The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks 63 C20 frame swap or ???

Ok guys, been looking at ways to get disc brakes on the front end.. Need some opinions from guys who might have done this before. Easier to swap the body onto a newer 70's/80's frame and get all the updated stuff that way or easier to find a junked truck and swap out front ends that way. It currently has a 230 with a 4 spd in it...which I will be replacing with an auto tranny at some point. Ideas??? I haven't found any "bolt up" kits for the 3/4 ton model yet....thanks

Quite frankly, the easiest thing to do is buy a 63-66 C10. The vast majority of aftermarket stuff is for C10's. CPP has an 8 lug disc brake kit. It's $200 more than if you had a C10. Even if you go this route, you still have wheel/tire issues to figure out (unless you're happy with your current). You're stuck with a limited selection compared to 6 or 5 lug wheels where you can run a myriad of 15" combinations.
CPP
The other thing you can do is find a junker 63-72 C10, pound the rivets out and bolt the front end into yours. Everything easily upgradable from there. Then swap the rear out to match. This also gives you the option of changing the gearing in the rear if you wish to do so for better driveability. You cannot change the gearing in your huge C20 Eaton rear even if you wanted to because nobody makes different gearing for that nowadays. Some of the 67-72 C20's had a 4.11 rear though and that could be an option if you wanted to keep it 8 lug.

You can swap in front disks by simply swapping the steering knuckles, balljoints, and tie rods from a '73-'87 C20.
While true that there isn't anything in the line of gears for the Eaton rear, there are plenty of later model 8 lug rears with gearing as high as 3.55. Depending on what you want to do with the truck as to what diff you would want to look for. If you're not looking to use the truck for any serious hauling, there's lots of 8 lug semi-floaters, mostly Dana 60s and 9.5" 14 bolts, out there. In the semi floaers, I've seen 3.55s (Dana, usually Dodge) as well as 3.42 and 3.73 (GM 14 bolt). those will allow you to keep it 8 lug and have the better highway gearing. If you still want the strength and capacity of a full floater, 3.73 is a common gear with the 14 bolt, and I have seen 3.55 in a full floating Dana rear.

CPP is what I was going to say.
Bob

will front ball joints and spindles from a 72 work also? i am wanting to do the same to my 66 c20 and have a 72 front end laying around.

Thanks guys! I appreciate any and all info I get on this site. I spent a couple hours looking up search info...but didn't find anything specific to my situation so your ideas are helpful. I had a guy tell me that I can just swap out 1/2 and 3/4 ton front ends/rear axle and solve my problem as well but I swear I saw on here that the 3/4 ton frame is different than the 1/2 ton ones....

Yes. The reason that the later ones are suggested is more due to easier availability of the parts.

gotcha, makes sense. thanks for the info.