72 Satellite disk brakes on a 74 Duster

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cmorrow

cmorrow

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Hello All,
I've looked on here and on the Net and can't find a lot of information on doing this, will the disk brake set up from a 72 Satellite work on my 74 Duster? I have the Power brake booster assembly from a 76 Dart. I am thinking that this set up would work as long as I get the larger bolt upper control arms, my car has the smaller bolt control arms. I would like to economically have disk brakes and a 4.5" bolt pattern, these parts were bought for under $100. Am I on the wrong path?
Thanks,
Chris
 
It will work, but '72 B/E body spindles and rotors use a different wheel bearing than the more common 73+ parts. It's not a huge deal, but the '72 and earlier B/E rotors can be a little harder to find than the 73+ rotors. The last time I bought a set of rotors for my '72 Challenger Autozone had them for a decent price. That was before I put 73+ spindles and 11.75" rotors on it though, so its been a few years.

Dr. Diff also makes a bearing adaptor that will let you run the later 73+ rotors on those spindles if finding the '72 down rotors becomes a problem.
 
cmorrow said:
Hello All,
I've looked on here and on the Net and can't find a lot of information on doing this, will the disk brake set up from a 72 Satellite work on my 74 Duster? I have the Power brake booster assembly from a 76 Dart. I am thinking that this set up would work as long as I get the larger bolt upper control arms, my car has the smaller bolt control arms. I would like to economically have disk brakes and a 4.5" bolt pattern, these parts were bought for under $100. Am I on the wrong path?
Thanks,
Chris
Click to expand...

A 74 Duster should have large ball joint upper control arms. 73-76 A bodies had the large upper ball joint no matter the bolt pattern.
 
Jimacuda said:
A 74 Duster should have large ball joint upper control arms. 73-76 A bodies had the large upper ball joint no matter the bolt pattern.
Click to expand...

Not true. 73-6 A's with /6 and 9" drums still used the small upper ball joints. My 75 Dart Sport was that way and have seen several other the same.
 
72bluNblu said:
It will work, but '72 B/E body spindles and rotors use a different wheel bearing than the more common 73+ parts. It's not a huge deal, but the '72 and earlier B/E rotors can be a little harder to find than the 73+ rotors. The last time I bought a set of rotors for my '72 Challenger Autozone had them for a decent price. That was before I put 73+ spindles and 11.75" rotors on it though, so its been a few years.

Dr. Diff also makes a bearing adaptor that will let you run the later 73+ rotors on those spindles if finding the '72 down rotors becomes a problem.
Click to expand...

Very correct info here.
 
Hmm.

My 66 drum brake wheel bearings (Coronet) directly interchange with the 87 Fifth Ave disk brake bearings.

Could 71/72 B be a two year only part, and then they went "back" to the earlier spec?
 
1970-1972 B/E body spindles had the smaller diameter inner bearings. They changed in '73 like everything else, but unlike the '70-72 A-body stuff they were BBP. Calipers were pin-type and the same as later pin type calipers, and the rotors were originally 2-piece. The re-pop rotors are actually a one-piece now.

As far as going back to the "original" spec I have no idea. Only the inner bearing is different on the '70-72 B/E body, outer remained the same. Which is why its so easy to just use a bearing adaptor from Dr Diff and use the later rotors. The earlier part number is #12163022 from Centric, RockAuto sells them as well. But they're $55 a rotor instead of $32 for the '73+ rotors.
 
that price on the rotors is probably for the Chinese ones.
if you can still find American made ones the price would be a lot higher.
 
moparmarks said:
that price on the rotors is probably for the Chinese ones.
if you can still find American made ones the price would be a lot higher.
Click to expand...

Correct, but I don't know that there are any US made rotors for this application (or any of the stock applications, for that matter). The only other 70-72 rotor I see advertised is ACDelco Part # 18A1351A, and they're $117 on RockAuto. And since I can't find anything to suggest that those are US made, I doubt they are.

The Centric rotors aren't bad, they're a big manufacturer and I haven't had any issues with their parts. I wouldn't say they're top quality, but they've held up just find on the street when I've run them in the past.
 
moparmarks said:
Not true. 73-6 A's with /6 and 9" drums still used the small upper ball joints. My 75 Dart Sport was that way and have seen several other the same.
Click to expand...

73 A with slant could have been 9" front drums but that was the last year 9" front drum brakes were advertised as available.
I've had a half dozen 73-76 A's and not one had 9" drums. All slant 6 cars, all had the "finned" 10" drums except one with disc.
 
Sorry your right about the 10" drums but my 75 had the small upper ball joints. I know that cus that's what I had to buy when I replaced them.
Myself have owned over 300 Mopars since 1976
 
Ok here's another to throw at you how can I tell for sure whether or not I have the small or large bolt upper control arms. I do have the 10" finned drums on my car, but the nut on the ball joint is not very large?
Thanks,
Chris
 
cmorrow said:
Ok here's another to throw at you how can I tell for sure whether or not I have the small or large bolt upper control arms. I do have the 10" finned drums on my car, but the nut on the ball joint is not very large?
Thanks,
Chris
Click to expand...


Are the ball joints still installed in the UCA's?
Measure the thread size of the ball joint, for the diameter of the nut that tightens it down to the spindle.
7/16 inch, you have small ball joint.
9/16 inch, you have large ball joint.
Really easy, once you know what your looking at.
Jim V.
 
Oops, my bad.
I just re read your first posting.
UCA's from a B body car DO NOT fit into an A Body.
Makes no difference on a B Body.
They are all big ball joint.
 
Easy way to tell which A-body UCA you have is the nut on the large joint take a 7/8" socket and the nut on a small joint take an 11/16" socket
 
Perfect, I figured, it would be something as simple as that... 7/8 or 11/16 THANKS!!
 
Good news, my car has the big bolt upper control arms. I wonder if it is because the car had air? Now, I've been told that my sisters are lookers, but I'd never take there photo but my wife that's a different story. Lol
 
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