Drum to Disc on Early A Body Problem

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rod7515

rod7515

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Working on a 66 Dart that had a 273 originally. It had the standard front drum brakes and I am changing it to disc brakes. I purchased a set up from another member on this site. If I remember correctly he said the rotors and calipers were from a Cordoba. I am fitting everything together and when my steering is turned all the way to the right/left the caliper bracket is touching the backside of the lower control arms. It looks like it can be easily remedied by just grinding a small portion from the bracket but I wanted to see if anyone else has had this issue. Check the pics below to see what I referring too.
Thanks Rod

View attachment DSCN3991.jpg

View attachment DSCN3992.jpg

View attachment DSCN3995.jpg
 
Oh, one more thing. From center of turn radius I have 2 full turns either direction before it touches here.
Can someone else verify how far their steering wheel will turn each direction from center on an early A Body. I have all stock steering gear.
Thanks again, Rod
 
Am I not mistaken that the newer style disc brake setup mounts to the front of the rotor, not the back??

Also, with a manual box, my car turns just shy of 1 3/4 turns center to lock each way!
 
I do believe that if you use the newer style you have to grind that stop nub off for the needed clearance. I also have the larger style brakes on my 69 dart and had to grind them off.
 
If the turning radius is only 1 3/4 then I will be good with just grinding a small amount of clearance. In the last photo you see that the lower ball joint assembly is within a 1/8" from touching the stop on the lower control arm. Glad to hear someone else has run into this. I hate when no one else has ever had the same issue because you know that means something is drastically wrong and you are going to have to open your wallet again! As for the calipers I am fairly certain they should go on the back side on this application.
Thanks, Rod

I noticed after posting that the word calipers was underlined. Didnt want to offend you so I thought I would tell you it did that on its own. I notice that often when posting.
 
cosgig, After replying to your post you got me thinking about the caliper position so I started checking for pics on where the caliper should be front or back. I went to the net and found them mounted both ways. See pics:
Caliper to rear
View attachment Disc brake setup 1.jpg

Caliper to front
View attachment Disc brake setup.jpg

Now I am confused! which way should I mount them. I also found another post from pettyblue with his pic showing it on the front as you described. I dont know if the Cordoba VS Duster location is different or not. I was told when I bought these parts that they were from a Cordoba and thats what I bought the calipers for. Does it make a difference? One of the rear mounted articles I found said having them on the rear kept dirt from entering the rear piston caliper area. The biggest difference I can see it would make would be the position and angle of the spindle which if wrong would make alignment impossible. I looked at that tonight and They may be on wrong sides. Is there a way to tell? Part number for brackets or spindles? Thanks for pointing this out. Now I just have to figure if its on right or wrong. Im hoping someone can help figure this out.
Rod
 
I have those same spindles on my roadrunner and have the calipers in the rear, not sure if the A body is any different as far as the clearance issue- but im pretty sure those spindles are symetrical. You should be able to find all kinds of info on this site and many others. Mopar muscle magazine did an article comparing those spindles to the A body spindles years ago that was informative, but I cant remember what issue. good luck, you will love your new brakes.
 
rod7515 said:
cosgig, After replying to your post you got me thinking about the caliper position so I started checking for pics on where the caliper should be front or back. I went to the net and found them mounted both ways. See pics:
Caliper to rear
View attachment 1714786116

Caliper to front
View attachment 1714786117

Now I am confused! which way should I mount them. I also found another post from pettyblue with his pic showing it on the front as you described. I dont know if the Cordoba VS Duster location is different or not. I was told when I bought these parts that they were from a Cordoba and thats what I bought the calipers for. Does it make a difference? One of the rear mounted articles I found said having them on the rear kept dirt from entering the rear piston caliper area. The biggest difference I can see it would make would be the position and angle of the spindle which if wrong would make alignment impossible. I looked at that tonight and They may be on wrong sides. Is there a way to tell? Part number for brackets or spindles? Thanks for pointing this out. Now I just have to figure if its on right or wrong. Im hoping someone can help figure this out.
Rod
Click to expand...

I have done research on this and on A-bodies the calipers are to be mounted in front mostly to safely run the brake lines without them rubbing or binding your suspension. But, you also want to make sure the bleed valves are at the top and pointing up to properly bleed the air. Calipers can be run in the rear as done on my '71 Pro Street Demon (improperly by previous owner) but again hose routing is an issue. Mopar Action and Mopar Muscle have both done articles on this common mistake.

Found the MOPAR ACTION tech link that I referred to: http://www.moparaction.com/tech/archive/disc-main.html

Print this and it'll shed a lot of light on front brake conversions.
 
I have mine on the rear of my 66 Valiant w/Cordoba rotors with zero issues.

on another note do I see a washer under the lower control arm on the lower ball joint?
could that be causing the issue?

also the caliper can be mounted front or rear as long as the correct hoses are used.
I unfortunately don't remember the part numbers or applications for the hoses.
 
No there is no washer on the lower ball joint. I updated this all in the members restoration on Sunday but I should have come back to this post and updated here as well. I spoke with the Dodge dealer and was told that the spindles can go either way as others have mentioned. You just have to get the correct hoses for whichever way you mount them. I changed mine to front because it gives me a better hose clearance. Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. Next thing to fight will be the mounting of the proportioning valve and routing of the new brake lines. I'm not looking forward to that!
Rod
 
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