8.75 disc brake conversion kit without parking brake

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JGC403

JGC403

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Does anyone know of a conversion kit that comes with calipers without a built in parking brake? And fits in a 14" steel wheel. We are converting the '57 DeSoto over to disc brakes all around. These cars had the parking brake on the driveshaft. I want to keep the factory parking brake. So I need to find a kit that fits in a 14" wheel and doesn't have a parking brake built into the caliper.
 
I think you have to use the parking brake on a regular basis. Applying the parking brake adjust the rear calipers. That is how the Cadillac calipers work that cam in the RamMan kit that I got for my truck 9.25" rear. If you don't use the parking brake on a regular basis the rear brakes will basically stop working. DrDiff kit uses Cobra calipers, not sure if they work the same way as the Cadillac ones or not.

Now if someone made a kit like the Wilwood Kit that has the parking brake inside the rotor hub, then I could just leave out the parking brake stuff. But none of the Wilwood kit will fit in a 14" wheel.
140-12208-D_kit-lg.jpg

https://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/BrakeKitsProdRear?itemno=140-12208-D
 
I guess I'm wrong Wilwood does make a kit that MIGHT fit in a 14" steel wheel.
Wilwood Disc Brakes - Rear Brake Kit Part No: 140-11386-DR

But man that is a lot more braking than I really need for the rear of the car. The only one I know of for front brakes is the Scarebird kit and that uses a 11.75" Cordoba rotor and Chevy single piston sliding caliper. The brake balance wouldn't be very good I don't think with the Scarebird kit up front and the Wilwood kit in the rear.
 
street rod manufacturing (TSM as I remember) makes kit I used without a parking brake. It uses monte carlo calipers and caddy or lincon discs. unsure about the 14" wheel though. I used 15's
 
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I did not know that on the e brake For adjustment. How would the front disc brakes adjust? But thanks for that information.
 
KB9GIB said:
I did not know that on the e brake For adjustment. How would the front disc brakes adjust? But thanks for that information.
Click to expand...

Its just with calipers with the built in parking brake mechanism. Fronts don't apply. That is how the GM caliper works. I'm not sure about the Cobra ones.

91031046_L_d46d1763-3462-4eb0-b814-c8a4c7de21a7.webp

That is what the GM caliper looks like that has the built in parking brake. I think its a stupid GM design, but it was the only kit available that fit my truck 9.25" rear with my factory 15" aluminum turbine wheels. The Chrysler parking brake setup that is inside the rotor hat like the Wilwood setup is a much better design in my opinion.
 
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roccodart440 said:
street rod manufacturing (TSM as I remember) makes kit I used without a parking brake. It uses monte carlo calipers and caddy or lincon discs. unsure about the 14" wheel though. I used 15's
Click to expand...

I’ve got the same parts - requires 15 in wheels
 
KB9GIB said:
I did not know that on the e brake For adjustment. How would the front disc brakes adjust? But thanks for that information.
Click to expand...

I did not know that either, I just left them disconnected, I wonder if I need to hook up (install everything related to) the parking brake in order to adjust them properly now. That might explain why I can't lock the rears up.
 
If you watch a video on how to rebuild these GM calipers, you will see how it works. But every time you apply the parking brake it ratches the piston in and takes up the slack from the brake pads wearing. What the guy is doing in the video, I would only do if I applied the parking brake pedal and the parking brake didn't grab anymore.
 
But if anyone is interested I found a disc brake kit that doesn't use the GM calipers with a built in parking brake. But if you decide you could switch the calipers out for the Parking brake equiped calipers if so desired at a later date, from what I understand talkin to the guy.
He also builds kits for both the tapered axle shaft and the flanged axle shaft. So if you have a pre-1965 8 3/4 rear and don't want to go thru the hassle of converting it over to the flanged axle shaft then with this kit you don't need to. And it fits in a 14" steel wheel. This is the route I'm going with the DeSoto. I'm keeping the tapered shafts. If you are thinking of doing this you will need to sacrifice the brake backing plate because the seal is built into the backing plate on pre-1965 8 3/4.

AAJ Brake Conversion Web Page
 
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