Sorry about the noob stuff. I searched and read the tech links. I am still confused on what exactly to use. Can I just take the knuckles, spindles, hubs with rotors and claipers from an 85 and just bolt it up? Can I just use the 85 calipers and rotors instead of the vented FJ rotors and IFS calipers? Would it be easier? Do you have to change the birfields to the truck ones? In other words, I can get stuff from an 85 axle minus the birfields, where do I go from here?
85 Toy solid axle parts on 73 cruiser axle? Disc brake conversion (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter craptacular
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Let's see if I remember all of this properly...
Knuckles, spindles, rotors, hubs, backing plates, steering arms, tie rod... AND birfields. Since you're swapping hubs and everything, you will need to use the minitruck birfields (I think the cruiser birfs are shorter, and have a different spline count). The minitruck birfs will fit onto your inner axle shafts, you'll just have to break the snap ring, and replace them (only a few bucks). And since the minitruck birfs are slightly bigger, you'll have to grind a little bit off of the axle to fit the new birfs in (I think there's pics of this on the tutorial).
You can use the 85 calipers and rotors- or read up on doing the vented swap. But the minitruck stuff works fine. Might need to do something about the brake lines- I bought brand new ss-lines, so I ended up just tossing the old minitruck lines. They might connect, but I don't know.
Best situation: get yourself a cheap front axle from a solid axle minitruck. Then buy a knuckle rebuild kit from a cruiser retailer. Get some grease. Tear apart the minitruck knuckles, and you'll see how simple they really are. The cruiser axle is just as simple, and pretty much identical engineering- just some slight changes. Then, part out the pieces that you don't need from the mini axle- in my case, I broke even! So I didn't even have to pay for the stuff!
And remember- we were all newbies at some point.
Zipp.
Knuckles, spindles, rotors, hubs, backing plates, steering arms, tie rod... AND birfields. Since you're swapping hubs and everything, you will need to use the minitruck birfields (I think the cruiser birfs are shorter, and have a different spline count). The minitruck birfs will fit onto your inner axle shafts, you'll just have to break the snap ring, and replace them (only a few bucks). And since the minitruck birfs are slightly bigger, you'll have to grind a little bit off of the axle to fit the new birfs in (I think there's pics of this on the tutorial).
You can use the 85 calipers and rotors- or read up on doing the vented swap. But the minitruck stuff works fine. Might need to do something about the brake lines- I bought brand new ss-lines, so I ended up just tossing the old minitruck lines. They might connect, but I don't know.
Best situation: get yourself a cheap front axle from a solid axle minitruck. Then buy a knuckle rebuild kit from a cruiser retailer. Get some grease. Tear apart the minitruck knuckles, and you'll see how simple they really are. The cruiser axle is just as simple, and pretty much identical engineering- just some slight changes. Then, part out the pieces that you don't need from the mini axle- in my case, I broke even! So I didn't even have to pay for the stuff!
And remember- we were all newbies at some point.
Zipp.
cruiser_guy
Out of Africa / North Africa
As Zipp says you can use everything except the inner axles. I did the same thing on my '67 FJ45LV.
You need to start with the bare housing though as you do NEED everything but the inner axles and diff.
You need to start with the bare housing though as you do NEED everything but the inner axles and diff.
- Thread starter
- #4
That is ecactly what I was looking for. I thought people were changing the birfs because they were stronger. Im off tomorrow, I am going to look for a complete axle. OR I have a 14bolt and 10bolt front that were built prior to Katrina, that were flooded out. I dont know what to do.
