Suspension/Steering component difference, Drum vs. Disc

[go-fish]

Case is 1965 Barracuda 273, drum/drum. I'm putting on a drum to disc swap that utilizes a caliper bracket that uses the original drum calipers and KH calipers. Looking into front suspension rebuild kits and I see different listings for drum and disc cars. I suppose I would be needing to stick with the drum suspension rebuild components because all else is the same for me except the spindle outward.
I'm interested in the "Why?". The parts list and p/n's looks exactly the same according to Kanter's site except for the ball joints. Are drum car ball joints REALLY different than a disc car ball joints? This is the only early-A I have ever owned and this seems foreign to me. I've also never had any other Mopar where I have had to specify between a drum/disc car when rebuilding a suspension. Is the difference in ball joint taper, length, diameter?

Available suspension kits Search

This is the brake conversion

 

[junkyardhero]

drum ball joints utilize smaller attaching bolts.

 

[chewy]

drum ball joints utilize smaller attaching bolts.

Looking at that kit in the link, it looks like it uses the 10" drum spindles, so the ball joint wouldn't need to be touched.

When I upgraded mine, I had picked up everything from a 66 formula S, so I had to go with the larger bolts and new ball joint.

 

[junkyardhero]

Looking at that kit in the link, it looks like it uses the 10" drum spindles, so the ball joint wouldn't need to be touched.

When I upgraded mine, I had picked up everything from a 66 formula S, so I had to go with the larger bolts and new ball joint.

yeah i think he's rebuilding it while doing the switch-a-roo so he's on the hunt for the correct ball joints.

 

[JDMopar]

Did a 65 Barracuda even have 10" drums as an option? OP may need spindles as well if they didn't. That brake kit looks like the one SSBC sells. I had a nice set of those with spindles that I sold a year or so ago. They are nice brakes. The only thing I raised an eyebrow at was the spacer that goes between the seal and the spindle. Drum brake spindles need the drum brake ball joints because of the smaller bolts, as JYH mentioned above.

 

[junkyardhero]

Did a 65 Barracuda even have 10" drums as an option? OP may need spindles as well if they didn't. That brake kit looks like the one SSBC sells. I had a nice set of those with spindles that I sold a year or so ago. They are nice brakes. The only thing I raised an eyebrow at was the spacer that goes between the seal and the spindle. Drum brake spindles need the drum brake ball joints because of the smaller bolts, as JYH mentioned above.

V8's did

 

[JDMopar]

V8's did

Yet even one MORE thing the crackheads in GA that I bought my 65 Commando Barracuda from changed! The car has 9" drums on the front. No matter though....gonna do a BBP swap anyway.

 

[junkyardhero]

Yet even one MORE thing the crackheads in GA that I bought my 65 Commando Barracuda from changed! The car has 9" drums on the front. No matter though....gonna do a BBP swap anyway.

knowing mopar it could've been a mid year change and it actually did come with 9's

all kidding aside, the 65 V8 cars that i've had all had 10's on them and the parts catalog lists 10's for our cars

 

[go-fish]

Thanks for the reply fellas. I didn't know the LBJ had different sized bolts between drum and disc cars.

 

[cudamark]

knowing mopar it could've been a mid year change and it actually did come with 9's

all kidding aside, the 65 V8 cars that i've had all had 10's on them and the parts catalog lists 10's for our cars

Yup, that's what I think. I had an original '65 Dart GT 273 4bbl with factory A/C that came with manual 9" drums. It was an earlier build, but I don't remember what it was. The later build Barracudas, Darts, and Valiants with V8's I had were all 10" drum. I'm not sure when the cut-off must have been.