disc swap on a 74 cj5

[psycholist69]

I want to swap to discs up front but don't want to spend a ton o cash on a kit. I have heard of some conversions from newer jeeps to retro fit onto the ol' man. I was thinking about pulling some off of a cherokee and putting them on mine. I have a dana 30 with lockers and 4.56 grs, any suggestions? :shock:

[LWB]

I replied to your PM, P69. Down size Cherokee brakes are completely different, and will not interchange. Use '77-'79 CJ parts or '80-'86 CJ parts from the knuckle out. There's more info in the PM, so if anyone else is interested, post up, and I can paste it here.

[Thrlskr]

I found a disc brake conversion kit at a local off road dealer near me for $500. I can now stop on a dime even when they're wet. Best up grade I made on my 74. Also check with Master Power. They make brake conversions for just about any car or truck. I got one of their kits and put it on my Oldsmobille.

[LWB]

OK, here's the PM I sent Psycholist-
There's a couple ways of doing this.... The easiest, & possibly cheapest, is to get the brake setup from a '77 to '79 CJ that had front discs. I would get the hubs, rotors, calipers, and caliper adapter brackets. The brackets have a six bolt pattern that would bolt right on to your existing knuckles. The problem is, these are pretty hard to find. The alterative, (and what I did on my neighbor's '74) is to get everything from the knuckles outward from a '80 to '86 CJ and swap it on, I like doing it this way because if you have a '72 thru '75 CJ, your ball joints probably need replacing, anyway. Anything later than '86 (or from XJs, ect.) is complely different (all the parts. incuding knuckles) and won't swap on. We used the master cyl that was on the '74 and have had no problems with it, but you may want to us a disc brake one if the original one is questionable.
Feel free to PM me if you have anymore Qs - Cooter
You should be able to get an entire front axle off JU for under $150

[myflatfender]

LWB it sounds like you know jeep brakes pretty good. I have a 51CJ an it has those old knuckles and some tiny, oh I think they are 7" brake drums.
I have the running gear from a 66 Jeep pickup and I'm thinking of putting the axles under my 51. They suposedly have 4:11 gears in em. My CJ has 6:2 or 7 to something in it dont remember rite now. With that T-90 3 speed tranny and a 200 inline ford 6cy she really whines. Anyway the 66 parts have theese huge brake drums and I'm thinking they will add a lot more stopping power than I have.
Problem is they are quite a bit wider. I need to get out there and measure them. Wish I had an overdrive
So LBW do you think this swap would be a good idea.
thanks..
:USA: ..myFlatfender

[LWB]

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, lost track of this thread for a while. (Easily distracted by shiney objects and all that)
Anyway, to me it seems like a lot of work for the payoff. If you're going to go through the trouble of swapping in axles from a full size Jeep, I would get something with disc brakes in the front and one peice axles in the rear.
The Cherokee and Wagoneer from the mid 70s have what you're looking for- Dana 44 front and rear, probably 3.54 gears. You would need to get one that had a Quadratrac T-Case to have the offset rear diff to line up with your D18 T-Case. You would also need to make sure you didn't get a wide trac version- If it has metal fender flairs on it, it is a wide trac. Even with the "narrow trac" version, this is a WIDE pair of axles. (about the same width as YJ and TJ axles) You would also have to use different wheels, as these axles have a 6 lug pattern.
I wish I had a better cheap solution, but the only other easy solution I can think of right now is to swap both axles out of a Q-trac CJ7, but you'd still would have 2 piece axles. (actually, this is probably the best solution, providing you can find a pair)
There's a couple other ways to go, but involve getting axles from two different vehicles, parts from a Chevy, or other TomFoolery, and I really don't want to two finger type anymore