The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 3/4 ton upgrades front bearings and brakes

I have a '53 3/4 ton and plan to make it my daily driver. Upgrading the front brakes to disk and front hub bearings to taper roller seems a good idea. I have access to a AD 1/2 ton with disk brakes. The 1/2 ton brackets for the calipers should work on the 3/4 ton spindles--bolt pattern is the same. Trial and error at the parts store will get me the proper rotor to go with the 1/2 ton calipers. Has anyone done this upgrade and know which 8 lug rotor will fit? Same question about fit for front roller bearings to replace the ball bearings. Thanks guys.

That's actually been discussed here ALOT over the years. The caliper brackets may bolt to the 3/4 spindle, but there isn't any direct bolt on rotors. Bearings... Well that's another issue. Look for a company called MBS, they used to make roller bearings for the AD trucks.

If you have acess to a 3100 parts truck, your best bet would be to swap out the whole front axle assembly.

Of course, you would need to swap out your rearend then. Being you have a 3/4 ton, you only have a partial torque tube, so realistically you could find a 6 lug rear end from a 55 and later truck and swap it out.

There is no tapered bearings to fit 8 lug hubs. The cheap way is to swap out the front axle and disc brakes
they used the same springs in the 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton trucks. There are several treads on different forums that have rotor hats from different trucks which fit the stock rotors. These are usually a larger diameter
so you would have to fabricate your own brackets for the calipers.

I will look for MSB. I actually have a set of front and rear 3/4 ton axles which I plan to put on my 1/2 long bed. As you know these axles are a lot beefier than the 1/2 equivalents. I the rear I'll have disk brakes--already have the brackets, rotors and calipers. {a lot of aftermarket bits for these HO52 rear ends}. So the front needs to be upgraded with disk brakes as well. With the bracket mounted I'll take it to O'Reilleys and start test fitting rotors, then calipers. Thanks for the lead.

These guys have a listing for roller bearings, may be worth a call.

http://www.classictruck.com/category/1947-55_Trucks_Wheel_Bearings

These guys have a good front disc kit. I'm not big on the wheel spacer, but it looks like a quality kit.

http://www.hollisterroad.com/