disc conversion

Hey All, in the new Brothers flyer there is a disc brake conversion kit for a chevy rear end from 51 to 87 10/12 bolt rearends. anybody know anything about this kit Will it fit on our vans . I can't help thinking they used the same diffs .

By the years they claim it fits; it sound like a very universal kit and will probably fit on.

I have built about every brake combination you could put onto these vans.

I have to start with confessing I dont hold a high opinion on rear disc brakes for these vans.

You are not going to improve the rear brake performance with rear discs over the factory rear drums. The factory rear drum brakes on these vans when properly operating provide more than enough rear brakes. (in fact you usually have to detune the rear drums with correct proportioning valve) My manual disc/drum set up on my 68 brakes and stops noticeably better than the power disc/disc set up on my 65.

Converting the van rear axle 10 bolt or 12 bolt to disc brakes.

first you need to make sure the rear end is not worn out. C clip rear ends dont do disc brakes as well as captured bearing rear ends. You need to make sure your axles have much less than .050" end play. If the axles move in and out more than that you will have constant low pedal issues. I have seen many hot rodders put rear discs on their 1960s and 1970s C clip rear ends just to take it all back off and go back to drums a few months later.

You do need to change up the hydraulic system with correct valving to make the brakes work properly Any hydraulic arrangement will make the brakes work. "Work Properly" is the operative word here. So you need to consider the right combination valve, a 2lb residual check valve and probably a replacement master cylinder depending on what you have now.

You also need to make consideration for a park brake system; realizing many rear calipers are dependent on a properly set up parking brake cable system in order to maintain continuous caliper/piston adjustment. If not the rear calipers will go out of adjustment within weeks of use and you will have to get under there and ratchet the pistons back into adjustment every few weeks.

Ultimately it has been my experience that rear disc do not provide better braking performance over the factory drum set up. They do not provide any reduction in continuous maintenance, in fact some are alot more work. most wheels need to be cleaned more often due to the brake dust. By the time the dust settles you may very well have $1000 into it.

The up side is I can brag about having four wheel disc brakes to all the car show people who think its cool. But its like every other modification you could do; just because you can dosnt mean you should, dosnt mean its going to produce an improvement.

But its not always about that. If you want it, go for it! I hope my experience with rear discs will help you make an informed decision.

One final caution; some of these "Universal" rear disc brake kits come with all crapy made in China parts and thats why they are so cheep. This can be a situation where you really will get what you pay for. Since you are doing a modification that already entails a number of problems you will have to deal with. Do yourself a favor and get a kit with quality reliable made in America parts. Yes you are going to pay alot more for that but in the end it will turn out cheeper.

M1D

Thanks M1 You convinced me I'll stay with the drums on the back

Thanks for passing along the knowledge M1