Front disc brake conversion question....

[mopar_chuck]

I’ve had this done for a while now but am second guessing myself on something. Do the calipers mount towards the rear of the car or the front? I checked my instructions and it is not at all clear and am having no luck getting through to the text line. It is “the right stuff” kit with power booster.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

Yep, the calipers bolt on to either side....BUT, the hole where the flexible brake line attaches is on a different side....SO, if you put them on backwards, you can't attach the flexible brake line (ask me how I know haha) And I believe they mount to the rear (?) I just had a wheel off 30 min. ago...should've looked...doh! Do you think you put your spindles on backwards???? I'm not sure if that's even possible.

 

[mopar_chuck]

Yes that’s right my spindles would have to be on backwards and was about to see if they would interchange but figured I would ask here first. Don’t think they will interchange tho because of how the lower ball joint attaches ......

 

[threewood]

There are 2 styles, one that mounts up front and one that mounts to the rear (for clearance on cars with sway bar). As long as the bleeders are on top of the caliper it will work.

 

[69a100]

Just make sure that however you mount it, that the bleeder is at the highest point on the system. Good Luck

 

[R/T Boy 67]

Spindles are interchangeable. To change caliper position, swap spindles side to side.

 

[andyf]

I’ve had this done for a while now but am second guessing myself on something. Do the calipers mount towards the rear of the car or the front? I checked my instructions and it is not at all clear and am having no luck getting through to the text line. It is “the right stuff” kit with power booster.

Depends on what car and which brakes. Some disc brakes can be set up to work either way but some can't. You didn't tell us what you're working on so it is hard to provide a good answer. I have the calipers on the front on my car but I'm using Porsche calipers on my '65 Coronet so that answer might not help you.

 

[andyf]

On my Duster I used Viper brakes and hung them to the rear. Most calipers are side specific so you have to hang them where they are designed to go. The most obvious clue is the bleeder location since it needs to be pointing up. If the caliper has staggered piston sizes then you have to mount them in the correct location or else the pads won't wear properly.

 

[mopar_chuck]

Depends on what car and which brakes. Some disc brakes can be set up to work either way but some can't. You didn't tell us what you're working on so it is hard to provide a good answer. I have the calipers on the front on my car but I'm using Porsche calipers on my '65 Coronet so that answer might not help you.
View attachment 677856

It’s a 70 Road Runner. Just added it to my signature

 

[mopar_chuck]

On my Duster I used Viper brakes and hung them to the rear. Most calipers are side specific so you have to hang them where they are designed to go. The most obvious clue is the bleeder location since it needs to be pointing up. If the caliper has staggered piston sizes then you have to mount them in the correct location or else the pads won't wear properly.
View attachment 677858

The calipers are marked left and right but spindles are not, so depending on which side the spindles are put on would determine if they faced toward the front or back. But as soon as I get a chance to get back at the car, I will know right away from the location of the bleed screw.

 

[mopar_chuck]

 

[mopar_chuck]

This was a manual drum brake car. How did the disc brake cars come from the factory?

 

[R/T Boy 67]

Disc brake B bodies were all power brakes. Some A bodies were manual disc.

 

[mopar_chuck]

Disc brake B bodies were all power brakes. Some A bodies were manual disc.

What I meant was.... were the calipers facing the front or the rear

 

[andyf]

This was a manual drum brake car. How did the disc brake cars come from the factory?

Your question doesn't make any sense. Disc brake cars came from the factory with the calipers front hung or rear hung. It just depends on the make and model. The front brakes are designed as a system with the front suspension. The hose routing is important as is clearance for the anti-sway bar and stuff like that.

For a 1970 B body car you should most likely find a disc brake system that is designed to be rear hung, especially if you're using an anti-sway bar. But hose routing can be a problem depending on where the hard line attachment on the frame is. The factory engineers usually ran the hose across the suspension. So a front hung caliper had a rear mount hardline and rear hung calipers had front mount hard lines. But even that rule isn't consistent.

 

[moparedtn]

Unrelated (and probably unanswerable) question on the subject:
After exhaustive research on the kits available out there...why are the kits utilizing new spindles actually $300-$400 more than the ones designed to
use the existing drum spindles?

Oh, almost forgot - I thought the determining factor on our b-bodies as to whether the calipers were front or rear mounted had to do with whether the car had a front sway bar?

 

[andyf]

Oh, almost forgot - I thought the determining factor on our b-bodies as to whether the calipers were front or rear mounted had to do with whether the car had a front sway bar?

No, the determining factor is the make and the model. The Mopar engineers used different mounting points for the anti sway bars over the years. Early B body cars hung off the strut rods. B1 cars were outboard on the LCA, B2 cars were inboard and B3 cars used yet another system.

The OP needs to figure out what he needs and then go from there. My guess is that he needs to hang the calipers to the rear to clear his anti-sway bar but it depends. If he is using the '70 and newer anti-sway bar that mounts in the middle of the LCA then he should be able to front mount the calipers.

It also depends if the OP has pin or slider type calipers and what size of rotor he is using. There are different combinations of parts available but not all brake systems can be flipped back and forth. Most brake systems only fit on the car one way and they won't fit or work properly if they are swapped side for side.

I covered most of this stuff in my B body book: https://www.amazon.com/Mopar-B-Body-Performance-Upgrades-1962-1979/dp/1613252501

 

[Kern Dog]

My 70 Charger was a 4 wheel drum car and had a factory small front sway bar. My first brake swap in the car was a complete knuckle, rotor and caliper setup from a 1975 Dart and they were FRONT hung. Later on I added 12" discs. Even later I swapped in the larger 2.75 calipers spec'd for a 1980 Aspen. THis required me to swap the knuckles side to side and REAR mount the calipers to get the bleeder screws in the right position along with the brake hose routing.

 

[andyf]

Exactly. The OP needs to look at his parts to see which way they mount. The answer is in front of him, not us since we can't see the parts. It all depends on the calipers that Right Stuff sent him. They could hang either way depending on which parts he has. The easy way to figure it out is to try and install the hoses. If the hoses won't go on then the calipers are on the wrong side.

 

[mopar_chuck]

Ok, just to clarify, the kit I have is RSD-MDC-62-DC and the calipers are slider type.

I found instructions on their website saying “most kits have the calipers hung rearward “. So I went to check the car today and that’s they way this kit is supposed to install. I took some pics. The caliper is marked L (drivers side) and that would put the bleeder screw up which is what we want. But as kern dog has mentioned, A bodies are front hung.