70 Dart Kelsey Hayes rotors

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Minimum thickness is usually cast into the back of the rotor, and everything that i have ever seen is.790.
Don't sweat it, if the rotors come out somewhat under that figure.
There had to be a standard thickness number, and that's what has always been used.
 
I remember seeing that spec stamped into a KH rotor I had turned.
hemi71x said:
Minimum thickness is usually cast into the back of the rotor, and everything that i have ever seen is.790.
Don't sweat it, if the rotors come out somewhat under that figure.
There had to be a standard thickness number, and that's what has always been used.
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Nitro67 said:
Are there any places left that sells the rotor with 5x4 hubs?? I can’t find any without upgrading to another disc brake setup. Would like to keep it original if possible. Any help would be appreciated!
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Just clean them up and sand the brake surface with 80 grit sandpaper to clean up the rust and break the glaze. Don't turn or replace the rotors unless they pulse when you brake. Then it is time to get new rotors. Those hubs are very hard to find, let alone Left hand studs.
 
Back in the dinosaur days of the 60's and early 70's, the way that you purchased a rotor from the Chrysler parts system, it came with a hub.
The aftermarket parts, as far as i know, and remember, never sold their rotor with a hub.
You had to press the hub off the shot rotor, and put the hub onto the new rotor.
For years, back in the old days, you couldn't get replacement rotors for these Kelsey Hayes disc brake system, as none of the aftermarket parts manufacturers were making them.
Then all of a sudden, some foundry started making them again, and Wagner, Bendix, Centric, bought them, and then started selling them under their name.
Back in the day, i bought lots of these brakes at the Pick-N-Pull wrecking yards, when parts like this were find able on wrecked cars.
And at one time i couldn't get any rotors for the systems that needed rotor replacements.
Now a days, rotors are pretty much obtanium, until an ocean boat gets a load of them from China, to some port, here in the USA.
Then all the parts vendors, will have rotors, back in stock again, but who knows when that's gonna be?
 
cudamark said:
You don't need that much extra for wear. The factory says .790 is the minimum thickness to machine the rotor, and discard at .780, but, I've turned them thinner without a problem. I wouldn't go any thinner than .760 however, as you might get a piston leak once the pads get thin.
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Thank-You. Where did you find that info? My 70 & 71 manuals do not make mention of that.
 
Have a look at this:

Restoring and tweaking 4-piston disc brakes

The key bit of info:

Factory literature of the period stated emphatically that these rotors were not to be machined thinner, but replaced if the grooving made the rotor unuseable. Research has uncovered the reason for that statement: the factory had little confidence in the ability of the lathes then in use to properly maintain runout and thickness variation specs, which are:
  • Minimum thickness: 0.750"
  • Maximum TI.R.: 0.0025
  • Max thickness variation (parallelism:) 0.0005"
Today, however, every garage has equipment capable of easily maintaining those tolerances, so machining is now considered acceptable.

This article is from almost 30 years ago and things have come full circle because today, every garage that had a brake lathe has gotten rid of it since nobody bothers turning rotors anymore!

I have to decide if I'm going to search for a local garage to machine my KH rotors, or just bite the bullet and install the 73+ front end I have sitting in my shed.
 
Centric C-Tek Standard Brake Rotor 121.63005 | 121.63005

I decided to order two of those KH rotors from Vivid Racing as their ad said "In stock" so i figured the slow boat from China came in with a cargo of brake rotors.
Well, come to find out that Vivid Racing doesn't physically have them at their store, but they "drop ship" them from their vendor, which i assume is Centric.
Haven't gotten any ship date, or tracking number from them, or any reply to my e mail asking if they are in stock, or back ordered, for who knows how long.
So, I'm playing a waiting game.
They got my money, and as now, i don't have anything to show for it.
So, be advised, to the membership that's reading this reply.
Jim V.
hemi71x
 
EDIT:
With an update.
Just received a e mail from Vivid Racing that Centric doesn't expect to have rotors until sometime during the month of JUNE.
Then when June does actually come around, will they actually have them, or put the date further off, all over again?
Now i have got to go thru the hassle of having Vivid Racing put my payment back into my Pay Pal account, and cancelling out this order.
And i wrote them they need to take down their "in stock" notification on their web site for the rotors.
They're doing false advertising, right now.
Jim V.
hemi71x

This is turning out to be lots of BS for me now.
Vivid Racing just got back with me with my request to cancel out this order and put my payment back into my Pay Pal account.
They take my money right away, and they now won't put money back into my account for anywhere from 7 to 10 Business days.
That's a bunch of bull s*#t.
My .02 cents with this company is to tell you to stay away from them.
Jim V.
hemi71x
 
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That sucks. I just spoke with the guy that is rebuilding my heads. He has had them since the beginning of November. Parts are a big problem and some are a 4-6 month wait.
I have a flag set with Rockauto so I get notified when those rotors become available. I think I can save mine but grabbing a spare set might not be a bad idea.
 
I have a set of underused rotors from 1987 if interested! No Hubs as previously mentioned.

I upgraded to 4" pattern slotted and drilled Bestop units in 2014, Not sure if they are still available.

IMGP1754.JPG
 
Like someone said earlier if the rotors are not warped or scored put some 80 grit on a hard sanding block and rough up the surface to break the glaze. Then wipe down with Brake Parts Cleaner. That will give the new brake pads a nice surface so the pads seat correctly. I did that to my rotors like 10 years ago and still working great.

BrakeRotors.JPG


FrontBrakes.JPG
 
I've got new rotors from brakeperformance.com. They worked fine. They are cast in Canada or S. America (EPA has banned a lot of casting in the U.S. and it is considered too dirty a process). These rotors are machined to spec in the USA. They were $118.28 plus tax on 7/11/22. Free shipping. They were very nice as well.
 
DavidW said:
I've got new rotors from brakeperformance.com. They worked fine. They are cast in Canada or S. America (EPA has banned a lot of casting in the U.S. and it is considered too dirty a process). These rotors are machined to spec in the USA. They were $118.28 plus tax on 7/11/22. Free shipping. They were very nice as well.
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Thanks for this. Right now, $81.05 a pair with free shipping for the standard replacement rotors. Fancy ones are extra.
 
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