Okay guys, this is waaay premature but I'd like to get everyones input on this swap. I know there are a lot of thread out there about this subject but none of them answer all the questions and are usually very vague. I'd like to throw some ideas around and see what everyone thinks about them. I don't have any experience with this swap so help would be appreciated.

I have a set of custom cragar steel wheels that I will be putting on my truck. Just don't know how to tackle it yet. They are the standard 15X10-6.5" back spacing. I wish I would have gone 7" but they look okay. The inside of the wheel has a dip about halfway down that seems to make it impossible to use the stock rotor size even with an S10 caliper. The ID of the dip is 13-1/4" inches while the stock rotor size is 13". So that only leaves an 1/8" between the wheel and rotor. You guys aren't grinding the S10 calipers down under an 1/8", are you?

Me and GMCtrk have been talking about our options since we are both in the same boat. I would do 05+ drums in a heat beat but its pretty hard to find a set of drums without buying a complete rear end. GMCtrk mentioned to me last night that a 1990 K1500 with disk brakes had a rotor that was only 11.6" in diameter. Has anyone used that rotor/caliper on a newer truck?

Any other ideas/opinions would be great. I'll be updating this thread as I go along.


Here is a pic of the inside of the wheels I have. You can see the dip halfway down the wheel.


Mounted on a mickey 315/60.

 

Here are some part numbers and prices I've collected for a new drum set up. Not sure if the hardware kit is complete enough.


15911567: GM 05-07 Drum backing plate - $62.63 ea
PDR0800: Bendix drum - $45.97 ea
855L: Bendix shoe set - $68.97
W610131: Dorman wheel cylinder - $17.97 ea
H2336: Carlson Pro hardware Kit - $13.85

Total: $335.96

The Carlson pro kit includes return springs, hold down parts, shoe pins, adjusting springs, levers, parking brake springs, and adjusting screws. Anything I'm missing for a complete drum set up?

 

Bumping this back up.

I still am surprised that GM doesn't sell a loaded backing plate. Assembling the backing assembly seems pretty daunting to me with all the parts, but I'm sure it could be done. It would just be nice to be able to get a loaded backing plate ready to bolt on.

 

To be honest, it doesn't look to bad assembling the backing plate. I'm just worried about not having all the parts I need in the hardware kit and not knowing There are some good vids on YouTube.

Does anyone have an exploded view of the 05-up drum assembly? I found a bunch of older style pics but it seem that these are designed a bit different.

 

I have been doing a lot of research on how to get a 15" wheel to fit without grinding down an S10 caliper. I am also wanting to keep a disk brake out back but in the interest of discussion, I pieced together a drum kit with everything needed from RockAuto a while back and IICR it was quite a bit less than they parts list above.
I came up with a few other options that may work with a little fab work. They all have their pros/cons.
-Mill down a stock rotor and use a Wilwood Dynapro caliper with custom mount bracket. This retains the stock parking break and uses a functionally sound and good looking caliper. I suppose another oem type caliper could be used but I just didn't have access to dimentions of those type calipers.
-Run a 6-lug 4wd OBS front rotor and caliper. Spacing would be the key and parking brake would be eliminated.
-Use a 6-lug 4wd obs rear disk conversion kit using the Cadillac calipers. Spacing would need to be verified on a NBS axle. I was thinking of doing this with a OBS 14-bolt sf rearend. This leaves the option of having a parking brake or deleting it.

 

Glad we have another person interested in this.

I really think that the OBS front disk and caliper are the ticket. Parking brake delete is no big deal to me. That would be totally bolt on with the exception of requiring a custom caliper bracket to bolt to the stock backing plate.

The rotor is $23 from Advance and the caliper is $30 including the core charge. I'm probably going to buy those parts and mock it up. I'm gonna see if KBracing would be willing to do the custom bracket for me.

 

Any timeline on that?

I'm certainly not a fabricator but I've been experimenting with the welder for the past week or so, so I'm not scared to try and make something. If the rotor and caliper spacing is good on the NBS rear end, I'd give it a go. Let me know if you do pull the trigger on those parts as I will hold off on buying parts for the drum swap.

 

PM me your phone number.

 

Ok guys, Johnmaster1 gave me permission to post these photos. All you need is the custom backing plate and everything else can be bought off the shelf at your local parts store (K1500 1" thick rotors and calipers). He said that the stock banjo needs to be slightly drilled out to accept a slightly larger banjo bolt but otherwise stock works. The caliper bolts need to be slightly ground down so they don't hit the rotor. He torched off the stock backing plates and the custom backing plate he made was 2 piece so he never had to open the differential and pull the axles out.

I'm really hoping we can get someone to manufacture these brackets. It's seems like it would be pretty simple and would once and for all end the 15" wheel issue on 99-04.

 

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