I've reached the point where the car NEEDS to come apart because she's just too plain tired. The rear end needs a rebuild then I want to MAYBE improve the brakes and I was wondering if the 10" drums came on a 7 1/4" or if an 8 3/4" is required. My plan was to put Kelsey Hayes disc brakes up front, but keep the system manual. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

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Leela: 1970 Dart 225 CID
Coulmn Shift TorqueFlite
7 1/4" Axle 2.76 Gears

Go ahead and save that weird car, the sedan, the 6 cylinder, the C-Body. If you want a big block musclecar and that's all you care about, your missing the point.

[quote]My plan was to put Kelsey Hayes disc brakes up front[/quote]



That will work with your existing small ball joint upper control arm, but you will need to change steering knuckle (not so easy to locate these parts, these were optional A Body only, years 1967-73) and lower ball joint for a KH disk brake unit, and convert to small bolt 14â€￾ rims. Disks for A Body KH are hard to source and expensive. See Rock auto for rebuild kits and rebuilt calipers, they have best prices and availability.

A cheaper and part friendly availability method would be to use single piston stile upper big ball joint later A body 1974 & newer or newer Aspen platform cousins conversion, 4.5â€￾ bolt pattern, or aftermarket disk brake conversion kit that utilizes later more common (read inexpensive) parts and your existing steering knuckle and a 14 inch wheel.

Can't help with 10" rear drum Q.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Single Piston disc brakes were model years 1973-1976 in A-bodies and 1976-up in the Aspen/Diplomat/etc... bodies...Mopar made them mandatory in cars made after Jan.1976.

Hmm, OK thanks for the input on this. I would feel better with four-piston calipers. I saw the K-H Calipers on Rock Auto and they are about $100 per side. That does not concern me, what is an issue is locating a set of spindles. I will continue this in the brakes forum.

I was curious as to what can be done in terms of making a 7 1/4" axle bullet proof (go 150,000 miles without breaking). I was wanting to add a Sure-Grip if it is possible, but keep the highway gears.

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Leela: 1970 Dart 225 CID
Coulmn Shift TorqueFlite
7 1/4" Axle 2.76 Gears

Go ahead and save that weird car, the sedan, the 6 cylinder, the C-Body. If you want a big block musclecar and that's all you care about, your missing the point.

Kelsey Hayes spindles aren't common, but they're not that rare, either. Complete KH brake setups show up on forabodiesonly.com all the time, and I'm sure they pop up on Ebay on a fairly regular basis.

Rotors aren't as hard to find as they used to be, either. Several aftermarket companies sell them.

The later '73-up brakes also widen the front track, something I've always hated.

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vm