unknown

i have my pattern at the laser cutters right now---it uses the 85 lincoln MK VII rear vented rotor and is covered by an S10 front caliper (2 pin metric)---i have heard the toyota 4x4 truck has a compact 2 piston caliper that some rodders have used----the truck rotor has 6 lugs which would make it hard to drill in the correct 4 1/2 pattern----my pattern cutter promised he would be done this friday----hopefully this weekend i will have the 50 stepdown up on the lift and will have my son take pictures to post on a new thread---bob