I bought new in 1969 a 340 Swinger 4 speed car. I still have the car and want to upgrade to 4.5" bolt pattern axles and front hubs. I want to install Weld Prostar wheels. I have read several discussions where most want to go to Disc brakes in the front. I want to keep the origonal drums all around.  Questions-- Can I simply have the front hubs and rear axles redrilled to the 4.5 bolt pattern with 1/2 in studs??  I do have a set of 30" long rear axles that can be cut and resplined, but then it appears I would have to go to the 10"x2 1/2" brake drums and brakes and backer plate.

Has anyone done this??  Got any ideas?  Your help would be greatly appreciated.    Thanks, A long time Dart fan!!!!

quick answer. NO, their isnt enough axle flange to redrill it just buy new axles. no, you cannot redrill the front hubs either c body axles could be resplined but make sure they dont taper  

why not just buy aftermarket axles ? to be honest with ya I never did a 4 to 4.5 conversion on front drums. always changed to the later front discs and dual master cylinder.I understand you wanting to keep it original and all but the big bolt pattern discs are the way to go. ever had a wheel cylinder freeze up while your driving before? on the early 4 inch pattern front disc spindle meaning 67 to 69 it could not be drilled for 4.5 pattern so I would assume it wont work in your case also,it can be drilled but your gonna be dangerously close to the outer spiindle therefore weakening the assembly.I advise not to do it.  

in todays world you need the front suspension components and go with the manual discs especially with the 340 and the 4 speed,you may say I can always downshift and adjust the shoes tight but in reality your putting you and others in danger imo  

you can use wheel spacers but they are also weak and your tires will stick out around 1 inch more. these are also weak but, if you want to upgrade the pattern imo these are your only choices  

spindles? haha ,hubs was meant,sorry for the confusion,lotta geometry posts today, take care  

Excellent unbreakable axles at a good price:
http://www.moserengineering.com/Pages/Axles/customalloy.html

Killer front and rear disc set-up at a bargain price complete with e-brake and large rotors. These guys sell you some custom brackets and it allows you to use production brake rotors and calipers from a few different models to come up with a killer set of brakes at a low price. :
http://www.tallzagauctions.com/Products.html
http://www.tallzagauctions.com/Mopar%20Medium%20RDB(1-7-06).doc

These guys here have some of the best prices I've seen and the rotors are great. I have been using the E-Line  drilled and slotted zinc plated rotors with no complaints. They work great. I use ceramic pads only.
http://www.r1concepts.com/  

***    
r1concepts has a premium brake rotor that has a black coating and is center cast. The E-line rotors are side cast. What this means is that the premium rotors two halves are joined at the center of the cooling fins. The E-line rotors are joined where the inboard edge of the cooling fins (on the inboard face of the outboard half of the rotor)meet the inboard face of the inboard half of the rotor.
The premium rotors are much less prone to warping (I'm told). I have not had any warpage issues with the E-line rotors.  

Don't know about the front, but I do know you can drill the rear axles and have zero problems. A friend did this to his 340 duster, the car ran 9's in the quarter mile at 135 mph, he had zero problems with the axles.  

I would not reccomend the front re-drill.  I would just source large bolt pattern disc setup from a salvage a-body.  Better setup in every possible way (save the minor hassle of locating donor parts).

I am on the fence on the rear though.  Back in high school we re-drilled a 69 small bolt pattern 8 3/4 axle and 10" drum to big bolt pattern on an 11.20 bracket car and never had any issues.  

On my current 68 cuda project, I am needing to convert the rear to 4.5 bolt pattern as well.  I was hoping to just buy new axles and bearing and re-drill the drum only but I don't know if the new axles would change where the drum engaged the brake shoes.  If it was 1/4 longer, I might not get as far onto the shoes but probably workable, however if the measure shortens, I might bind on the shoes.  Given this probability and the fact that I want a solid no-headache experience I will probably just throw down for the wilwood rear disc kit.  

Nice post about the  69 340 dart 4" bolt axles to 4.5"...Thanks for your posting.....
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simmons
Used Cars