The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop 1952 3/4 ton brake solutions?

I'm in need of some advice. This truck is something I intend to get on the road and load up to the gills and work hard. It had a V8 installed some time ago. The easiest solution is to replace all the brakes stock IF I can find somebody with the parts. It needs EVERYTHING including lines.

SO - with the stock steering, suspesion and pretty much entire drivetrain, if I'm going to make a change, now is the time.

What should I do/convert to if anything other than stock? I will need the most stopping power I can get with the flatbed loaded with firewood up to the cab. (the rear springs have 2 extra leaves, rearched/beefed up).

Will any brake drums interchange? I can use relined Huck brake shoes if I need to, I just cannot find the drums in stock. I'm not concerned with originality; I just want something that works good.

What would you do?

I would rebuild the drum brakes and add a power brake booster with a dual master cylinder. These old trucks were built to haul loads and the stock brakes should be up to the task. The power brakes will make them even better as well as the dual master cylinder which will make it a lot safer. With the stock brakes, if there is a hole somewhere you will loose all brakes but with a dual master cylinder, if 1 circuit has a problem, there is still the 2nd to help stop the vehicle safely. 3/4 ton brake parts are not easy to find new, especially the drums. There are NO disc brake kits on the market for a 3/4 ton truck and the only way to add them is to come up with your own kit. A few are working it but Im not sure where they are at with it. Power steering is a very nice upgrade but that is up to you. You can even leave the stock column if you wish to keep it some what original or add a tilt column for comfort.

On my 52 3/4 ton, I swapped out the 3/4 ton axle for a 1/2 ton axle so I could add disc brakes. Im also adding power brakes and a dual master cylinder to top it off. To make the truck easier to drive in the city and in parking lots I added power steering. I also added a telescoping/tilt column.

Some people are telling me that Huck brakes are really bad. I'm thinking even if I replace all drums, relined shoes, all new wheel cylinders, and a stock master cylinder with new brakes lines and hoses the vehicle has got to stop good. Granted. power brakes will work great, but on my last 52 1/2 ton subframed with Nova I had manual disk brakes which worked fine; I just changed the pivot point on the brake pedal assy from the Nova. The other location was already there.

BTW - subframing the 52 3100 was the biggest mistake I ever made. The second biggest was picking a subframe with the steering box up near the firewall. What a NIGHTMARE with steering column angles. That's why I want to keep this truck a truck. And swapping frames is fairly easy if you have a shop, but I don't.

So, that's the reason I want to leave the stock suspension/frame alone. The subframe was a total nightmare - even though my uncle and I did actually a really nice job.

I'm not sold on the double reservoir thing. I've bled the brakes on a few vehicles with the front brake reservoir empty and the back full and the pedal goes easily to the floor. I hear what people are saying, but I'm not sold on that. I think you blow anything in a brake system and you've got serious problems period.


I know it won't stop like a 4 wheel disc brake Corvette, but from 60mph tops on the freeway with a load, could it really be that bad especially if I adjust the brakes on a regular basis?

Am I kidding myself? Jim Carter's is supposed to be getting new 3/4 ton brake drums in for 46-52 12" rear brakes. They're apparently be available within weeks.

I just want to get the truck on the road and running because I'm more likely to fix little things here and there while I'm using it. Besides. I have about 25 rotted railroad ties used for landscaping that need to go to the dump AND it looks cool using an old truck for work...especially if you pass a new truck on the road having difficulty.

Huck brakes work fine if they are adjusted properly and maintained. You could upgrade to Bendix front brakes which came out in '53 on medium duty trucks. Thats what I did on my '52 3600. They are 12" vs the Hucks which were 11". Parts are much easier to find and it would be pretty much a bolt in job.

So what year did the 3/4 ton trucks switch to bendix brakes. I thought they switched at a earlier year?

'53, like I mentioned in my previous post.

1/2 tons went to bendix in '51.

Another option to improve the brakes on your 3/4-ton would be to swap to 1-ton brakes. You end up with bigger drums and more shoe, so you have more stopping power. The problems finding parts are as bad if not worse.

What part of Washington are you in? I'm on Bainbridge Island near Seattle and am currently building a 1-ton for pulling a heavily loaded trailer.

Saw a post awhile back and somebody on this site machined down their spindles in order to fit some late model discs.

No disc kits but a bunch of guys have engineered discs and even replaced ball bearings with rollers. Do a search on the topic. I paid $50 for this hydrovac off a GMC big bolt. It mounts behind the original master and works extremely well with my stock 12" shoes.
http://picasaweb.google.com/orchidskip/HYDROVAC?authkey=57r0_h37YH0#
ABS does not have a kit for a 3600 but they were willing to convert my truck in their shop to front discs and replace all the brake lines plus a dual booster for $2k. http://www.abspowerbrake.com/catalog.html
Probably worth it, but...A good compromise would be a dual booster and keep drums. You will be surprised at how well it will stop. No more white knuckle rides and steering wheel bending. Of course those standard brakes are perfect for terrorists since they plan to blow thru the gate without stopping anyway followed immediately by blowing up a perfectly good truck.

OldSub, I'm in Renton.

Well, looks like anyway you stack it finding brake parts for this vehicle is a REAL pain in the neck.

I've have to keep looking. The 1 ton brakes sounds like a good idea, but harder to do.

If Jim Carter's had everything I needed I'd be ordering everything tonight.

Keep us posted!

I used the search function

https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=65175&fpart=1

Using Google came up with a bunch of truck pictures of 3600's with disc brake conversion. http://classiccars.com/81162.car

So, there are ways to get it done. While you are right, that a simple solution is not available, there are solutions.

I have heard of people using a P30 front axle for the front

I know that the rear center section was the same up to 72, so rear brakes should be easy.

Scott, can you explain?
I've been looking for a swappable 8 lug single wheel I-beam axle with disc brakes for some time now, still haven't found anything.

I did pickup some 8 lug dual wheel P30 front axles, thinking I may be able to swap hubs for single wheels. But that did not work as planned, the axle part is quite large, same as I have under my truck that is also from a P30 with the 5/10 lug hubs. The only differences I can tell so far are the hubs/rotors, caliper brackets, and dust shields.
I have not found a single-wheel hub to swap to these spindles.

Any ideas?
Grigg

just something I found while doing a picture search on google like Scott did. Might be worth seeing what they can do, let them know that there is a market for brake for the 3600's.
http://www.braketechsolutions.com/BTSV101/customkit.php

Grigg, the only other thing that comes to mind is a mid 70's cab and Chassis 1 ton. Some of them had singles vs the duals, however I believe most of them were duals.

Thanks Scott,
If you run across one, please take some info and pictures, this I-beam, single wheel, disc brake, 8 lug front axle is what I'm looking for for my 52 1 ton.
Thanks,
Grigg

Brakes for my 1-ton project are what keep driving me back toward an IFS swap. If someone finds a good solution that will use the stock axle or something that looks stock, I'd sure like to know about it too.

The dual wheel conversion using the stock axle and hubs seems very doable, but a single wheel solution is still eluding me.

I am also ready to uprade my '47 1 ton to power brakes. Either disk or drum. With the 4-speed crossmember it seems like the Hydrovac booster is the way to go. Replace the Hucks with Bendix, and go to roller bearings, here's a site from another post... http://www.classicparts.com/products.asp?dept=62 . I also have a sway bar(or something) from a 1/2 ton '48 that could help the '47. I have the whole front end from the 1/2 ton. is there a way to use the 1/2 ton axle, converted to disk, and changed to 8 lug?

I've been contemplating the 8 lug disc for my 54 also. I've been to the auto parts store and found that a disc from a 98 and up Chevy 4X4 will slip over the top of your existing hub. The next step is a caliper and bracket. I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to find an appropriate size caliper, but the bracket, you'll have to find someone with a plasma torch or CNC to do some fabricating. If you go to www.TSMMFG.COM they have a rear 8 lug kit for the Eaton axles, they may be able to do something for the front.

Just wanted to add,
I have a few of the I-beam front axles from GM P30 chassis that are 8 lug disc brakes with dual type wheels.

I was hoping that these axles would be a good start to making a single wheel disc brake conversion for my 1 ton AD truck, but so far don't appear to be. They would be great for a dual wheel 8 lug truck though.

The axles I have physically look just like the 5/10 lug version I also have (which work well in a 1.5 or 2 ton AD truck). I'm guessing the I-beam and the spindles are the same.
Differences are the caliper brackets work with the smaller rotor that fits in a 16" wheel, while the disc and caliper on the "larger" 5/0 lug axle fits in a 19.5" wheel.
Major difference in the 8 lug version is the hub which is actually the rotor, all one casting, and probably expensive to replace. The 5/10 lug version has a separate hub and removable rotor.

My hopes were to swap for a single wheel hub and rotor, but I don't know if this is possible, right now I'm thinking not. I need to compare bearing numbers for that axle to those of a single wheel hub probably from an IFS setup.

If this does work the axle still needs to be narrowed, which I've done and even had one installed in my 3800 for a while.

Grigg

Didn't some early Fords have solid front axles? Maybe a retrofit?

Twice I bought replacement shoes, cylinder kits, front hardware kits and hoses from Kanter Auto . Both times for 50 3/4-tons with Huck brakes. I don't know about the drums, sorry. I think the rear drums were the same thru 55-1st. (I had one of them, too.) By 54 the fronts and rears were 12" Bendix on 3/4-tons. I think Denny Graham converted his 50 3600 to front disc. Try a search of that. And a few years ago somebody had a webpage somewhere on the 'net where he documented his procedure for putting front disc on an AD 1-ton panel. I don't know if that is still out there or not. Good luck.

Maybe it wasn't Denny, sorry. He would probably haved replied if it was him. I did find another old thread about disc brakes on a 55-2nd 3/4-ton. Maybe this thread will help. Good luck.

OlBlue's project is a dually 1-ton so its not quite the right stuff, plus as of 10 days ago it was still not together. John ran into some issues he has not yet resolved...

I think I may have come up with an interesting solution.

1) Find a front axle from a 1953 or 1954 3/4 ton to go Bendix. (CAN I go higher year up to like 1959 without any difficulty in swapping axles - anyone know?)

2) Use a rear axle out of a 1970 Chevrolet 3/4 ton 4x4 (I think that's what I got off Craiglist - even the guy didn't know) That rear axle looks like it'll bolt right in. Has bigger brakes on it. Looks like 12" x 3". It will look almost original. Even the shock mounts look like they're in the right place.

I'll have to get different wheels that use a 7/16" stud and drill out the holes when I find a 53 or 54 front axle and put in 7/16" studs. I think this can be done.

I can't find rear huck brake parts to save my life. I need everything in the back still.

You might be able to swap the brakes off a '55.2 to '59 but the axle itself won't swap. I wonder if the spindles off the later axle might swap onto your '52 axle? That might be worth checking into.

What problem did you encounter considering a 1-ton front axle and brakes? I only ask because I'm close to removing just that setup from the front of a '55 1st GMC setting in my shop.

Regarding the rear, that axle you picked up off Craigslist may be the same Eaton as is stock under your truck. Possibly with a more attractive axle ratio. I have several of those Eaton rears here that have the 5.14 ratio only rock crawlers want.

If you want to come over and look at some 1-ton brake stuff let me know. I'm about 90 minutes from SeaTac (I've made that trip too many times!), so I imagine about the same from Renton.

Odd..I just bought those 53 3/4 axles wiht Bendix brakes off a guy outside of Spokane who had them on Craigslist for 6 months and no takers. I just searched on "1953 3/4 ton chevy" and up they popped. Cost me a few bucks to get them here to Nova Scotia but they are the ticket.

I think that the 53 Bendix backing plate will bolt right on your front 52 spindles with minor mods (redrilling lower holes? - saw this on another thread). Looks like the rear is a complete rear end swap- I'd say from a quick look at both axles that the backing plates can't be swapped out.

MapleLeaf that sounds like what I've heard too, but I've never done it and have no first hand knowledge.

OldSub - The only problem I encountered with 1 ton stuff is that's even harder to find. I can't find it anywhere. If I had donor parts from a 1 ton, I'd change it all over. Donor Bendix would be even better. I plan on loading this truck up with alot of weight and 1 ton brakes would go a long way towards staying away from that Darwin award.

.....

I know for a fact you can swap a Huck axle into a Bendix truck and swap the Bendix stuff back on the Huck axle. I did it about 15 years ago when I was a kid. I remember I had to use longer bolts though. My uncle gave me Chevy 350 main bolts - he said they were super strong.

The rear axle I got off craigslist is a Eaton. I took a chance when I got it. The drums were rusted to the shoes solid. It's a 4.11 which is good for me. My truck has a Chev V8 with stock trans. The V8 will pull the truck hard even with 4.11 and 32" tires. When I saw it I tried not to act like it was much. I got it for $50 bucks right down the street. He even brought it to my house for me. It was outside for a long time. There is some pitting on the ring/pinion but friends of mine in the transmission industry tell me that while it looks bad, it'll be fine. The dropout will bolt right in my stock housing from what I'm told.

The main things I'm after right now are front drums/rear drums and all the guts inside the rear drums complete with parking brake cables.

It's absolutely frustrating as all get out trying to find some of this stuff.

Dave you haven't walked around my yard yet...

I'm tripping over 1-ton stuff, and currently the only 3/4-ton stuff I have is a modern (okay 90's) pickup I used to pull my trailer.

Here's where I'm at.
I have 3 options.

1) GM 14 bolt semi float 13" brakes. Pros: parts readily available. Can use 16" wheels. Cons: Not full float. Missing rear drums.

2) GM Eaton Full float 1968 Chev C20 full float. 11 5/32” brakes Pros: Looks stock. Full float. Can use 16" wheels. Cons: Missing parking brake parts. Drums/parts more expensive

3) 1955 1st Eaton Full float. Complete with 14” brakes. Pros: Bigger brakes Cons: Cannot use 16” wheels, cannot find rear drums and don’t want an unserviceable part on the vehicle.

Interestingly enough, 1 ton front brakes will bolt onto the spindle of a ¾ ton. Only differences I found were the top 2 bolt holes for the backing plate are bigger and I'd need to grind the upper portion of the backing plate slightly for spindle clearance. I could either weld the holes shut and redrill, or weld a washer over each bolthole (which I’ll probably do). That will give me 12” brakes up front. Just going to bendix even the same size should be noticeable, this should be dramatic. I can get new 1 ton front drums and shoes/wheel cylinders no problem.

I know there exists a kit to change over the ball bearings on the front 3/4 ton axle to high speed barrel roller. I just don't want to pay the crazy price.

I’d like front disk brakes, but that won’t happen easily.

I’m leaning towards the semi float axle. From what I understand, they’re rated at about 5000 lbs or so which should be adequate. Maybe I’ll look harder for 14” drums first.

Or I could just put in option #2 and try to find the parking brake stuff later.

I can’t seem to make up my mind.

Don't know where you are on this but I was in the same boat about a year ago with my '48 3/4 ton. Managed to get Jim Carter rear drums and everything works fine for what I do which includes hauling quite a bit. Definitely won't stop like discs, but I find them to work fine. The only thing with the drums (at least on mine) is that there is a bit of a gap between the brake baking plate and the drum because of the way they are machined (slightly different then my stock units). But unless you're going in a lot of mud and water they seem fine. At least no I have a parking brake again.

If I had the parking brake stuff for my stock rearaxle I'd probably just stay with huck brakes. But its been totally robbed.

I just solved a similar problem on my 3/4 ton '52. Please see my post elsewhere on HiPo Shop forum..

I have a 1 1948 ton with huck brakes and I did away with the emergency brake cable and linkage an used all the parts off of a 1951 ton and 1/2 1951 truck with propeller shaft parking brake it works and is clean and simple ,you have to have the sm20 4 speed trans for it to work

OK. I'm taking the plunge. I've got a 82 Chevrolet C20 rear axle semi float. It has 13" brakes on it. It has the 4 5/8" width drums. (which measure out 4.94" by the book spec - don't blame me, I'm not the one that created the catalog.

It looks like I can swap all the brake stuff from the 82 onto a 1968 Chevrolet C20 full floating rear axle. The benefits are: 1) It looks stock 2) I can get all the parts. I have EVERYTHING 100% brand NEW ready to install...both drums, all hardware, both adjusters, both wheel cylinders, and AC Delco Durastop NEW shoes. So I will end up with a 4.11 13" brake full floating rear axle that will appear stock looking in the vehicle.

IF this actually works, it will be truly awesome. I will have to take pictures to document it and will post my progress.

I too have a 52 3/4 ton and was wondering what is the easiest way to get 3.73 gear ratio in the rear end AND update to better brakes? Switch for a Chevelle axel complete with the rear brakes? Is that even possible? Will I need to update the front with IFS and disc. If so with what product? I want "safe" daily drivability. But also want it without dropping a ton of cash. ( I know that that last one's a pipe dream) I'm also willing to forego a little originality. Anyone?

Cool project..it will be neat to see pics

I got a 3.73 rear from an '86 suburban for my '47 1ton (8-bolt lugs). I tried a 3.55 first and had to start in first gear every time. that meant no rolling stops and downshift to first, couldn't do it without the syncro. That also had a bent axle, so it had to go. I suspect I would have better gas milage, and go faster with the 3.55. I can go 80 now when I want a white knuckle ride. Still want to mod the front. I looked some for a hydrovac booster, but got outbid on the one I found. Does anyone know if the hydrovac is for single cylinder masters, or if it will work with a dual master brake cylinder?

OK. I have the rear differential completed.

http://s859.photobucket.com/albums/ab158/Duntov85/1952Chev3608/

Check it out!