65 Barracuda Disc Brake Conversion Help Needed

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68HAVOK

68HAVOK

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Here is what I have.
74 Duster 10" Drum spindles
Wilwood disc brake conversion kit for 65 Barracuda with 10" drums
Tubular UCA'S from PST
Entire from end rebuild kit from PST for a 65 Barracuda

I'm having problems with the Lower ball joints not working with the spindles. If I get some ball joints for a 74 Duster will that be the only thing I need for everything to work together properly?
Anything else I'm missing?
Thanks in advance!
 
Here is what problem I have.

IMG_20170115_134228654_HDR1.jpg
 
You need the '74 lower ball joints, should solve that problem. The bolt spacing on the earlier drum set ups was different.
 
Good info. That looks like a much stronger spindle, and 1974 lower ball joints are cheaper and easier to source. In 1965 10" drum spindles, one lower hole is tapped. I found that out the hard way, after beating out a "rusted" bolt only to find I destroyed the threads.
 
If I comprehend correct you have a Wilwood brake conversion kit for a 65 Barracuda with drum brakes. You are using 74 drum spindles which are different from the 65 and the kit may not work.
 
chryslerfat said:
If I comprehend correct you have a Wilwood brake conversion kit for a 65 Barracuda with drum brakes. You are using 74 drum spindles which are different from the 65 and the kit may not work.
Click to expand...
You are correct. I guess we shall see. Calling PST and Wilwood today.
 
So I got the 74 A body Lower ball joints on thier way. I think I may have another problem I'll run into though as chryslerfat had noted. I bought this kit for a 65 Barracuda with factory 10" Drum brakes.
https://m.summitracing.com/parts/wil-140-11023-d

After calling Wilwood they said I would need a different kit. This one...
https://m.summitracing.com/parts/wil-140-11019-d

But I see a note that says that the second kit only works with disc spindles and not drum.

Anyone out there know what I should do?
 
So...after being on the phone for half a day with PST and Wilwood...
Got the 140-11019-D Wilwood kit ordered and will return the 140-11023-D

Wilwood stated that kit 140-11019-D will in fact work with A body 73+ 10" Drum spindle. For those that need that info for future reference.

Got the lower ball joints on order for a 73+ Abody. The PST tubular upper control arms will only work with a 73+ spindle that is for disc brakes (we shall see if they work from drum) or thier 2" drop spindles they carry, I'm sure other drop spindles as well. Not going to buy any unless I have to.

I'll update when the parts get in.
 
The tubular UCA "should work" since I think there was only one UCA PN for either disk/drum in 1974+. But, people say they used 72- drum spindles thru 73 and maybe longer. When true, the wheels were still SBP. But, your drum spindle is obviously the later style. Same deal for disk/drum in 72-, but a different UCA. The difference is the 73+ UCA has a larger ball joint w/ thicker tapered stud. You can buy an adapter sleeve to fit an early UCA ball joint stud into a 73+ spindle hole (many use to install factory 73+ disk spindles in 72- car). But, can't go the other way. So, if you must change to a 72- 10" drum spindle, the tubular UCA probably won't work, but PST may have one that will.
 
BillGrissom said:
The tubular UCA "should work" since I think there was only one UCA PN for either disk/drum in 1974+. But, people say they used 72- drum spindles thru 73 and maybe longer. When true, the wheels were still SBP. But, your drum spindle is obviously the later style. Same deal for disk/drum in 72-, but a different UCA. The difference is the 73+ UCA has a larger ball joint w/ thicker tapered stud. You can buy an adapter sleeve to fit an early UCA ball joint stud into a 73+ spindle hole (many use to install factory 73+ disk spindles in 72- car). But, can't go the other way. So, if you must change to a 72- 10" drum spindle, the tubular UCA probably won't work, but PST may have one that will.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. I should know this next weekend. PST said it should work. I'll make sure to update you all.
 
According to PST and Wilwood they didn't have any record of there being a difference between the 73+ disc/drum spindle. I asked specifically about that. It was a concern of mine as I was going to get thier 2" drop spindles to be done with all this. They said it would work on the 74 duser drum spindle. Are they wrong?
 
I am not sure because none of the online catalogs I have looked at tell me if the upper joint is different between disc and drum. That would be your answer.
 
chryslerfat said:
I am not sure because none of the online catalogs I have looked at tell me if the upper joint is different between disc and drum. That would be your answer.
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They said the exact same. They had no record of any other parts so let's hope that it works. I'm sure this info will help others in the future.
 
The 73+ drum cars used large ball joints. They retained the small bolt pattern on the drums, but the spindles use the same ball joints as the 73+ disk spindles. 73+ A-bodies had the same UCA's regardless of brake package. That does not mean the spindles are the same, 73+ drum spindles are NOT the same as 73+ disk spindles and those brake companies should know that because there are disk conversions specifically designed for 73+ drum spindles. But the upper ball joint taper is the same, they use the same UCA.

I have heard stories of a few possible exceptions, but they are the exception, not the rule. Remember these cars are 40+ years old, just because a 73+ car has small ball joint UCA's and brakes doesn't mean it came from the factory that way. Probably just means someone swapped the disks onto their car and put the 67-72 brakes on the parts donor to keep it rolling. A lot can happen in that amount of time. Old drag racers used to swap disks to drums because they thought they had less rolling resistance too.

If you're not sure, measure the taper diameter for the ball joint.
 
So do you think I'm goin to need to find some 73+ disc spindles for all of this to work together? PST tubular upper control arms, the Wilwood disc brake kit 140-11019 and I already have the lower and upper ball joints on thier way from PST for a 1974 duster (those should be here tomorrow).
 
Maybe the drop spindles are the way to go. The front does sit pretty high.

20161225_151745.jpg
 
Clroads said:
The drum and disk spindles are different for 73-76. They both use the the larger upper ball joints and the lower ball joints. The drum spindles for 73-76 used larger inner wheel bearings then earlier 72 and previous. AR Engineering used to make adapters to utilize viper calipers with the 73-76 drum spindles

[SOLD] - Mopar DRUM Brake Spindles 73-76 A Body Cars Dart Valiant

73-76 disk spindles
1976 MOPAR,DUSTER SPINDLES,DISC BRAKES , CORRECT FOR CONVERSION ,MOPARS 1962 UP | eBay

View attachment 1715011298

View attachment 1715011310
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Thanks for the info. I ordered some drop spindles. Should be here by this weekend. Should all go together now. PST has been really great in working with me. The discount for our forum members is awesome too.
 
Do they make a dropped spindle for 65 'stock' application? I got the 'ol torsion bars turned down which is not ideal...but is free and hasn't seemed to change anything drive-wise. Im using OEM 67 stuff so it was 'almost' a bolt on as I believe I used the 10" Drum LCA (brand new) and just drilled out the 1/2 bolt holes to 9/16 (very slowly and LOTS of cutting oil as only the tip of the drill flutes contact the metal). that was the only difference between the disk and drum LCA's for that year.
 
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