The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks 1962 C10 Brake Dics & other questions

Hey everyone, it's been a while since I've made any posts on here. Since my last post I haven't made a whole lot of progress on my truck. I've been very busy with college and other hobbies/projects I have used to distract myself from working on my truck.

The truck I am working on is a 1962 C10. Before I began tearing the truck apart it had been sitting in the same spot for 30-ish years. Currently I have the entire truck torn apart. I have more or less decided to focus my efforts on the front end of the truck for now. I want to install a disc brake kit. What are some high quality kits? I have been eyeing the disc brake kit from Brothers Truck Parts. This kit includes pretty much everything I need to replace the drum brakes as well as ball joints, tie rods, etc.

I am also have difficulty removing the lower ball joints. I have ground off the heads of the rivets, but I can't for the life of me drive them out. I have tried doing it with a hammer and punch, air hammer, and a hydraulic press from Harbor Freight. I have used a propane torch to heat up the surround metal, but have still had no success. The hydraulic press could work, but it is far to difficult to hold and position the parts while operating the jack. To get the press to work I feel like I would need a large metal plate and about 2 more sets of hands.

This brings me to my next question--How in Gods name do I get the torsion bars out of the control arms? Removing them would definitely make using the hydraulic press much easier, though I don't think it would totally solve that problem.

I am also wondering, are the control arm shafts something that would need to be replaced? The shop manual explains how to replace the bushings, though after a very quick search, I can't find anywhere that just sells replacement bushings, all I can find are replacement shafts.

I really appreciate any answers and advice anyone can give me, cheers.

With the heads ground off the rivets should be able to drill into the them enough to clear the control arm.

Get rid of the torsion bar front and install a 63 and up suspension. Swap the whole front suspension as a unit for a whole donor unit. Other wise parts are hard to find.
Click

Thanks, I was a little hesitant to drill them out, but that certainly seems like the best option if I choose to keep the original suspension unit.


This was also suggested to me by a couple of buddies. I guess that would probably be the best way to do this. Thanks for the forum link, that gives me a good idea of how to plan everything out. I'll have to go check out some wrecking yards and see what they have. Thanks for the advice!

I think the '62 and earlier chassis are much different than the 63 and later units, that said, I would suggest you pick up a '70-80 chassis that would already have disk brakes and power steering. Harvest the body mounts off of the '62 chassis, relocating them to the proper location on the new frame. The whole job would be quite simple and cost effective, thereby making the truck very user friendly.
With the body tag on the cab and the '62 sheet metal the truck would still be registered as a '62.
We did a chassis swap on my brothers '64, the truck turned out very nice. I did a chassis swap on my '64, opting for a 98 C10 Z71 unit. The truck is a dream to dive, handles like a new one, yet is still a '64. Wm. .

Hmm, I hadn't considered doing a full on chassis swap. Thanks for the idea.

Heres a few links for brake kits.

1960-62 Chevy C10, GMC C15 Truck Disc Brake Conversion, Stock or Drop Spindle, 5 or 6 Lug
https://www.performanceonline.com/1...ersion-stock-or-drop-spindle-5-or-6-lug/

1960-62 Complete 5-Lug Disc Brake Conversion Kit (you'll have to scroll around to find it with this link)
https://www.classicperform.com/Chevy-Truck.htm#2

Our 60-62's make it hard to find parts, even more so if you don't have a C10. I'm currently going down the front end swap route from an '87 Silverado. Waiting for warm weather to get going. Newer front end will give you greater options for aftermarket parts support. Haven't found a single place to get new torsion springs but the sites listed in the links have suspension rebuild kits for 60-62s but it doesn't look like they offer bushings in them. However they do for later years, not sure what the deal is with that.

Here is a thread on my stock (GM) parts and NAPA build that is similar to some of the talk.

https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthread...0-chevy-short-fleetside.html#Post1347952