Caliper mounting position

[Dave Smith]

I'm fitting an ssbc disk brake kit to a 66 Chevy which had drum brakes from the factory. The spindles that came with the kit are symmetrical and the caliper mounting bracket will fit on both sides, which means that I could put the calipers at the font or rear of the disk and still get the bleed screws at the top by swapping the calipers side to side.

I've seen cars with the calipers in both positions (leading or trailing) the disk, my bone stock daily driver has it at the front. I read a post on another forum saying putting the caliper at the rear reduces bearing loads under braking as the disk tries to push the caliper upwards in this position, putting a downward force on the spindle bearings which oppose the weight of the car. Dunno how much difference this makes.

Currently I'm going to put it at the rear purely because it makes routing the brake lines easier, but I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts or insights on this

[Apogee]

Putting them in the rear typically makes brake hose routing simpler and avoids any potential issues with the sway bar. In some applications it can make more sense to mount them leading, however in my experience, most applications are better suited to trailing installations.

Tobin
KORE3