The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline 1947 Truck - 3600 disc brake conversion

Looking for advice on putting a different disc brake assembly under a 1947 Chevy truck. What do you recommend? Thanks.

Grampx9 - It will get you better answers or suggestions if you can provide more details about the truck your working on.

Which model as there's a big difference between 1/2 tons, 3/4 tons, etc.??? Is your truck a '47 AD Series, or maybe an early '47 truck that used the '46 Art Deco design prior to the release of the AD trucks?

BTW - As this is one of your first posts, maybe you can introduce yourself and your truck in the Welcome Centre. Would love to here more about you, your truck, project plans, and of course seeing pictures of what your working on.

It is a 3/4 ton - advanced design.

Thanks for updating. . I edited your title to help folks know what you have so they can offer the best help.

Several of our “3600” Bolt owners have converted to disc brakes. I’m sure one or more will chime in here soon and talk about what they’ve done.

I did a front disk brake conversion on my '50 3600 using a kit I bought on E-Bay that retained the 8 lug hubs. I'm happy with the performance of the parts but the documentation was a bit sketchy regarding which calipers were used as I wanted to document what I had for future service parts needs. It was listed for a 1955-59 Chevy trucks (https://www.ebay.com/itm/350973126802) but I did need to modify my steering arms if I recall correctly.

When we wanted disc brakes for the dirt track race cars I built, we would pick a disc and caliper setup to match the wheel bolt pattern of the hub, clamp the caliper onto the disc with air pressure, and then fabricate caliper mounts to marry it to the spindle, using the same flange where the backing plate was bolted. Make the prototype brackets from plywood, then when they fit the way you want, duplicate them in steel. "Kits" are for people who can't or won't do their own fabrication.
Jerry

Grampx9 - If you want to read more details on WICruiser's 3600 brake conversion read through his 1950 3600 Completed Journal thread for lots of info and details.

You can also read more details on specific sub-topics related to the conversion in his many Driveline Forum threads.

Kits are also for people who don't feel the need to do the same homework twice. It's all about money versus time. Do you want to spend the multiple weekends making your own? That's great-lots of folks enjoy the challenge! But also maybe you just want to install the kit this weekend, then go camping in the rig next weekend. Kits will help you do that, and they might even come with all the parts in one box so you don't have to scrounge for 'em. Nothing wrong with that approach, either. Half the time, you end up saving enough time or more, to equal the time you spend working for the price of the kit, versus saving money and spending a lot of time duplicating what someone else has already done. With a bunch of trips to the parts house, forum posts, online parts purchases, etc...

I've done it both ways. A well designed kit is worth its weight in gold.

Grampx9, this is what I used on my 47-3800 this year and it was very smooth and works well. I have pics of you need to see

https://www.performanceonline.com/p...-front-8-lug-1947-59-chevy-gmc-3600-3800