SWAP MEET
IMPALA DISC BRAKE CONVERSION ISSUES
Q: I’m doing a brake conversion on my 1969 Impala, going from drums to discs on the stock-height spindles, and the problem is with the bearings —they are too wide. I need to find smaller bearings, both inner and outer. Either the spindle shaft is too short for this application or the bearings are wrong. Any ideas? And if not, what factory spindles would interchange with a 1969 Impala to change to disc brakes? I heard 1965-’85 Corvette disc-brake spindles with calipers and rotors would work on my car
John Speelman Via Hemmings.com
A: The inner and outer wheel bearings on both disc and drum spindles for your 1969 full-size Chevrolet are the same units: Timken Set 5 (inner) and Set 3 (outer). However, the spindles for disc and drum are different. Measure the location on your spindle for your inner and outer bearing — they should be .843-inch diameter for the outer bearing and 1.375-inch diameter for the inner bearing. Smaller dimensions (.750 and 1.250) would indicate you have 1967-’68 Impala disc-brake or 1961-’68 Impala drum-brake spindles. We suspect you have drum-brake spindles and they will not
