Bowtie Brody's Namesake 96 454

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BNielsen

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Oh, well that 1AAuto link you posted was for SRW... easy tell is that pads.



Yes, I understand. That's why it pays to shop around.

If the upper control arms bushings aren't bad, I'd leave them. If you need to do them later, not much has to come apart...unless maybe you're going to buy new arms anyway... or will you be going with urethane?



Look to see what actually needs to be replaced now and how easy it is to get to the lesser needed stuff later.... sway bar bushings and shocks would be easy to do later, for instance, so "while I have it apart" isn't as big of a factor there.

I was planning on replacing the whole upper control arm with a Moog unit; the bushings are starting to show some wear on them, and replacing the lower control arm bushings with poly.
I've been over the whole front end a couple times, almost everything still has some life left in it aside from the brakes. The only thing I'm not too worried about is CV axles; but I'll probably take another look to see what shape they're in.
But Murphy's Law seems to play a big part in my life when it comes to my mechanic skills, and I'd hate to have to deal with taking **** back apart. It's how it always goes with my luck.
 

454cid

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...The only thing I'm not too worried about is CV axles; but I'll probably take another look to see what shape they're in.

My CVs had boot issues... the driver's side developed a hole somehow. The passenger side I wrecked myself... make sure you protect the boots from the lower shock mount! It doesn't take much to ruin a 400+ dollar OEM shaft. The cheap Chinese replacements don't seem to last... the boots just fatigue.

But Murphy's Law seems to play a big part in my life when it comes to my mechanic skills, and I'd hate to have to deal with taking **** back apart. It's how it always goes with my luck.

Yeah, I understand... I'm kinda dealing with that now. I just did a fuel pump, and now my fuel filler is leaking. I didn't see that one coming, I figured if I got a leak it would be the crusty old fuel line that I left in place.
 

ZRoe

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So the time has come to address my braking situation. As much as I'd love to do the NBS knuckle; I need to go with a 100% bolt on solution due to not being able to have the truck down for an extended period of time.

In searching for parts on RockAuto, I sourced a set of Timken wheel bearings, Raybestos rotors, Power Stop pads and AC Delco calipers....it all priced out to around $450-$500...
So I started researching other sources and came across this on 1A Auto;
https://www.1aauto.com/brake-and-wheel-bearing-kit/i/1abms00052?f=805676&y=1997
Has anyone had any experience with these? I think they're TRQ brand wheel hubs and the rotors and pads are Nakamoto; should I try this or bite the bullet and drop coin on the Timkens and Raybestos?
I didn't know about the NBS knuckle until after I changed my brakes, which kind of bummed me out, but after a caliper locked up on me I got to replace a rotor for a second time. It really isn't that bad, I put my stock timken bearings back in because they weren't making any noise yet.

Just to satiate my curiosity I measured the Piston size on the NBS brake caliper, it comes out to about a 3% increase in Piston area so the clamp force isn't changing much at all but the pad almost doubles in length which translates to much better pad life and a little more initial bite I would imagine. Anybody with NBS brakes that would like to confirm this would be appreciated.

As far as costs are concerned I imagine you could pull a knuckle, rotor, caliper and wheel bearing for less than $100 per side at a junkyard and they usually give a 30 day warranty anyway if the bearing or caliper are bad, that way the only new parts that you are buying are pads.

As far as 100% bolt on I would think that you could have the NBS knuckle machined to take the OBS upper ball joint ahead of time so it all bolts up at once. I haven't read a lot on the NBS knuckle, that was my understanding.

I put on Centric stoprech rotors for $70 x2 and Napa calipers for $50 x2 and Napa adaptive one pads for $66 x1 and I am really happy with them.

I also have my old rotors that still measure full thickness that I took off, I'll ship them to you if you want to pay for shipping. I would have left them on had I known they were still full thickness, but I put the new slotted rotors on because I didn't want to hassle with returning them.

Hope some of this helps

Sent from my moto e5 supra using Tapatalk
 

BNielsen

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I didn't know about the NBS knuckle until after I changed my brakes, which kind of bummed me out, but after a caliper locked up on me I got to replace a rotor for a second time. It really isn't that bad, I put my stock timken bearings back in because they weren't making any noise yet.

Just to satiate my curiosity I measured the Piston size on the NBS brake caliper, it comes out to about a 3% increase in Piston area so the clamp force isn't changing much at all but the pad almost doubles in length which translates to much better pad life and a little more initial bite I would imagine. Anybody with NBS brakes that would like to confirm this would be appreciated.

As far as costs are concerned I imagine you could pull a knuckle, rotor, caliper and wheel bearing for less than $100 per side at a junkyard and they usually give a 30 day warranty anyway if the bearing or caliper are bad, that way the only new parts that you are buying are pads.

As far as 100% bolt on I would think that you could have the NBS knuckle machined to take the OBS upper ball joint ahead of time so it all bolts up at once. I haven't read a lot on the NBS knuckle, that was my understanding.

I put on Centric stoprech rotors for $70 x2 and Napa calipers for $50 x2 and Napa adaptive one pads for $66 x1 and I am really happy with them.

I also have my old rotors that still measure full thickness that I took off, I'll ship them to you if you want to pay for shipping. I would have left them on had I known they were still full thickness, but I put the new slotted rotors on because I didn't want to hassle with returning them.

Hope some of this helps

Sent from my moto e5 supra using Tapatalk

Yeah, the NBS Knuckles are pretty much bolt on after some reaming for the balljoints; it's the tie-rods that a lot of people have trouble with.
I appreciate the offer on the rotors; but I think I'm gonna see if I can't get a deal on RockAuto. How well do you like the NAPA Calipers? I run a ton of their parts on my truck and the quality of everything is almost comparable to AC Delco parts;
 

ZRoe

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I got a deal on my rotors from Summit with a price match against Amazon, $70 each with free shipping. They seem to be great rotors. I got the first set on Rock Auto but shipping was $25+

I really like that the Napa calipers are already powder coated black. They have a HD version that comes with nicer seals which is what I got. They also came with a certificate for 24 months roadside assistance.
I've been burned (literally) by remanned calipers from online. If they lock up you are stuck without a vehicle until the new caliper arrives under warranty or buying local anyway. Hence, I vowed to never buy calipers online again.

I mentioned that a caliper locked up which wasn't entirely true... I maxed out down travel and pinched the factory brake hose turning it into a check valve. I was amazed that the caliper and rotor survived after smoking. No warping and no leaks/hanging. I just figured it was best to replace it all and NAPA was great and warrantied it all for me.

I also installed Russell SS brake hose the second time around. I found the 3 hose kit for a lifted truck on Amazon for $80.

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98chevy2500SS

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Yeah, they do get in the way a little; I'll be replacing both the mirrors and vent visors soon though, I'll trim everything up so it looks nice and clean then.
Did you cut any of the visor to fit with the mirror? If so, can I have close pics? A lot of people with the exterior stick on visors usually have the visor on the base just hanging out, not stuck to anything and doesn't look the best, so I thought I would just cut that part off of the visor so that would sit more flush.
 

BNielsen

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Did you cut any of the visor to fit with the mirror? If so, can I have close pics? A lot of people with the exterior stick on visors usually have the visor on the base just hanging out, not stuck to anything and doesn't look the best, so I thought I would just cut that part off of the visor so that would sit more flush.

I've just got the visor pulled up a bit and sitting on top of the mirror base, these vent visors are cracked and not in good shape so once I get better mirrors and visors I'll trim them up properly so it looks good and everything sits flush, or I'll get the in-channel visors.
 

BNielsen

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I need to get the motivation to do some more mods and upgrades to this thing. I've got a mountain of **** to install but no motivation.
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Did get a quote for tint; $280 for all the windows. Also got a quote to fix the clear coat on the fender....$605...so I guess tint is going to happen first.
 

Mangonesailor

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What type/rating on the tint? I've been wanting to do mine for YEARS. $280 doesn't sound bad if it's good stuff that's not going to turn purple
 

BNielsen

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I'm not sure, it's a mobile tinting guy in SC, all of his ratings are pretty high, and all the jobs he posts on his Instagram page look pretty high quality,

I'm planning on 80% across the windshield with a 3 inch 5% brow, 35% on the drive/passenger glass, and then 25% on the rest of the cab
 
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