caliper question

[makovai]

As i'm doing my 3/4 ton conversion, i noticed somthing strange on the 8 lug D44. The front calipers had broke the casting right where the bolt go through the backing plate. I didn't think much of it at the time because i figured i'd use the calipers off my old 6 lug d44. The brakes calipers had the exact same casting number on both the 6 and 8 lug D44.

So now i have the entire front finished and under the rig and i cant get the calipers on the backing plates. The holes are off by about an 1/8" and if i get them to go through it will probably break the casting just like the orignals that came with the axle. Whats the deal? Did the truck that had this 3/4 ton RG under it have the wrong calipers on it, or am i missing somthing?


Help please

 

[hunterguy86]

Swap the calipers to the other side.


When I did my 8 lug swap on my ten bolt I had the same issue, the caliper would not line up. Thanks to the advice from the guys here I got it fixed. All I did was swap the backing plates side to side. Then the calipers lined up perfectly.


Hope this helps.

 

[makovai]

Thanks for the tip. I did manage to get them on, but i'm still concerned about the originals breaking and what will happen with these. Oh well it'll be next summer b4 i'm on the raod again, I'll just deal with it then if its an issue.
Thanks

 

[Muddytazz]

Weld up the crack Jim

 

[4X4HIGH]

Did you use the caliper brackets from the 8 lug axle? The 6 lug and 8 lug caliper brackets are different by about a 1/4", 1/8" per side.

 

[makovai]

Did you use the caliper brackets from the 8 lug axle? The 6 lug and 8 lug caliper brackets are different by about a 1/4", 1/8" per side.

yes, i used the 8 lug backing plates with the 6 lug calipers. It should work and they did finally go on, but i have suspisions.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

Weld up the crack Jim

Weld cast iron/steel? On the brake system

 

[sandawgk5]

yes, i used the 8 lug backing plates with the 6 lug calipers. It should work and they did finally go on, but i have suspisions.

Did you try to swap the backing plates side to side? I recall a previous post that mentioned that solved the same problem on their rig.

Ira

 

[ntsqd]

Weld cast iron/steel? On the brake system

Steel, yes.

Iron, no.

If you think about how steel is made, it pretty much all starts out as a casting. Whatever process' it goes thru after that don't change it's alloying, it's still the same stuff that came out of the crucible.

 

[goldwing2000]

The backing plates shouldn't be able to be switched from side to side. The plate has a little punched-out piece that fits into a notch on the steering knuckle. If you have them on the wrong side, then it shouldn't even seat correctly.

That being said, I also had some problems lining up the caliper bolts but after I pushed the pistons back in, they fit fine.

Swap the calipers to the other side.

But then how do you bleed them? The bleeder screws will be on the bottom!

 

[hunterguy86]

But then how do you bleed them? The bleeder screws will be on the bottom!

Glad you caught that. I was typing to fast for my own good.

What I meant was, on my rig I had to swap the backing plates to the other side to get the caliper to line up.