[Nicks67GTO]

Originally Posted by TCSGTO

If you decide to use the Chinese upper arms replace the ball joints with moog or maybe Howe if you want to go with a taller joint. 2 people on the Chevelle forums have had the ball joints catastrophically fail. Luckily no one was hurt. Another person had the welds x-rayed and they passed. The arms themselves seem to be sturdy enough but some have reported geometry problems and difficulty aligning but that could be from frame sag.

For me....I don't care about Chinese engine parts. If the engine comes apart...well whatever. Now if your front end comes apart you could be done. At a minimum your car is going to be a mess, just to save a few hundred bucks. With American made arms from SC&C, UMI, Ridetech, BMR, Speedtech you get quality parts in a CRITICAL safety spot on your car. You also get top shelf customer service and support. I'm willing to bet the guy selling the cheap arms doesn't hardly know the difference between camber and caster....

[NeighborsComplaint]

Originally Posted by TCSGTO

If you decide to use the Chinese upper arms replace the ball joints with moog or maybe Howe if you want to go with a taller joint. 2 people on the Chevelle forums have had the ball joints catastrophically fail. Luckily no one was hurt. Another person had the welds x-rayed and they passed. The arms themselves seem to be sturdy enough but some have reported geometry problems and difficulty aligning but that could be from frame sag.

I thought the arms themlves were pretty well made, the ball joints looked a bit cheap. I may buy the Moogs. $100 for the uppers and lowers is cheap insurance to have quality ball joints.

[NeighborsComplaint]

Just a quick update. I just installed my rebuilt third member and went to install my rear disc kit. Not exactly the bolt on kit I thought I had bought. There are tabs to terminate the rear axle hardlines and connect to hose to the calipers that must be welded to my fully painted rear axle ... Crap. The manuf couldn't have welded tabs on the back of the caliper brackets? Stupid of me to believe the kit was a bolt on I suppose.

Here is the best part ... The rear rotor hats are too small to fit over the axle flanges. The enclosed instructions did not call this out but More detailed instructions downloaded from the supplier's website provided specs. I had to pull the axles and find a machine shop to turn the flanges down. Unfortunately, my newly installed axle bearings and seals will have to be removed and replaced to allow machining. The shop says new bearings and seals will be needed as the newly intalked ones will likely be damaged pressing them off.

I am a bit pissed that the brake conversion kit instructions were so vague but I guess they assume you would just intuitively check the rotor fit before proceeding. I tried 10+ machine shops/driveline shops before finding someone who could do this and will be waiting at least a week to get this done. Nuts.

[Scarebird]

Originally Posted by NeighborsComplaint

Just a quick update. I just installed my rebuilt third member and went to install my rear disc kit. Not exactly the bolt on kit I thought I had bought. There are tabs to terminate the rear axle hardlines and connect to hose to the calipers that must be welded to my fully painted rear axle ... my newly installed axle bearings and seals will have to be removed and replaced to allow machining. The shop says new bearings and seals will be needed as the newly intalked ones will likely be damaged pressing them off.

I am assuming it is not our kit because we weld soft line tabs on every rear kit that can use them.

Also, your machine shop can turn your axle flanges WITHOUT pulling the bearing or sealing - it will just be noisier...

[NeighborsComplaint]

Correct, not your kit. I wouldn't be comfortable with a soft clamp pinching a rubber brake hose to keep it in place.

The provided tabs have a hex hole to engage the brass hex fittings and lock like factory so I will use them. I could fab new hard lines from the rear axle T all the way to the calipers but I had already bought the replacement hard lines before deciding to go with the disc conversion so I will shorten them.

It just seems dumb not to have the caliper brackets fabbed with tabs already in place. With a simple bend of the existing hard line, you could attach to the hoses and have a bolt-on install.

The machine shop does not want to turn the flanges down by clamping onto the raw forged section of the axle. They are concerned that the run-out will result in imbalance so they want to clamp onto the machined surface where the bearing now resides. I think it is overkill but I don't have a choice since they are the only game in town beside Opel Engineering ($$$) that can do this. I would have thought any place that machines rotors could do this but apparently not.

It is amazing that none of the so-called driveline, axle and driveshaft shops do not have the capability do this.

[DOC]

can you machine the rotors and open them up instead? I would think that would be easier.

[Scarebird]

Originally Posted by NeighborsComplaint

Correct, not your kit. I wouldn't be comfortable with a soft clamp pinching a rubber brake hose to keep it in place..

What are you talking about? Note the welded tab, it uses the supplied clips to retain the hose like the front hoses are retained. When we started in 2003 that is how we did it, not liking the zip tie to the axle tube method others used.



This is the drum-in-hat setup, note the tab peeking out in back?



If the drive shop pressed out 2 studs they could grab the pilot with the 3-jaw chuck and use the tailstock with a live center on the spline end of things.

Their lack of competence disturbs me.

[NeighborsComplaint]

Originally Posted by Scarebird

I am assuming it is not our kit because we weld soft line tabs on every rear kit that can use them.

There you go. That is what I was grousing about with the kit I bought. It comes with the soft line tabs but they have to be welded to the rear axle housing (they are radiused for this). I could grind them and weld to the back of the brackets but the soft brake lines furnished in the kit would be way too long. I have to shorten and flare the hard lines to terminate at the tabs after they are welded in place on top of the axle axle housing about 6" in from the axle flanges ... bolt-on kit they (Inline Tube) said, but I guess I should expect this kind of thing from a $300 kit (rotors, brackets, loaded calipers, ebrake cables, hoses, etc.) right?

With regard to the machine shop, I can't really tell the only place in town who can do the work, how to do the work there are no alternatives. I live in the NW Suburbs of Chicago and could find no one able to chuck the axle in a lathe and turn down the hub, as crazy as that may seem. You would think any axle/driveshaft shop could do it but everyone's solution was to call Moser and order new axles with the reduced flange size.

Also, someone commented about cutting the inside of the rotor. The manufacturer included a warning/disclaimer against doing this as too much material must be removed. I didn't throw a caliper on it but I am guessing .050" would have to be cut plus a corner chamfer to allow the flange to seat fully.

[Scarebird]

Any machine shop or guy with a 30" or longer lathe can do this. If you have a rod shop or builder ask them.

[NeighborsComplaint]

Originally Posted by Scarebird

Any machine shop or guy with a 30" or longer lathe can do this. If you have a rod shop or builder ask them.

Yeah, this is something I could have done in HS shop class.

[rexs73gto]

Have you tried to go to your High school & ask the teacher if he can do this , that way he can show his students how its done. I know my high school teacher could do it if he was still there but my high school no longer has a machine shop class. But It can be done at any local school that has a shop. Try you local college.

[NeighborsComplaint]

I got the axles back from the shop today.

Flange diameters machined w. chamfer $105
R&R axle bearings and seals $65
New bearings & seals $136 (they were newly installed and removed to allow machining, but could not be reused after removal)

Jeezus, just bend me over already and make it quick.

If you ever plan to visit Headline Machine, Inc. in So. Elgin, don't forget your wallet.

[Scarebird]

good grief.

If I would have known they were going to clip you that hard I would have had you send me the shafts and would have done them for $50/pair. It takes about 5 minutes each and you do NOT need to pull the bearings and seals.

[Nicks67GTO]

You got took. You shouldnt have had to pull the bearings off. I had to do the same thing to my moser axles and it cost me $25 bucks from some random machine shop across town.

[NeighborsComplaint]

Yep. I won't be able to sit down for a week.

[NeighborsComplaint]

It ain't over yet!

Got the axles and rear disc brakes installed only to find the wheel studs are too short now. Instructions did not mention longer studs would be required due to the added thicknes of the rotor flange top hat. So now I get to remove it all and put in longer studs- This MBM kit was just a bunch of crap. Very poor engineering and the most vague instructions I've ever encountered-. For something as important as brakes, this was really off putting, not even a pic of what the completed install should look like!


I was really dreading the alignment step (centering the rotor in the caliper). They provided shim plates to move the caliper brackets inward towards the diff but if you had to move the brackets outward you would be SOL. No outward adjustment was provided for. Lucky for me they centered oerfectly with no shims.