sqeeek

I know it seems like everyone has already asked this but I've spent the last two hours searching and I can't figure it out.

My 1970 98 (C body) seems to have those hub-in-rotor disk brakes in front that are impossible to find. I've been putting it off as long as I can but I just snapped a lug bolt this week and the whole thing is as rusty and thin as it can get, not to mention the bearings being pretty much used up.

I have to rebuild the whole front end anyway so I can get to a new job 30 miles away next week, and I was curious if anyone knows of any hub conversions for this thing? Can I put the hubs or one of the brake conversions from an A or B body on? I just want to be able to put some normal hub/rotors on this thing so I don't have to spend a house payment on rotors. Don't care about performance.

Hope that all made sense. Thanks.

(checked CSM for info and it barely says anything, also it seems nobody is trying to put a million miles on a 98 any more, all I can find is about the A body)

joe_padavano

A-body cars use different wheel bearings, so those hubs will not fit.

Chevy full size cars of the same years also use different wheel bearings and do not fit.

All Olds/Buick B/C body cars in the 1965-70 period use the same front wheel bearings. Any of these hubs will fit your spindles. I believe there's a thread on here somewhere where a set of later model Camaro rotors were adapted to the drum brake spindles with some machining.

sqeeek

Good to know, thanks. I think I saw that thread, I'll go try to look it up again.

Another thing I've thought of is trying to find some spindles that would fit and just replacing the whole mess with something a little more common. Do you think that would be worthwhile?

(If I say anything stupid it's because I don't know what I'm talking about, I'll be honest. Cut my teeth on a Honda and this is my first experience this deep into a GM)

sqeeek

Alright, just found this super old thread

Looks like a headache. But I also found this thread which suggests to me that I might be able to fit a '71+ spindle on? There are lots of salvage yards around here, if I could find one I could give it a shot...

Does anyone then know if another spindle would fit? If not I'll do the camaro rotor thing, but it'd be nice to be able to just buy parts. Ideally I'd like this car to be around for a while.

If we do figure something out, I'll take pictures of everything and we can finally put this issue to rest.

EDIT: This is the post about camaro rotors

joe_padavano

Um...

That thread is about A-body cars. Why do you think it applies to your full size?

In any event, the answer is no. The 65-70 B/C-body cars are rear-steer. The 1971-up B/C cars are front steer. Completely different steering geometry. NOTHING interchanges between the two. The 65-70 cars have bolt-on steering arms, so the spindles are actually the same side-to-side. The 71-up cars have steering arms integral to the spindles, which are dedicated RH/LH. Before you ask, no, you cannot simply swap the spindles side-for-side to mount them on a 65-70 car.

Look, this topic comes up a lot. There are no easy spindle swaps for these cars. Either spend the time to adapt other rotors to drum brake hubs, or spend the money on an aftermarket disc brake setup. If there were an easy spindle swap, it would have been documented in the last 45-50 years since these cars were new.

sqeeek

Not sure completely what my logic was, but I thought since you could fit a newer B body spindle on an older A body with some tweaking, and the CSM seemed to suggest that the B and C had similar spindles, I was hoping a newer B would fit onto a C. But thanks for the clarification, that makes sense now.

Sometimes I wish this was an A-body. I feel like there's not as much information on the B/C for people as fresh as I am at this, because most people that work on the full-size cars already know all about them. I guess that's what I signed up for though.

Thanks for your patience while I ride this learning curve

Octania

"Before you ask, no, you cannot simply swap the spindles side-for-side to mount them on a 65-70 car."

Why not, pray tell
seriously

sqeeek

That's my guess why

mpolds

And as I have indicated, I have remaining:
Two (2) N.O.S. Front ROTORS for the 1967 - 1968 OLDS FULL SIZE.....
and Four (4) N.O.S. Front ROTORS for the 1969 - 1970 OLDS FULL SIZE....

Those two are V E R Y different ---- and they are also V E R Y different
from all the 1970 & down ROTORS for Buick, Chevy, Caddy, and Pontiac....

I also have some ++ U S A ++ Made Front Wheel Bearings and Seals ----
and, yes, you would be CRAZY to use the chinese for these.......

Call me -- Craig -- 516 - 485 - 1935... New York....