yeah, what he said^^^
CK5
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Pure Chevy Sex
- Thread starter cyclic
- Start date
Still can't wait until my tires wear out so I can justify buying bigger wheels to fit these brakes!
That's the one thing I miss from my old '99. Decent brakes. My 90 burb with the hydroboost rocks, but my dd 1/2 ton 'burb dd leaves a lot to be desired in that department.
This is a hell of a improvement. So glad you thought of it
This is a hell of a improvement. So glad you thought of it
Figured I'd do a little update.
1) The brakes absolutely rock, the more I drive it the happier I am.
2) Got a bunch done on the carport today. Did every part I could do without renting either scaffolding or a scissor lift. Holy crap that metal gets heavy while trying to bolt it together.
1) The brakes absolutely rock, the more I drive it the happier I am.
2) Got a bunch done on the carport today. Did every part I could do without renting either scaffolding or a scissor lift. Holy crap that metal gets heavy while trying to bolt it together.
Nice axle upgrade and axle work cyclic. and cool on the garage progress. 
Figured I'd throw a small update.
Got all the frame work installed and tightened. Next is to paint the frame, followed by sheeting and trim. I pulled the burb inside just to get a feel for the size. DAMN this is a big car port. Suburban isn't what I'd call huge, but it's not small either, 2.5 lift over 32 inch tires. The car port actually makes it look like a little station wagon parked there.
Got all the frame work installed and tightened. Next is to paint the frame, followed by sheeting and trim. I pulled the burb inside just to get a feel for the size. DAMN this is a big car port. Suburban isn't what I'd call huge, but it's not small either, 2.5 lift over 32 inch tires. The car port actually makes it look like a little station wagon parked there.
y5mgisi
1 ton status
That is exciting!
[hijack on] So I was messing around yt when I stumbled across the alignment video I posted in the garage. the end credits rolled, and it was THORparts! I sent an e-mail, he sent one back...he is getting me a price for the brackets and some lugs. Gonna order them (next) Friday. Nice guy. [hijack off]
Not a hijack. Directly related to the brake upgrade. Make sure you post info and pics here, very relevant to the best upgrade you can do to a half ton axle. I was the first to do this for the Chevy's, and any additional info is good. I'd hate to have a better parts or processes not be included here.
I hear ya. I just happened to watchpower block this a.m., they were doing a WilWood upgrade on a 1/2 ton truck. The only difference I saw was The Wilwoods calipers were painted red.
My 1/2 ton, they brakes feel weak to me after driving the 3/4 ton with hydraboost. I drive like grandpa these days, so I leave tons of room in front of me on the road. I'm going to feel much better with this upgrade.
p.s Do you know what your backspacing is? I want to avoid using a spacer if possible.
My 1/2 ton, they brakes feel weak to me after driving the 3/4 ton with hydraboost. I drive like grandpa these days, so I leave tons of room in front of me on the road. I'm going to feel much better with this upgrade.
p.s Do you know what your backspacing is? I want to avoid using a spacer if possible.
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If you saw the axle is has tone rings on it for the Hummer conversions he does.
Wilwood uses the stock rotors. Yes, better calipers, but still the stock rotor size and rear mounting type. The H3 brake upgrade does a couple things:
1) Larger rotor and outside mounted. You can do a brake job without pulling the hubs. You can service the hubs without the extra mass of the rotors fighting you, they slip right off.
2) Much larger four piston calipers. Fixed mounting, no more frozen calipers. You can actually swap brake pads WITHOUT pulling the calipers.
3) Modern design with commonly found parts. Other than a drill bit to open the lug holes, everything is pretty much off the shelf items. Parts are everywhere.
The back spacing is not the issue, run what ever backspacing you want. It actually widens the front width about 1/2 inch per side. The issue is the caliper clearance, in two areas:
1) Must run at least 16 inch rims. No if's, minimum is a 16 inch. Which is actually a good thing, 16 and 17 inch tires are everywhere and sizing is widely covered. Your seeing less and less 15 inch tires as factories are switching to the 16 and 17 stock.
2) The caliper is much thicker and can hit the back of the wheel face. This is the biggest factor in wheel selection. With every manufacturer being slightly different, you'll have to fit one on to be sure. Even with my very modest rims I had to add 1/4 spacer to keep the stamped holes from contacting the brakes. I know for a fact the BlackRock 937 rims have the wheel shape to clear the larger brakes. Pretty much any rim designed for a H3 will work OTHER that the offset could be too much. Specifically, you are looking for a H3 rim that has zero or close to zero offset. The 937 rims with the 13mm offset work out to exactly a zero offset when mounted with the brake conversion. Which is a 17x8 rim w/ 13mm offset.
If you look here.................. http://www.jegs.com/i/Black-Rock/262/937786050/10002/-1?parentProductId=3354397 you can see just how deep the wheel mount area is compared to the wheel face. Now there are plenty of rims that fit the H3 brakes, but without owning a tire store or maybe asking THORparts for specifics, you can't be positive.
1) Larger rotor and outside mounted. You can do a brake job without pulling the hubs. You can service the hubs without the extra mass of the rotors fighting you, they slip right off.
2) Much larger four piston calipers. Fixed mounting, no more frozen calipers. You can actually swap brake pads WITHOUT pulling the calipers.
3) Modern design with commonly found parts. Other than a drill bit to open the lug holes, everything is pretty much off the shelf items. Parts are everywhere.
The back spacing is not the issue, run what ever backspacing you want. It actually widens the front width about 1/2 inch per side. The issue is the caliper clearance, in two areas:
1) Must run at least 16 inch rims. No if's, minimum is a 16 inch. Which is actually a good thing, 16 and 17 inch tires are everywhere and sizing is widely covered. Your seeing less and less 15 inch tires as factories are switching to the 16 and 17 stock.
2) The caliper is much thicker and can hit the back of the wheel face. This is the biggest factor in wheel selection. With every manufacturer being slightly different, you'll have to fit one on to be sure. Even with my very modest rims I had to add 1/4 spacer to keep the stamped holes from contacting the brakes. I know for a fact the BlackRock 937 rims have the wheel shape to clear the larger brakes. Pretty much any rim designed for a H3 will work OTHER that the offset could be too much. Specifically, you are looking for a H3 rim that has zero or close to zero offset. The 937 rims with the 13mm offset work out to exactly a zero offset when mounted with the brake conversion. Which is a 17x8 rim w/ 13mm offset.
If you look here.................. http://www.jegs.com/i/Black-Rock/262/937786050/10002/-1?parentProductId=3354397 you can see just how deep the wheel mount area is compared to the wheel face. Now there are plenty of rims that fit the H3 brakes, but without owning a tire store or maybe asking THORparts for specifics, you can't be positive.
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Well imageshack is crap, so I reloaded/rehosted the pics. Hopefully photobucket will be better.
Also, posted a better pic of the brake line. If you compare the lines I listed to the pic below, you can see how I bent it to make it work perfect.
Also, posted a better pic of the brake line. If you compare the lines I listed to the pic below, you can see how I bent it to make it work perfect.
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I had this style on the back of my Harley. Made a huge difference. Of course, Harley made it standard the next model year...
well...I'm waiting on a set of brackets. I have a set of 8 lug hubs that I'm going to try to make work.
That's gonna be interesting. Not sure if the hub offset is the same between the 6 lug hubs and the 8 lug hubs. Obviously the insides are the same, but not sure if the hub surface is the same depth/width.
Never hurts to try. Might cost some, but the info is valuable win or loose.
Never hurts to try. Might cost some, but the info is valuable win or loose.
+1 Give it a try and see how it goes. This would still be a cool upgrade for the 8 lug Dana 44/10 Bolts out there. Assuming there isn't a big difference between the hubs like Cyclic pointed out the only real issue would be finding an 8 lug rotor that'd be the same diameter and thickness as the H3 rotors... Be sure to post up how it turns out for people looking in to it in the future.
I've been studying the differences via rock auto. open 2 pages, one with the H3 and the other being a 3/4 ton truck. Old and new body styles. Old for the hub, new for the rotor. I have the numbers written down somewhere here on my desk. It's chaos but it's MY chaos! (cue mad scientist laugh...)
The measurements are really close. May need a spacer, but since I already have the hubs it's worth a shot. I'll start a new thread when I get the brackets.
here's the 3/4 ton rotor...
and the H3
The hubs don't have any dimensions available.
We'll make it work just outta spite!
The measurements are really close. May need a spacer, but since I already have the hubs it's worth a shot. I'll start a new thread when I get the brackets.
here's the 3/4 ton rotor...
and the H3
The hubs don't have any dimensions available.
We'll make it work just outta spite!
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Not going to work without extra machining and still might need spacers on the caliper mount. The H3 rotor is 12.4 outer diameter which means you'd START buy cutting down the 3/4 ton rotors to 12.4 from 12.99. Which then gets into the internal cooling fins. Not a good idea. Then the height is way off.
Your honest best bet is get to get with Thorparts, and see if he'll make a bracket for the eight lug hubs, that use both the rotor AND the calipers from a late model 3/4 ton Silverado. He's already 90% there with what he has already engineered. Off set, diameter, and mounts would be pretty easy if you spec the parts to be used. Figure something like an 04 2500 would get you there.
Your honest best bet is get to get with Thorparts, and see if he'll make a bracket for the eight lug hubs, that use both the rotor AND the calipers from a late model 3/4 ton Silverado. He's already 90% there with what he has already engineered. Off set, diameter, and mounts would be pretty easy if you spec the parts to be used. Figure something like an 04 2500 would get you there.
Why not just look for another 8 lug rotor that is already the right diameter? A quick Google search for '12.4" brake rotor 8 lug' pulled up a '98 3/4 GMC Van. I didn't look too closely at all of the specs but it had the same 12.4" diameter but with a 8x6.5" 8 lug pattern. I'm sure with some more time and creative Google-ing you could probably find something that'd work...
