• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Manual disc brake swap with slider calipers - who's happy?

Montclaire

Well-Known Member
Local time
10:11 PM
Joined
Nov 15, 2011
Messages
1,557
Reaction score
432
Location
Scranton, PA
Many moons ago I swapped to a manual brake setup with 11.75" rotors on my 73 Challenger (now in New Zealand). At the time it was easy to find the pin type brackets at a reasonable price. I am now planning to do the same with a 64 Dodge (already set up for 10" rotors) and am going to work on sourcing a pair of pin brackets locally but I might end up stuck with the slider brackets which are way cheaper.

Now, my understanding is that the slider calipers have a larger reservoir than the pin ones. This seems to throw off the balance between the master cylinder bore and wheel cylinder size in some cases and give you a spongy pedal. If you've done this swap with the slider calipers and been happy with it, what bore size master and wheel cylinders are you using? I'm running 11" rear drums if that matters.

I have no interest in adding an adjustable prop valve, just stock mopar stuff. Has anyone tried a prop valve off a D-150 with this combo instead of early to mid 70s mopar? I've read enough threads to know there's a weak link somewhere that I didn't have with my Challenger when I used the pin calipers.
 
Years back I swapped in the Aspen/Volare calipers, rotors and spindles in my BILs 72 Duster. 11 inch front discs, 10" rear drums. Stock 15/16" iron master cylinder, non power.
That car stops better than almost any other car that I have driven. The calipers have a larger bore size than the 73-75 A body cars. Some, if not all 1976 A bodies got an increase from 2.6 to 2.75 piston. Larger piston, more force to the rotor.
I went with the 12" rotors and 10" drums with my Jigsaw '70 Charger. Manual 15/16" master cylinder. It doesn't run yet but the brakes do stop the car when I've pushed it around the backyard.
 
I've been doing the slider swap for years on many cars without a problem.
Same as Kern,15/16'' master. Right now I have SSBC 4 wheel disc brakes(Manual) 4 piston front on my 65 and it stops no better than the factory Drum/Disc slider setup that I had on my last car.
Though it's a power set up, We just did a Slider/11'' drum set on my buddy's 64 Dodge station wagon and are happy with the results.
 
I did A body slider discs with small rotors, 67 B-body 10” rears drums with a 1973 charger manual disc master. Works excellent! Great manual pedal feel and stops like crazy.

sorry I don’t know the bore sizes
 
There’s always a chance that it’s due to poor remanned parts - quality is in the toilet anymore. Like I said I had a manual 11.75 setup on my Challenger and had zero issues. I’d consider staying with 10” power discs but I’m worried about pulling enough vacuum with my cam. I think I have at least 2-3 disc drum prop valves laying around so no problem there. Thanks.
 
The idea would be to use smaller wheel cylinders, yes? I have a chart from Mopar Action with part numbers here somewhere, if I find it I’ll post it.
 
Last edited:
I have the basic Dr Diff disc brakes with 15/16 manual master cylinder. This is a knock off aspen volare brake kit.
I am very happy with performance of these brakes. The long pedal travel takes some getting used to, but otherwise it was the best bang for the buck upgrade I've made yet to this car.
 
Auto Transport Service
Back
Top