What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

dana 44 8-lug conversion

Good luck finding caddy eldo calipers of the 76-78 vintage in a wrecking yard around here. I've looked for them for years and have never found any yet.
Click to expand...

Really? I thought I read a post from you a while back that you can still find them in the wrecking yard? That was the whole reason I was gonna drive up to Fremont today.:doah:

I do have the ebrake arms from my 79 caddy calipers, I wonder if those would work?
 
bp71k5 said:
I did find the caliper brackets for the front. I guess all I need is the rotor\hub assembly.

Does anyone know if the bearings are the same between the 6-lug and the 8-lug front hubs? I just replaced the ones I have and would be cool if I could reuse them assuming their still ok.
Click to expand...

That all depends on what year hub/rotor assembly you get. They are the same up to 1975, starting in 1976 there was a change mid year and the inner bearing is larger than earlier years but the outer bearing is the same.

If it were me i'd change the spindles to the later spindle and use the larger inner bearing. For one a larger bearing is better and also the smaller ones are getting harder to find so if you ever have a bad spindle it would be much easier for you to find a replacement.
 
bp71k5 said:
Really? I thought I read a post from you a while back that you can still find them in the wrecking yard? That was the whole reason I was gonna drive up to Fremont today.:doah:

I do have the ebrake arms from my 79 caddy calipers, I wonder if those would work?
Click to expand...

The post you're thinking about i was talking about using the Fleetwood and Seville brake levers and springs on the Eldo calipers. THOSE are plentiful in the yards still but the calipers won't work because they won't fit over the rotors.
 
The post you're thinking about i was talking about using the Fleetwood and Seville brake levers and springs on the Eldo calipers.
Click to expand...

Ah, so if I buy rebuilt calipers from the parts store, I can get some levers and springs from a seville and use those on them? That would work ok.

Also, I picked up some front hubs to go with the caliper brackets on the front. Although I forgot to look at what year the truck was. I'll have to go check, maybe I got lucky and got the later model ones.
 
bp71k5 said:
I did find one for $500, but it was a factory 8 lug 71 dana44 with 4.10 with the big esternal locking hubs. Since I have crossover steering, I'd have to part most of that axle out and it would have been a shame and waste of money.
Holy Sheet!

I just picked up a rolling chassis w/the same 44, a ff 14bolt and 4.10's for half that!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
If it were me i'd change the spindles to the later spindle and use the larger inner bearing.
Click to expand...

So I dug around a bit today and found some 6 lug spindles from a 75 and a couple newer years. I assume those are probably the new design?
 
The later spindles use an inner wheel bearing with a 2" ID and IIRC the earlier had a 1.75" ID bearing.
 
So I called around for some calipers and all I can find is a left one.

Anyone willing to point me to (or sell me) a rebuildable pair for less than $150?
 
We can get boths sides at my shop. If you call tomorrow i can have the parts guys check pricing for you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom