This may sound funny but.....

[rodfromhawaii]

Hi all,
This may sound funny but it's definitely not to me. I just had my car back from being rebuilt from the ground up except for some items which I wanted to do myself. I'm putting on the front calipers of my 70 Challenger and I cannot for the life of me figure out how the flex lines ever fitted from the frame mount to the caliper. The only thing I can think of is the spindles are on backwards (left to right). Is this possible? I failed to take any pictures as the car was being torn down and the shop has no pictures of the calipers either. Are the original calipers mounted toward the front or the back of the car on the spindle? I can hear you guys laughing but is this possible? I checked the original brake lines and the replacements are the same length so I don't know what's going on. Is it possible the spindles are switched left to right? Anybody got any pictures of the hose routing and caliper mounting?

I see conversion kits with the calipers toward the back but I cannot find any pictures of the original calipers.

Thanks Guys!

[cageman]

Are they pin type calipers, and it is easy to put them on backwards.

[440roadrunner]

My old '70 manual shows them on the rear. The photos in the book don't show a good shot of the hose, only the caliper. The bleeder and hose fitting should be "uppermost", and for the floating calipers it shows the hose pointing DOWN and to the front from the caliper, then making a U and running upwards The hose has quite a long metal end, probably on the order of 2-3" in the photo

The 4 piston calipers show even less, but it APPEARS that the hose leaves the caliper directly out of the top

[rodfromhawaii]

Hi,
OK. These are single piston Kelsey Hayes units with the pin and the disc brake adapter that bolts to the spindle. If I mount it to the spindle as I think it goes, The bleeder is on the very top and facing back. The hose port faces forward. Now if I use the new hoses they are about two inches too short. Even if they were the correct length they would have to run from the bracket on the frame forward through the control arm snubber and then make a u-turn around the shock and into the caliper. It looks dangerous. Using the old hose which kind of has the hose permanently bent because it is brittle looks like that is the way the hose went but I cannot figure how the hose got so short.

[Dick]

I don't have the answer but I would think the manufacturer could give you that information. There is always the chance that the wrong hoses were given.

Edit: KH has been sold off several times and may not exist.

I found this on line. Maybe it will help.

http://wwnboa.org/pdbrakes.htm

[dodger1]

Take a look at this article from Mopar Action; http://www.moparaction.com/Tech/archive/disc-main.html Scroll down about 2/3rds and you'll see that the calipers are intended to be at the front of the rotor, so it sounds like you maybe got the wrong hoses.

[rodfromhawaii]

OK, Now I'm really confused. In order for the calipers to fit in the front, I would have to swap the spindles from left to right so the mounting holes for the calipers would now be positioned in the front.
Although the article says the calipers are in the front this is for a drum to disc conversion using parts from other mopars. Would this apply to original Challengers as the article does not specify what kind of car this is or did I miss that somewhere. Before I take the spindles off and switch them is it possible to switch them? I guess you can cause the article says so. I've got to find a Challenger with disc brakes and take a look at it. I cannot believe Murphy's law struck me.

[dodger1]

Maybe the spindles were swapped already? The article introduction says the project car was a 71 383 Cuda. The writer says (although it is a drum-disc swap) to stick with the original front-mount design. Hose part numbers are mentioned in the article as well - you could cross-reference these with yours. Worst case - I'd buy a factory service manual and start there. Cheap insurance in any case - I can't tell you how much time and money my F.S.M. saved me!

[cudabob496]

Originally Posted by dodger1

Maybe the spindles were swapped already? The article introduction says the project car was a 71 383 Cuda. The writer says (although it is a drum-disc swap) to stick with the original front-mount design. Hose part numbers are mentioned in the article as well - you could cross-reference these with yours. Worst case - I'd buy a factory service manual and start there. Cheap insurance in any case - I can't tell you how much time and money my F.S.M. saved me!

Ya, FSMs are worth every penny. Picked up the classifieds one day, an in them was a 1972 Chrysler FSM for $15. Though the guy had an Imperial, the manual also had all the Cuda stuff as well. The FSMs also have good trouble shooting info!

[rodfromhawaii]

Yeah, that is a good idea...
I'll start looking for one or maybe someone can tell me where to get them?

Thanks for all your input guys. I just want to get my car running. I'm not getting any younger.

[rodfromhawaii]

Found them on eBay and Amazon.

Hopefully will get my answer soon and will be on the road again.