Inliners International Forums General Discussion Drive Train REAR DISCS on '54 Pass. diff??? YES/NO/MAYBE?

I'm running a 54 pass rear end under my '47 coupe.
Are rear discs out of the question? What kind of nose bleed, conversion job would that be????????? Anyone, Anyone!
Thanks
Currently have front discs.

hmmmm......there's a few truck vendors sell disc conversions for '55 and '72 type truck rear ends...I do believe the drum brakes on these are very much like those on a '54 car rear...I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be all that difficult to do....good luck!

The backing plate must be cut down and reinstalled to retain the axles. Axles centers will have to be machine down to fit the rotors--the bolt apattern is ok. Then a bracket will have to be welded to the rear housing to hold the caliper. It is possible the rear disc from a late Camaro of Firebird could be adapted also. The other way I described I have done before but it does not provide an parking brake set-up so the latter would seem to be better---paul

Are the brake parts from a 54 passenger rear axle same as a 55? Found a rear disc kit on the Danchuck 5-6-7 site for those years.

The brake shoes and drums are the same(bendix)thru 64 on Chev.pass. car but the backing plate and it's attachment to the axle is different.I would think it might be possible to modify their kit and make it work but that's a guess at best. The axles would still need to be machined.I made my own caliper mount but Speedway sells a weld on bracket that should work( cheap). If the mount bracket that you obtain is for a GM intermediate style caliper, you could possibly use the rear calipers from a Olds Toronado which incorporated an emergency brake. I use this caliper set-up on the back of Ford rears regularly with great success---I have future plans to design and build a rear dics set-up(bolt on) for my 50'hrdtop.Hopefully next month!With limited number of wrecking yards in this area and the cost of new parts for older vehicles ,in many cases it is actually cheaper to convert to dics.I put over 15,000 miles on my "huck"brakes last year and I am ready to "ditch" them. Just some thoughts --Paul

i do believe that speedway motors has a bolt/weld on kit for around 350. check their sit. i know they have one for 53. cant be much different.

yes it can be done & i'll bet using oem style replacement parts & not one of those hi dollar kits. i'm using S10 4wd rotors on the front hub of my 50 coupe. this is a "hat" style rotor & gm used it on alot of different vehichles including the rear of some! with just a little machine work to your axle flange ( & maybe the rotor too ),the aforementioned backing plate mod. buy or make a caliper bracket & there you are. a popular choice of caliper is from a certain model cadillac ( not sure which ) that has a really neat hookup for the e-brake cable. it's the same caliper that's used in alot of these kits. i believe the same cad uses those same rotors in the back as the S10 4wd uses in front. an investigative trip to the local auto salvage & auto parts store would confirm all this but i think i'm right. anybody knows better let us know.
when i still had the torque tube rear in my '50 pickup i thought of doing the same thing using 6 lug rotors from 71-87 1/2 ton 4wd pickup. seems relatively simple. hitork, let us know what you think, 'specially if you decide to do it!

If you can find one cheap enough, my friend has an 2001 GMC sonoma (S10) 4X4 which has a disc brake rearend. So no issues with adapters, kits, etc... needed. Not sure how many models or years they used it, but they did do it.

Dear HT;

I would save your money.

In a 'panic' stop the full weight of your coupe (3200#) is thrown forward puting the major load on the disc setup & away from the rear (Bendix)
which work well on cars/trucks much heaver and have for years.

Why try to re-invent the wheel??

Good luck, John M.....

John brings up a very valid point. There is no argument that rear disc brakes look good through an open wheel and they perform better under severe braking conditions. So except for the looks the average street driven vehicle has nothing to gain from rear discs. A call to Master Power Brake in North Carolina will confirm this. They sell rear disc kits for almost anything and they will tell you straight out that unless the vehicle is being road raced a good set of drum brakes in the rear is all you'll ever need on the street.

Weight of the components and simpler repair and replacement is the biggest reason you find them on all 4 corners of most production cars today. It certainly isn't because your new Oriental Econo Box is a hard core canyon carver.

Mike

they sure are easier to work on.