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disc brakes on 14 bolf SF - who has done it?

kumma

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in the process of building up my 14 bolf sf. im considering upgrading to disc brakes from tsm. who has done this? were you able to keep 15 inch wheels and how did it turn out? any problems or things you ran into i should know? i tried searching but it wouldnt work.

Craig
 
The ones I bought (and never installed) from Baby Blue have them. He would know. There are at Mike's (blazen91) house so he could help you too... and I was going to keep my 15" rims to run them, but now I'm going a new way....
 
I have never seen a disc brake kit for an 8 lug 14 bolt SF. If it's 6 lug, go for it, but if it's 8 lug, just go to a 14 bolt full floater, they're easier do disc-brake.
 
I know either Scooter or Prembird did this on a 14SF rear. Can't remember which one did it. I have not seen either one on here for a while. May have to get their e-mail addy from their profile to send them a message.

What one of them did was take an 8 lug 14SF and converted it to 6 lug. He used the brackets from TSM and everything was straightforward from there. No hassles.

I know the flange on the end of the housings are the same size as the 14FF. So it won't matter if the SF is 6 or 8 lug. TSM kit will work just fine. /forums/images/icons/wink.gif
 
I've done it. Works great!!!! I took an '86 housing from a Sub which was originally an 8 lug axle shaft and put new 6 lug Yukon shafts I got from Randy's. The 6 lug shafts are longer than the 8's so I had my brother in law machine me up some spacers to go in the axle tube housing before/behind the new outer axle bearings. IIRC the spacer was 2.990" outer circumference x 0.020" thick x about 3/8" from O.D. to I.D. This was done to move the axle bearing further outboard and thus better located on the axle shafts bearing surface area. This step is prooly not neccessary but it made me feel better /forums/images/icons/smile.gif I used the TSM brackets which are actually designed for the 8 lug I believe so it was neccessary to shim (I used thick flat washers) the bracket further outboard about a half inch. I used '88+ chevy 1/2 ton 4x4 front rotors. I started off using the Monte Carlo calipers which worked great but subsequintly switched to '83(?) Cadillac rear calipers which also wave worked great so far. I don't remember what year exactly but the bleeders are on top of the caliper, pointing forward so bleeding is easy /forums/images/icons/smile.gif I almost forgat, I also had my bro in law machine down the outer circuference of the axleshafts wheel mounting surface so I could get the rotors to fit over them properly. It didnt take much. I run 15x10 Centerline Hellcats no problemo. I hope I covered most of your ?s, if not just ask of PM. I'm very happy with how it turned out /forums/images/icons/grin.gif
And for those who say just put an a 14FF, I agree but I wanted to 1. keep my Centerlines and 2. keep weight down and maximize clearence.
Easy conversion overall and not too expencive.

James
 
no need for a ff as im very happy with my 35's, i dont rock crawl just use the truck to get to my fishin spot up north. got the SF as a replacement for my 3.08 10 bolt, cheaper than buyin new gears.
 
I did this, too. First, I got some 6-lug shafts and put them in. Then I used 90's Chevy 4x4 front rotors, which fit perfectly on the ends of the 6-lug shafts. For mounting brackets, I used some front disc brake backing plates. I had the center hole machined out to fit over the 14sf axle tube and drilled 4 1/2" holes to match up with the pattern on the axle's original brake mounting flange. The drum brake backing plate is a great template for this. Then I made some spacers (can't remember exactly, but I think 1.5" thick) to move the backing plates out to position the caliper correctly over the rotor. Then I got some stock 1/2-ton 80's 4x4 front calipers, pins, pads and flex hoses. I made little brackets that mounted with the backing plate bolts that tied the hard lines to the flex lines with the little "index" type thing that the front uses for that connection. I ran new hard lines, but you could reuse your existing ones if they are good. That's about it. I run 15x10 alloy wheels. I posted before about it in more detail if you want to do a search.

You might try using 90's front calipers and pads instead, if they will fit. The 80's ones are a little bigger, so my pads wear funny and I have to grind them a bit every few months.
 
I also have a 14 bolt SF. I wasn't saying it wasn't strong enough, I was just saying that if you want disc brakes, you're going to have to either get a 6 lug one or convert one to 6 lug because nobody makes a disc kit for the 8 lug one.

In short:

If you want a 6 lug axle with discs, go for the SF.

If you want an 8 lug one, go with a full floater.

I personally want an 8 lug axle and disc brakes, so I'm going to change to a full floater eventually (right now I have a SF with 1/2 ton drum brakes).
 
I did this. Like Wes said, i converted from 8 to 6 lug, used the brackets from TSM, sourced the rest from O'Reillys.

It went together very, very easily. I used the thin (1" vs. 1.25") front rotors from an 88 (or newer) Chevy 1/2 ton 4x4, the calipers, pads, and flex lines for the front of an 84 Monte Carlo. It all went together just like it was supposed to be there from the factory. Besides the Lock-Rite (that i put in at the same time) it has been one of the easiest mods on the truck to date.
 
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