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I have been communicating with both CB Performance and Aircooled.net about their wide five disc brake kits. They are exactly the same brakes except CB (part # 4201) offers a perforated disc as an upgrade.

I have been dancing around with both of them to the extent that I just went ahead and disassembled the left front setup so they could see the spindle. CB says the kit won't work with these spindles. Aircooled hasn't gotten back to me yet.

Can any of you identify these spindles? Aircooled thought they were Ghia, but that was before I took everything apart.

Any other recommendations for wide five kits that any of you have used that will fit these spindles?


 

Bob

   

       

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Well, mine is the four lug disc with a spacer and a wide five adapter. I've got a swing axle rear with a wide five drum setup.

Schizophrenic.

This should be simple, but it isn't. If I had stock beetle spindles on the front I could just buy a bolt on system and be done with it. But I can't find a setup that bolts to what I've been told these spindles are. So I would need to swap spindles as well.

However, I have found a disc the same diameter, but 1/4" thicker. I'm trying to confirm a couple of additional measurements, space enough for the front of the caliper between the rotor face and the wheel mounting plate, and the wheel bearing sizes.

 

 

 

Don’t despair.......   

Just get a disk kit you like that includes the spindles.   You have a ball joint front end, so get a disk conversion for a 1968 or later ball joint front end.  You can buy a “narrow” ball joint “pickle fork” at NAPA (they’ll know what you want) to pop the ball joints free from the spindles, but I usually loosen the nuts, bring a jack up under the nut to lift it a bit, use a hammer to belt down on the trailing arm and the ball joint bolt usually lets go of the trailing arm and is easily removed.  Installing the new spindle is as easy as poking a bolt through a hole and tightening the nut, honest. 

I recommend a small 2 jaw puller for the upper ball joint. Sometimes the camber adjuster doesn't want to come off the ball joint. Oh wait nevermind, you can leave the adjuster on and swap the spindle.

The bottom ball joint usually comes out without using a pickle fork. Pickle forks almost always rip the boots, so I don't use them.

Now is the time to ditch your wide5 adapters and change them all the way out. If you swap the front, all you need in the back is new drums. Easy peasy.

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