Which way do the calipers go?

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Mad Mopar

Mad Mopar

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I think I screwed up with my disc brake conversion on my 72 Dart Swinger. It had 9" drums and I got from Mancini's the MBM DBK 6272 4.5" disc conversion and the instructions are a little vague so my question is do the calipers go on forward or behind on the front spindles?
spindle.jpg
 
A buddy of mine did a disc brake swap and could not get the brakes to bleed correctly. One look showed the bleeders facing down. Flipped them side to side and all was right.
Like Demonracer said: topside.
 
The calipers can go to the front or the rear, the spindles can be swapped side to side. All you have to do is make sure the bleeders are on the top and the brake lines are long enough if you put them in the back.

The 73-76 calipers were in the front from the factory. If your ‘72 has a front sway bar you might want to mount them to the rear though, because the 73+ brakes will interfere with the sway bar on 67-72 cars. If you put them to the rear, you need longer brake hoses.
 
Mine didn't come with a sway bar so when I started this weekend I thought which way? I did read that 72 and older in rear and 73 and newer in front but thought apart from sway bar shoudn't matter. Oh the pic is the passenger side. The one thing I did notice is how little of the thread showing on the upper balljoint.
 
CALIPERS ON REAR OF SPINDLE OR BRAKE HOSE WILL BE 9 MILES LONG.. I BOUGHT A DISC SWAP FROM A GUY WHO DID THAT!...HAD TO SWITCH EM
 
ph23vo said:
CALIPERS ON REAR OF SPINDLE OR BRAKE HOSE WILL BE 9 MILES LONG.. I BOUGHT A DISC SWAP FROM A GUY WHO DID THAT!...HAD TO SWITCH EM
Click to expand...

Wow, 9 miles huh? And you didn't have to switch them, plenty of people run the calipers mounted to the rear with no issues whatsoever.

The common, off the shelf hose that works well if you mount the calipers to the rear is a front brake hose from a '69 Camaro with disk brakes. That hose is 15.7" long. The factory brake hose for a '74 Dart is 11.8" long. So the difference is less than 4". And it's not like you need some custom length hose, the solution is still a factory length hose. Just a different factory :D

The calipers work just fine mounted to the rear as long as you mount the calipers so the bleeders are up and you use the proper length brake hose. I've run the 73+ calipers in both locations, it doesn't make a difference unless they're interfering with the sway bar or you run the wrong length hose. The calipers don't care and there are plenty of ways to safely route the longer hose if you have a little common sense.
 
I've often wondered if mounting the caliper in front of the spindle vs behind affects the design "dive" characteristics of the suspension under hard braking situations. I don't know the answer, just asking for other opinions.
 
ph23vo said:
CALIPERS ON REAR OF SPINDLE OR BRAKE HOSE WILL BE 9 MILES LONG.. I BOUGHT A DISC SWAP FROM A GUY WHO DID THAT!...HAD TO SWITCH EM
Click to expand...
NINE MILES ??? ARE YOU SURE?
(Caps lock ain't cool!)
 
rustycowll69 said:
I've often wondered if mounting the caliper in front of the spindle vs behind affects the design "dive" characteristics of the suspension under hard braking situations. I don't know the answer, just asking for other opinions.
Click to expand...
The suspension will work the same.
Just for grins, I have wondered if moving the calipers to the rear could even affect the Fr/Rr center of gravity? Yeah, it is probably so small of a change it isn't worth mentioning.
 
rustycowll69 said:
I've often wondered if mounting the caliper in front of the spindle vs behind affects the design "dive" characteristics of the suspension under hard braking situations. I don't know the answer, just asking for other opinions.
Click to expand...
Kern Dog said:
The suspension will work the same.
Just for grins, I have wondered if moving the calipers to the rear could even affect the Fr/Rr center of gravity? Yeah, it is probably so small of a change it isn't worth mentioning.
Click to expand...

I mean, in theory, yes. You'd move the CG of the car back, which would effect weight transfer, which would also effect the amount of dive on braking.

But you're gonna have to go right of the decimal to see the difference, and you sure as heck won't feel it. I mean we're talking infinitesimal. The difference in dive you probably can't even measure by any normal means, you'd be well within the margin for error with any kind of reasonable test. The CG you could calculate, but again, I seriously doubt it would even show up on the "whole numbers" side of the decimal.

You're not moving enough weight far enough to make a difference that anyone would notice in a normal application.
 
The practice of shifting weight around is an interesting one.
The vendors of the aftermarket front end kits all seem to brag about weight savings. Of course they compare their manual steering rack to the OEM power steering setups to exaggerate their claims. Magnum Force was one that first offered a coil over setup that used the stock shock absorber mount to fully support the car, a design idea that looks like something that Wile E Coyote ordered from ACME suspension. They took the Mopar design of low mounted torsion bars and eliminated that by moving weight forward and UP, even though the weight was less. Even if the shock mounts were beefy enough, is this any actual gain?
I know that I am not a skilled enough driver to detect even 50 lbs moved from the extreme front to the middle. When you are driving a 3500-4000 lb car, that is next to nothing.
 
How much do nine mile long brake hoses cost?
 
The calipers are un sprung weight. Where they hang is irrelevant. Today’s vehicles run calibers both front and rear.
No rhyme or reason.
 
I've often wondered about this too.
When braking, the force has to be transferred to the chassis, going thru the UCA bushings and the strutrod bushing, and I guess some goes thru the LCA bushing. Does it make a difference to them where the calipers are mounted? Does it make a difference to the steering geometry when the wheel is trying to rotate under the car? Which BJ has to absorb/transmit the most force with which mounting way?
Jus wondering.
 
AJ/FormS said:
I've often wondered about this too.
When braking, the force has to be transferred to the chassis, going thru the UCA bushings and the strutrod bushing, and I guess some goes thru the LCA bushing. Does it make a difference to them where the calipers are mounted? Does it make a difference to the steering geometry when the wheel is trying to rotate under the car? Which BJ has to absorb/transmit the most force with which mounting way?
Jus wondering.
Click to expand...
yeah, my question pertained to the anti-torque reaction of stopping a spinning wheel/tire/ brake rotor in a panic situation. Weight transfer will occur in both situations, because of the design of the master cylinder, and brake proportioning, and plain old physics. I was wondering if it would increase/ or decrease the dive tendency.
I didn't really think it had much effect in the center of gravity department.
 
We may be overthinking the issue.
No biggie...I know a guy that LOVES to overthink stuff. One time ....
He told me that he sat one day pondering about his sprinklers....He wondered if a sprinkler with a finer mist has a greater risk of evaporation before making contact with the grass. This is not a joke, he actually thinks this way. I really like the guy though, he is a fun guy but thinks a LOT.
 
When you put Viper calipers on an A body they go to the rear.
DSC_3613 (Large).JPG
 
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