hub conversion?

[dbdkemp]

Hub Conversion

post #8749 and #8870 of the yahoo site, http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/them715zone, have some interesting info regarding what hubs will fit the M715 front
spindles.


Can someone help me find this info?

[brute4c]

We deleted the yahoo site over a year ago....
The info you want is online as the entire old yahoo board is out there....I need to post a link to it in the online manuals section....we have to run errands right now...when we get home, I will add the link and post that it is up.
brute4c

[brute4c]

OK...go to the online manuals link on the left side of the page, and right under the table at the top of the page, is a link to the Yahoo Posting Board Document.
It is about 4.5 meg in size and you can view it online or right click and save it to your hard drive for off line viewing.
Enjoy!!
brute4c

[dbdkemp]

8749 From: Pascalray Date: Sun Dec 17, 2000 7:19am Subject: M715 front disc/8 lug conversion. Comparing factory parts from 4 different axles, it is not possible to convert the M715 front Dana 60 to discs.<br><br>I tore down a 1985 military Chevy Dana 60, a 1979 Dodge military Dana 60, a 1967 M715 Dana 60, and a 1973 Dodge front Dana 70 axle yesterday to see if factory parts can be used to convert the M715 front Dana 60 can be converted to 8 lug discs with factory parts.<br><br>The Dodge military Dana 60 hubs look exactly like the M715 hubs, but the spindles/bearing spacing is exactly the same as the Chevy. The difference between the Dodge and Chevy is the type of lockouts they use. The Dodge Dana 60 used the bolt on lockouts like our M715, The Chevy uses the clip style lockouts similar to a Dana 44 but bigger. The spindles/bearings/caliper bracket, and caliper are identical between the 2.<br>The spindle mounts with 6 bolts instead of 5 like the M715. The bearings are the same as the M715 but the seal and seal surface is smaller than the M715. With a seal swap, the Chevy and Dodge 1 ton can be made to work on the M715 spindle. The problem is that the stock caliper bracket has 6 bolts instead of 5 like the M715. There is no possible way, even if you redrilled the bracket to fit the M715, will the caliper clear the closed knuckle the M715 has. This settles the rumor that you can use factory parts that will bolt on and convert the M715 axle.<br><br>The 8 lug/drum brake front closed knuckle Dana 70 uses the exact same hub/spindle setup as the M715 and will bolt on with no problems. But you still don't have discs but get 8 lugs.<br><br>The only way I can see this working is to use factory hubs, find an 8 lug rotor that less inset from the knuckle so that a custom caliper bracket can be made so the caliper can clear the knuckle, and do this without having having wheel clearance problems.<br><br>I am going to mess around with this some more and let you know what I find out.

8870 From: Pascalray Date: Sun Jan 7, 2001 5:45pm Subject: M715 Dana front disc conversion info. It looks like a open knuckle Dana 60 dually hub is the answer to converting the M715 front Dana 60 to discs. I looked at this again this weekend.<br><br>With minor mods and a seal swap, the open knuckle Dana 60 hub will bolt to the M715 spindle. The problem is that the rotor is too close and it is impossible to mount the disc caliper using the stock rotors. If you got a rotor that had less offset enough to clear the closed knuckle, you would hit the wheel with the caliper. So single wheel Dana 60 parts will not work. Period!<br><br>I got a deal on a set of 1979 8 lug Dana 60 1 ton dually hubs, rotors, calipers, and caliper brackets. If I get a rotor with enough offset for the caliper to clear the bracket, the caliper will still clear the wheel because of the dually hub extension which moves the wheel mounting surface away from the rotor several inches. It almost looks like you could flip the stock caliper bracket, redrill it to the 5 hole M715 pattern, get a flat rotor with no offset, and it would work. The bottom line is that this looks like it is going to work with a different rotor and a modified or custom caliper bracket. I have a digi camera now so I will take PICS if this works.<br><br>After/If I get the front discs sorted out, I am going to see if the rumor is true that Dana 60 and 70 rear 8 lug hubs will bolt to the M715 Dana 70. I have several different rear 8 lug Dana 60's and 70's to try this with. Discs should be a lot easier to figure out on the back.<br><br>If anyone has been here before, I would appreciate any information you have on this.

[dbdkemp]

Any body know if the dually front hub conversion works, can't find Pascalray

[Nuke_boilermaker]

I haven't looked at this but if you can use chevy one ton hubs and the one ton brakes are the only problem, why not us 3/4 ton rotors and calipers. A lot of people in rockcrawling do this to cut down on the weight and reduce clearance problems with the one ton calipers and 15 inch rims. It would require a custom brake bracket, but if this is the only thing holding the swap up, it seems to be do able.

[jzoliver]

I made some adapters and kept the 6 lug pattern hub, the adapters mount inboard of the hub flange, and use an 8 bolt rotor(86 F250 I think). Then, I made a custom caliper bracket using one from a 10 bolt front for a template, and used 3/4 ton chevy calipers. I had to clearance the closed knuckle a little to allow the caliper to slide, but there is lots of meat there, it really was no problem.

For the rear, I used the same 10 bolt backing plate/caliper mount, I just had to elongate the hole where it slides over the axle housing to space it out to clear the big rotor. I used the same adapters and rotor as I did on the front, with the same calipers. Piece of cake. The rear only took a couple hours, the front was a lot of head scratching and fabrication.

With this setup, I can still use my 715 wheels, and they clear fine. I used a corvette master and a chev truck booster, and it will stop on a dime! Definitly helps my brother is a machinist! With the CNC, it wasn't a bad job, but it took a LOT of time.

[FSJGuy]

Well, fer cryin out loud, why are you holdin' out on us??? Let's see pix! Would you be willing to provide measurements and specs so others could do this, too? Thanks!

[jzoliver]

I can see about getting some pics and measurements. They are great for stopping, but a lot of machine work to make it happen. I took the pictures from helitool and went from there, I didn't want to use the ford calipers, since they are $100 each, the Chev ones turned out to be about $15 each after the core charge.