WANTED Driver's Steering Knuckle

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Duke5A

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Looking for a driver's side spindle. Doesn't have to be a nice. This is going to be used for mock up on an 11.75" rotor. Going to try and make my own caliper brackets to allow for using late model, inexpensive calipers to update the front brakes without spending stupid amounts of money on an aftermarket brake kit that uses better calipers than the single piston factory ones.
 

Opticon77

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89.Fifth

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Let me know what you come up with. I've been kicking around a similar idea.
 

kmccabe56

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Looking for a driver's side spindle. Doesn't have to be a nice. This is going to be used for mock up on an 11.75" rotor. Going to try and make my own caliper brackets to allow for using late model, inexpensive calipers to update the front brakes without spending stupid amounts of money on an aftermarket brake kit that uses better calipers than the single piston factory ones.

Why screw around with making an adapter when all you need is adapters from a '79 Cordoba. These cars and all FMs use the same front spindles. Unbolt the old one, bolt up the new one, you don't even have to change the caliper. Slap on the new rotor (and pads?) and you're good to go. Only other issue is you'll have to upgradeto 15" wheels/tires. I'm told (but have never tried to do this) that some judicious grinding (!) of the top of the caliper will allow you to retain the OE 14" wheels/tires. Haven't tried this, not recommending it. Upgrading to 15" wheels/tires makes a BIG improvement in how the car handles. I run '76 NYB wheels on my '79 wagon.
 

Duke5A

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Why screw around with making an adapter when all you need is adapters from a '79 Cordoba. These cars and all FMs use the same front spindles. Unbolt the old one, bolt up the new one, you don't even have to change the caliper. Slap on the new rotor (and pads?) and you're good to go. Only other issue is you'll have to upgradeto 15" wheels/tires. I'm told (but have never tried to do this) that some judicious grinding (!) of the top of the caliper will allow you to retain the OE 14" wheels/tires. Haven't tried this, not recommending it. Upgrading to 15" wheels/tires makes a BIG improvement in how the car handles. I run '76 NYB wheels on my '79 wagon.


I'm not sure I follow. Yeah, all 73+ spindles are exactly the same. I'm looking for one of these to make an adapter to run a late model Crown Victoria caliper, or something else. Haven't picked a caliper a yet. The factory single piston slider calipers suck. The only options for replacing them are high dollar kits though. The object of this is to run a caliper that is modern, readily available and cheap on top of the 11.75" factory rotor. No custom hubs or specialty rotors.

I'm aiming for this entire thing to cost under $350 - rotors, adapters, calipers and pads. When I'm done the adapters will be reproducible by anyone with the drawings. If I'm successful then I'll post the plans to this forum.

Going to be a slow moving project though. My friend who has a bridgeport and a lathe in his garage offered to help, but I got to help him get his Hemi back together first.
 

BudW

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Some of the newer fancy (and painted) 4 and 6-piston brake calipers would be a hoot on our cars (if you could get them to fit . . .).

You would need a couple of mock-ups. One would be the spindle/knuckle. One with be Wheel/rotor/spindle (wheel clearance) and third would be on car so a person can check to rotation limits as well as up/down clearance limits (caliper vs other moving part clearance).

The forth thing would be figuring out a way to plumb the hoses.
The early F-body (and early M-body?) has brake hoses that attach in front of wheels.
All J and late M-bodies, the brake hoses attach behind the wheel and so two different design of hoses are used.

A Great idea, Duke5A!

20171116_113941 R.jpg

This picture shows the R/F wheel well, just in front of the tire, on my '77 Wagon. You can barely see a bracket where the (mid) hose attaches to the K-frame (lower Left corner – gold appearing metal). Just something to keep in mind.
BudW
 

Duke5A

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Some of the newer fancy (and painted) 4 and 6-piston brake calipers would be a hoot on our cars (if you could get them to fit . . .).


They do actually. Dr. Diff and AR Engineering put together a kit to fit third generation Viper calipers to the 73+ steering knuckles. Includes 13" rotors, the brackets and custom hubs. By the time you get the calipers though you're $1700 into it. I was going to do this, but I've been starting to get second thoughts of the money I've been throwing at this thing. I need to wrap this project up and stop hemorrhaging money. lol. This thing isn't a track car, so I'll try and fit something modern, but economical for the front brakes.
 

BudW

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I need to rephrase this from:
Some of the newer fancy (and painted) 4 and 6-piston brake calipers would be a hoot on our cars (if you could get them to fit . . .).
To: “Modern multi-piston (4 or 6-piston) brake calipers would be a hoot on our cars (if you could get them to fit . . .) at an affordable price”.

If you have the will, you can even adapt todays Ram 4500/5500 series truck brake calipers to cars – but question is how much is it going to cost ya?

I’m with you. I obtained my Fifth Ave for $300 (US) more than a decade ago. I don’t mind spending $ on it, but I, also, can’t justify spending upwards of 2K$ just for brakes, correction, just for the front brakes - therefore I’m watching this thread.

Even the high-end Chargers, Challengers and 300’s brake calipers would be a great upgrade for us. I could care less if they are painted.
For giggles, I looked up the front brake calipers for a 2014 Challenger/Charger/300 – sense those parts should be more cost effective, by now.
FRC11710.jpg

The standard duty brake (single piston). This is somewhat equivalent to an FMJ. $112 each reman

FRC12666.jpg

Heavy Duty (Police) – dual piston. $111 each reman

5175107ab.jpg

68144242aa.jpg

Performance brakes (four pistons) which come either painted (red or black) or unpainted. $464 red or $441 in black/silver - new.
I did find some reman in red for $132 each on eBay Front Red Powder Coated Brake Caliper For Chrysler 300 Dodge Charger Jeep | eBay
All prices are from RockAuto.com (except as mentioned), as of May 17, 2019, in US Dollars and if you have no core(s) to return.

Installing the H/D calipers (dual piston) would be an upgrade for us. BUT, if you are going through the trouble to upgrade, you might as well get as much brake as you can with the four-piston version.

The four-piston calipers consist of three main parts, both ends (that contain the pistons) and a middle part that contains the mounting bracket. Look at the black/silver version, above.
It is my understanding the two ends are mostly interchangeable between several car lines/brands, but the middle section – the mounting bracket, is not (no proof of this last statement, just what I’ve heard from friends who still work for Dealers). If a person was to get one of these calipers, take it apart to get the middle portion, a person can make a template get new versions that will fit the existing spindles/steering knuckles – and you would be set. There is fluid that goes through that bracket (look at the bleeder screw).
The bleeder screw might be the most complicated portion of making that bracket – maybe. As well as getting the caliper to sit exactly center on the brake rotor.
Most of all Chrysler brake calipers uses pins or slide rails to allow caliper to move in or out with brake rotor. These calipers are bolted solid and only the pistons move.

Digging out the popcorn (for both your Hemi build and the caliper brackets).
BudW
 

Duke5A

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Nah, I have to resist the temptation of the four piston Brembo brakes. Almost $1k in calipers alone completely defeats the purpose of this project. Besides, running a caliper like that would also necessitate a larger rotor than 11.75" and now you're talking custom hubs and rotors. Late model Charger 5.7 Hemi calipers though might fit the bill even if it pushes the budget. I'm probably going to go junkyarding for a spindle and I'll see if they have any LX cars in there.

...and where did you read I was building a Hemi? o_O I ain't that rich. :( :D My buddy is putting a 426 together right now for a '66 Coronet though.
 

BudW

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Going to be a slow moving project though. My friend who has a bridgeport and a lathe in his garage offered to help, but I got to help him get his Hemi back together first.
I guess poor word choice when I said "your Hemi build". Let me re-phrase that to "his Hemi Build".
 

Duke5A

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I guess poor word choice when I said "your Hemi build". Let me re-phrase that to "his Hemi Build".

I've been off my game for the last week, I should have been able to read into that. :confused: Next time I'm over there I'll take some photos of the entire project and create a thread for it.
 
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