Disk Brake and Locking Differential Costs?

Howdy all. I need some ball park ideas on what I could expect to pay for a couple of upgrades to my MB.
Front disk brakes (power) and Detroit Lockers, front and rear.

The reason is that there is a Jeep that I could buy with these items already on them. (Price not set yet). I would just swap the axles with mine and re-sell it. I think I could come out a head on the deal, but I don't really know what the costs would be if I just did the upgrades to my MB instead.
Thanks.

 

Detroits are gonna be $500 an axle approximately. then you need to source all the brake hardware, new master cylinder, booster, etc. If you don't do the work yourself, I would say easily in the $1500 to $2K range. Doing the work yourself maybe around $1200 maybee a bit more.

 

HH might be a little high on the estimate side. If you were to pull 77-78 CJ-7 caliper mounting brackets from junk yard, you probably wouldnt spend more than 60-70 bucks there. Calibers, rotors, lines and pads can be had a autozone, napa, pep boys, etc. I have the dual mc conversion kit from Herm the Overdrive Guy, but have been running my original single manual master cylinder with no problems at all. It is basically a bolt on procedure. You may have to go with some steering arms and/or drag links from the donor and cut them down but its not a big deal. Measure, remeasure, cut... I think I have done my conversion for less than $500 for sure, and I can almost bring the rear tires off the ground on hard ground. Its an awesome conversion.

Just a tip: If you go with the new brakes, drill the 6 threaded holes in the knuckle that hold the spindle in place, and put studs in. Its a great improvement on the early closed knuckle axles. Its super strong, and really easy, esp if you have it all apart. Good luck!

 

Do Detroits come in ten spline?

 

Thanks Guys. Jason, I think HH was including the cost of the locking differentials there as well? Jeep parts are scarce at the junkyards around here (where I've looked anyway). It's just appealing to me that I might be able to merge the best parts off of two Jeeps, then sell the other. I'd be saving some money and ending up with the componenets that I really want.

 

I bet you could get a front axle pretty cheap on ebay. Check out Epay, sometimes people have them really cheap, you might just have to take a drive. Sometimes they include a locker. There are a few in my area now, but I doubt you want to drive to the great midwest. Good luck!

 

No. Not for Jeep axles. You can get Lock rites or Aussie lockers for them though. Nickmil

 

I have a narrow trac CJ5 Dana 30 front for sale. I have a detroit tru trac and 4.88 gears for it. It is missing from the spindles out, but your stock stuff should fit. I had disc brakes on it at the time. Its really easy to do. You can either get stock CJ5 stuff, or with a minimal amount of work, use Dana 44 brakets and calipers off of a Waggy or blazer. I use this style on the front and rear of my M38, its a 44 front, and the stock 44 rear. My master cylinder is out of a 1 ton chevy truck, no power. I don't need/want it, I can lock up the 35s no problem, and I never loose my braking power on the trail if the engine dies. Lemme know if you want the axle, we'll make a deal.

 

Good point about the power brakes Goose. Vallejo is a little far for me. What was appealing about this Jeep that was for sale is that I thought I'd be able to just do an axle swap, diffs, brakes and all. Taking the best parts
from both Jeeps, then selling the other Jeep. Seemed like I would save some money that way. But the Jeep is now sold.