JL8/J56 or HD Service rear end setup question

[369]

Hello all......I'm putting together a disc brake rear end with the "fixed mount" J56 corvette style calipers. I'm shooting for .005" axle end play......I know this will require custom c-clip thickness which will change as the posi clutches wear..I'm trying to get an idea of how often this will need to be adjusted or reset on a road car. I figured if anyone would know it would be someone here. Any guesses?

-So from what I've read, Penske would change his rear end every race so no issue here...

-the lesser funded guys...How often was this checked/changed? Was the pad knock back tolerable enough to make it thru a season?

-what about the JL8 owners.....I can't see this being a "dealer service" adjustment every other oil change or anything right?

Ok thanks guys.....Tyler

[Jon Mello]

No idea, really. Probably not a lot of miles put on the car and not a lot of heavy abuse so you probably could go a couple of years with no problem. Just a guess.

[69Z28-RS]

I've a good friend who ran a service rear in his '69 Z28 in SCCA and later IMSA races.   He's told me that he had the rear end gears changed very often, before essentially every race, depending on the track and the speeds anticipated.  I don't recall him saying anything about having to adjust for brake wear...  I'd think there would be sufficient pad thickness to not be anything close to 0.005" tolerance... The pressure on the sides of the rotor should be essentially equal even if one pad was wearing faster than the other.

[firstgenaddict]

With the fixed mount calipers yes there is plenty of tolerance for axle end play, if you are worried about thickness of the C clip then set up every thing with rotor and caliper sans pads, insert different thickness C clips and check where the rotor and caliper are in relation to one another... I think you are going to have .375+ inboard and outboard of the rotor.

[369]

10-4.....thanks for the input. Im starting the assembly here this weekend so we'll see how it goes!

[69Z28-RS]

take some photos, 368...  help to educate us...

[369]

Yea-I'll shoot some this weekend.

So....interesting tidbit here...I downloaded and printed the "chassis preparation manual" that jon mello posted up here (thanks jon btw)......they list the axle end play spec as ZERO to .015".......ZERO!....playin' with fire there once that whole deal heats up to racing temp.

I know..I know........way over analyzing  but I just thought that was kinda cool

[369]

So this thing is still moving forward....plenty of help from my buddy who did most of the welding and grinding but here is where I'm at.....everything lined up without having to make spacers like the "Untold Secrets" book talks about.....And the caliper bracket to rotor surface measurement is right in spec too!! Working on the parking brake cable mounting now.

Here are some pics

[369]

Here ya go.....it's going on a 67 so no staggered shocks.......I used a RH and LH assembly instead of the two RH deal everyone is used to seeing

[369]

So no one I talked to had a definitive answer for that endplay so we settled on a touch over zero. It's what the competition manual suggested and the posi I have is shimmed tight so it should wear in a touch more....the calipers sit square over the rotors so I guess we'll see how it flys (or stops I guess).

--sending c-clips to get hardened

--the book talks about shot peening axles and studs....I used Moser stuff....it's pretty beefy so I'm hoping it'll hang in there. The car won't see any 4 hr endurance contests so Im thinking it's good.

--Moser axle flanges are about 1/8" thicker than the 12 bolt stuff which threw some curve balls at the JL8/J56 parking brake setup....it clears, but it's CLOSE!.......I may take a little off the parking brake shoes to help this.


So yea! That's where this thing is at............HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

[Jon Mello]

Looks great. I like how you chose to position the calipers. Thanks for the update and posting the photos. Happy New Year!

[Trans Åm]

Yes, thanks again for posting this info. I may be doing something like this someday and might look to you for some guidance.

[369]

Thanks.....yes sir ask away...I don't know everything about it by a long shot but I'd be happy to share what I've learned...if anyone else has an idea or tip, throw it in here too!!!

[369]

Ok so I am looking in Wayne Guin's book and it seems that original JL8 rears were mounted with one U-bolt and T-bolts on the other side of the spring pad.......As for the HD service rear/racing version does anyone know how they were mounted? Basically I was going to copy the JL8 style mount for ease or brake line routing at this point. Did you trans am boys double up on the U-bolts or did the factory stuff hang in there just fine?

[Jon Mello]

Most Trans-Am cars run two U-bolts on each side and don't use the T-bolts.