1966 Front Rotor Hits Caliper

[hazedav]

Someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong. I'm working on the front passenger brakes and wheel assembly. After pressing new inner and outer bearings and the new rotor (Centric 120.61059 from rockauto), the rotor is not centered (and is actually hitting the caliper. The assembly also isn't true (hits inside of caliper at some points but not others). I have a brand new caliper that i fitted which exhibits the same issue (so not the caliper).

Do we think this is a rotor issue? Bearing issue? Please advise.

[Cliff Rankin]

Throw the old one back on. Everything looks good ? Must be the rotor or bearing. Pull the seal and bearing. Test fit it on the spindle. Take a ruler and measure the new against the old rotor specs.

[hazedav]

The rotor is pressed onto the hub assembly via the lugs, so it's not a simple "throw the old one back on".

[Cliff Rankin]

Well, It’s a little tougher to help on the form than standing there looking at it. Again take a few measurements
If you are using your hub , new bearing race installed correctly and it spins true I will bet the rotor is not on correctly

[sseebart]

The rotor is pressed onto the hub assembly via the lugs, so it's not a simple "throw the old one back on".

I haven't done this with disks, but did the bearings, races, etc on my drum brake setup. If I had to guess, I would suspect that the rotor is not fully seated on the lugs and therefore offset, somewhat crooked. Hard to tell though from a distance.

~Steve

[hazedav]

Steve, thanks for the response. The surface of the hub is flush to the surface of the rotor and the lugs/everything should be fully seated. I could see this accounting for the rotor not being perfectly "true", but the centering itself seems a little more significant. Perhaps the inner bearings aren't tall enough?

I bought these Centric Front Inners:
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.ph ... 7&jsn=3341

Perhaps there's a better brand, or perhaps I need to try a bird house?

[sseebart]

According to the spec sheet under that link, the bearings you put on are .710" tall. If you have the old bearing floating around and accurate calipers, you can check to see that they are the same.

Is it possible that the new rotors have a slightly different offset? I would measure new and old to ensure that they are the same.

~Steve

[stubbie]

I'm just surprised to see the width marked as 30.86MM

[hazedav]

According to the spec sheet under that link, the bearings you put on are .710" tall. If you have the old bearing floating around and accurate calipers, you can check to see that they are the same.

Is it possible that the new rotors have a slightly different offset? I would measure new and old to ensure that they are the same.

~Steve

Looks like the bearings I took off were Timken (I believe it's the Set5) which has the same specs. Odd.

[sseebart]

Looks like the bearings I took off were Timken (I believe it's the Set5) which has the same specs. Odd.

In that case, I think it has to be the offset of the rotor or an error in assembly that you missed.

~Steve

[RedBird64]

I had to give this one a lot of thought because I had the same problem when I converted my 64 to the 65~67 disc setup several years ago and had to go out and look at what I'd done to jog my memory.

We used spindles from a junk yard, rebuilt calipers, new rotors, Timkin bearing sets, seals, etc from Rock Auto. I pressed the new studs in the new rotors with a large hyd. press so there was no way they weren't fully seated (you can see a pressure spike when they bottom out).
I ended up having to grind back the mounting ears on the spindles to get clearance. Since all parts except the rotors where original Ford type parts, it had to be the rotors. I didn't have to remove a whole lot because all you need is enough clearance that it doesn't touch. The rotor will never move closer to the housing.
If I ever changed the rotors again and the new ones were more 'stock" in their dimensions, there's probably enough clearance that they would still work. If not, some grade 8 washers would make it right - no biggie.

Scott

[64ZCODE]

Hi Scott. Question for you. I'm looking at installing disc brakes from a '66 onto my '64. Do I have to change the spindles or will my '64 spindles work? What else should I be aware of that I would need to change?

The further question is, should I even mess with using the disc brakes off a '66, or would it be preferred to go with a new aftermarket setup? I'm not a purist by the way, if that wasn't already obvious from my other posts:)

Doug

[RedBird64]

Hi Doug,
You will need the spindles of a 65~66. Your 64's have no way to mount the caliper.
You will also either need to get lower control arms or rework your turn stops on the original (the geometry is the same). I elected to use donor parts.
You also need rotor dust shields, bearings, seals, rubber brake lines and probably something else I've missed.
Oh, you also need a 69 Mustang disc/drum dual MC and fittings to adapt it to your brake lines.
I suggest rebuilt calipers (you'll need cores) from Rock Auto because they're really nice.
It's also a great time to replace all your hard brake lines. I was amazed at how much crud came out of mine.

I prefer the 65~67 setup to the aftermarket kits because the kits are made up of all kinds of odd parts (Grenada rotors?) and eventually when maint. is needed, it's going to be a bear to figure out what parts they used. The stuff they use isn't all that great either. The single piston calipers are generally little things used in some GM application in the 70's.
The beauty of the kit is it gives you everything and you don't have to do any engineering but you do have to have your spindles machined.

The oem Kelsy Hayes are 4 piston units previously used on a 2.5 ton Ford truck (according to a wrecking yard owner).

[Cliff Rankin]

Doug i have a set up I pulled and never used.
I’m in Texas. Don’t know if shipping would be
Worth it. So what was the fix to this issue?
Thanks
Cliff

[64ZCODE]

Hi Clint. Good to talk to you by phone and thanks for putting together these parts for the disc brake conversion. I'm looking into shipping costs and I know it'll be expensive, but hey, it's for a TBird, right? Thanks! Doug