Performance Disc Brake Calipers for our trucks

[Truckstr]

Probably should have posted this thread in here instead: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=248113.

I'm looking to find out if there are any bolt-in caliper upgrades for our trucks.

Mine has the ECE 2-1/2" dropped spindles that use the '72 disc brake calipers. I'm using the 11-7/8" diam. Summit Racing drilled/slotted rotors. Are there other, better calipers that fit? Wilwood GMIIIs or?

Thanks, ya'll!

[Truckstr]

Does anybody know if the calipers from an ’82 Suburban, 3/4-ton, JD7 option, (Car Quest reman. 16-4122/16-4123) fit in place of the '72 C-10 calipers?

The '72 C10 calipers have a 2-3/4" diameter piston. The '82 Suburban JD7 option caliers have a 3-5/8" piston.

If they are interchangeable (different banjo bolt, and?), I may have to change out the master cylinder. I don't know about that yet.

[Captainfab]

Any updated info on this? I also read somewhere about the JD7 option brake calipers, and as I understood they were a bolt in swap. I did a search to try and find the original post but this thread was the only result.

[chevy72blu]

interesting..

[Truckstr]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

Any updated info on this? I also read somewhere about the JD7 option brake calipers, and as I understood they were a bolt in swap. I did a search to try and find the original post but this thread was the only result.

No, not yet. I've been concentrating on putting glock35ipsc's rear disc brake "kit" on. It uses the '95 Camaro Z/28 calipers and Impala SS rotors. Sweet setup.

As far as I've been able to determine the JD7 calipers will work, but the piston may overhang the pads. That wouldn't necessarily be a good thing due to uneven or excessive wear on the pads. I'm just going to have to take the spindle and rotor setup to the auto parts store and check it out. Now, to find an auto parts store that has JD7 clipers in stock.

[72BlckButy]

Originally Posted by chevy72blu

interesting..

[jkaylor68gmc]

Brothers new catlaog has a set of twin piston polished aluminum ones for 299.99

[Jvan]

Truckstr, Where Did You Get The Rear Kit/

[Truckstr]

Originally Posted by Jvan

Truckstr, Where Did You Get The Rear Kit/

glock35ipsc was/is selling the brackets. You just use the rear disc brake calipers (right and left) from a ~'95 Camaro Z-28 and the disc brake rotors from a ~'95 Impala SS (again, right and left). You have to use 5 on 5" axles. I have a '67 so I had to get aftermarket axles. I already had 'em since I was changing over to 5 lugs anyway. The only "glitch" that I've come across is that the rotors OR the axles have to either be ground or cut down to allow the rotor to slip over the raised portion of the axle center. I'm having my axle centers cut down so that when and if I need new rotors, then they'll be bolt-on.

Look for posts by glock. He posted a good thread about it with pics.

[Scott68-93-97]

kore 3 products makes c5 c6 corvette brake conversions for a lot of vehicles except they dont say corvette, even though they come through the same manufacter since there not marketed through GM they cant use the logo,

Also aerospace componts has a sweet setup you can buy them through ECE but there very very expensive, there the brakes used on the copperhead project stacey david did when he still hosted trucks

[Scott68-93-97]

Originally Posted by Truckstr

glock35ipsc was/is selling the brackets. You just use the rear disc brake calipers (right and left) from a ~'95 Camaro Z-28 and the disc brake rotors from a ~'95 Impala SS (again, right and left). You have to use 5 on 5" axles. I have a '67 so I had to get aftermarket axles. I already had 'em since I was changing over to 5 lugs anyway. The only "glitch" that I've come across is that the rotors OR the axles have to either be ground or cut down to allow the rotor to slip over the raised portion of the axle center. I'm having my axle centers cut down so that when and if I need new rotors, then they'll be bolt-on.

Look for posts by glock. He posted a good thread about it with pics.

For the 6 luggers out there if you buy a bracket in the rear and use GM front metric calipers ie; malibu, monte carlo late 70's 80's or caddy rears with e brake you can run 88-98 4x4 front rotors on the back and keep your six lug

[Chevysdominate]

According to the description these should work. Not sure of the quality or effectiveness though.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/47-87...temZ8027443186

[gringoloco]

Those are the ones in the Brothers catalog- $399...

[Scott68-93-97]

Originally Posted by Scott68-93-97

For the 6 luggers out there if you buy a bracket in the rear and use GM front metric calipers ie; malibu, monte carlo late 70's 80's or caddy rears with e brake you can run 88-98 4x4 front rotors on the back and keep your six lug

An ammendment to the previous post you have to modify the 4x4 rotors to fit over the axle center hub you can buy the brackets and modified rotors here http://tsmmfg.com/2531.htm and some junkyard calipers your in it a little over $300 not bad considering your other options, I do like those pretty calipers off ebay though

[Truckstr]

I'll keep that in mind, Scott. Thanks.

[68GMCCustom]

my '01 GMC had dual piston calipers up front. thats the kind of upgrade I'd like to make on mine if its possible.

[gringoloco]

Had a minor revelation upon further study of the Brothers calipers. They are the Howe Racing calipers with the name ground off- hence the reason the front section is polished- they had to hide the grinding marks some way...

Oh yeah, the Howes can be had all day long for $100 each brand new, cheaper used on racingjunk.com. Much better than the $399 Brothers wants.

[71Dragtruck]

Originally Posted by gringoloco

Had a minor revelation upon further study of the Brothers calipers. They are the Howe Racing calipers with the name ground off- hence the reason the front section is polished- they had to hide the grinding marks some way...

Oh yeah, the Howes can be had all day long for $100 each brand new, cheaper used on racingjunk.com. Much better than the $399 Brothers wants.

Right on! Your the MAN! Do these just use the stock type pad for our trucks? Would you happen to have a part # for them? Mine is a 1971 GMC with stock front disc brakes 5x5 pattern, will these bolt right on?

[Truckstr]

When the description says, "directly replaces the D52 GM caliper"; I have to make a couple of assumptions. First off, are the calipers that fit the '72 Chevy 1/2 ton truck the D52 calipers? It seems so. If so, then the D52 calipers are single piston calipers. So, will the Howe racing dual piston calipers directly replace the D52 GM calipers?

Hmmmm. Sounds like you've raised some good questions with your research. Thanks, gringoloco!

Now I've got to find the answers.

Howe racing's phone number is (989) 435-7080. I'll be checking.

---

Just FYI (a couple of the guys I work with were asking). 'Why' would anyone want dual piston calipers over single piston calipers? Answer: Dual pistons offer more piston surface area over their single piston brethren. Therefore, they allow the force on the pad to be distributed more evenly. Comparing two calipers with two different piston areas - the single piston caliper being the smaller area of the two, for this comparison - shows that less pressure will be required to be applied to the larger area to put the same pressure on the caliper. (BTW, there are also reasons why NOT to go with dual piston calipers. I'll leave that for another day).

BUT, the Howe dual piston calipers are offered in 3 different sizes: 2.125", 1.875" and 1.625". The stock '72 Chevy 1/2 ton truck calipers have a 2.75" piston. So, using the mathematical formula for the area of a circle (the piston) - pi times the radius squared or pi times the diameter squared divided by 4 - shows that the stock 2.75" piston has an area of 5.94 square inches. The Howe dual 2.125" piston calipers have a 7.094 square inch area. Good to go; right? Be careful, though. The dual 1.875" piston calipers have an area of 5.52 square inches, which is LESS than the stock GM single piston truck calipers! The dual 1.625" piston calipers have even less at 4.14 square inches. No good (i.e., not superior to the stock calipers). In contrast, the JD7 single piston caliper has 10.32 square inches of area. Wow!

So, if the Howe calipers fit, and you want better than stock, then choose the Howe calipers with dual 2.125" pistons.

Just for giggles, check out this site for more braking calcs and info: http://www.teamscr.com/grmbrakes.htm

[revn67]

hey gringoloco, where did you see the pricing for these calipers? i went on the howeracing site and there aren't any prices....i'm very interested in these calipers!

[71Dragtruck]

Originally Posted by revn67

hey gringoloco, where did you see the pricing for these calipers? i went on the howeracing site and there aren't any prices....i'm very interested in these calipers!

Summit Racing
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

[gringoloco]

Originally Posted by 71Dragtruck

Right on! Your the MAN! Do these just use the stock type pad for our trucks? Would you happen to have a part # for them? Mine is a 1971 GMC with stock front disc brakes 5x5 pattern, will these bolt right on?

Same pad. The 2 1/8" piston bores w/ 1.25 rotors are PN 33701. They are a mostly bolt-on item- see below.

Originally Posted by Truckstr

First off, are the calipers that fit the '72 Chevy 1/2 ton truck the D52 calipers?
Yes. This is a generic designation for the pad size/mounting bolt spacing. They were used on all kinds of things from small to midsize cars, trucks, and vans.

So, will the Howe racing dual piston calipers directly replace the D52 GM calipers?
Yes. But, and there's always a but, there may be minor clearancing required to the spindle depending on application. I think the Brothers description even says this.

So, if the Howe calipers fit, and you want better than stock, then choose the Howe calipers with dual 2.125" pistons.
Exactly.

Originally Posted by revn67

hey gringoloco, where did you see the pricing for these calipers? i went on the howeracing site and there aren't any prices....i'm very interested in these calipers!

They are everywhere- eBay, racingjunk, Summit, Jegs, other vendors- do a Google search. I even found a set for $80 used, and the rebuild kits for these things are cheap!


Couple of things to mention for anyone considering these:

The good:
- More surface area= potentially more braking force
- They will fit the larger D61 "cop car" pads
- Light weight, ~5lbs each- say that about your cast iron stockers...
- They just look cool

The bad:
- The aforementioned clearancing of the spindle. From what I gather, it is very minimal.
- You will have to swap brake hoses. They have an 1/8NPT fitting. Hoses are readily available shelf items.
- The slider mounting bolts are not bushing mounted like stock calipers- you may get a little noise out of them, but to what extent I'm not sure.
- Larger bore master cylinder 'may' be required.

If you're going through this trouble though, you probably are upgrading to rear discs too which means you can use the bolt-in Corvette master. It attaches directly to your stock booster. I have something else in mind for this using a small diameter Fiero booster and using one of the tricks from Fiero 'hotrodders', a late model truck master with a 1 1/4" bore.

[Truckstr]

Thank you, gringoloco. You da man!

[Ackattack]

I've also been looking at some upgraded pads to go along with upgraded calipers. It looks like EBC brand DP71145 might fit my bill. A little better pad with low dust.

[71Dragtruck]

Thanks for the info, one last question, my brakes are manual and staying that way for drag racing, I'm going to Willwood discs for a 9" in the back also so might need the bigger master. Is there a higher volume bolt on master available? If once again the Corvette master, what year?