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T500 2LS front brake on a 72 GT380J?

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 12:07 pm
by jabcb
Have a 72 GT380J project bike that is currently collecting dust.
Same bike that I previously mentioned in posts about angled pod filters & the GT550/GT750 4LS front brake.

Was doing a bit of cleaning & noticed that I have a spare T500 2LS front brake.

The GT380J has a 2LS front brake that was taken from the T250/T350.
So the T500 2LS brake would be a upgrade.

So I’m wondering if anyone upgraded the GT380J 2LS front brake to the T500 version.

Re: T500 2LS front brake on a 72 GT380J?

Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 5:48 am
by cutlass79500
I had the chance to do the same i decided not to do it. Everything ids different fork diameter fork ears fender ect you would need to swap everything from
triple trees down. You might be able to make spacers ect but the drum stay has no place to bolt up to 380 forks on 1 side.

Re: T500 2LS front brake on a 72 GT380J?

Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 10:37 am
by jabcb
cutlass79500 wrote:I had the chance to do the same i decided not to do it. Everything ids different fork diameter fork ears fender ect you would need to swap everything from
triple trees down. You might be able to make spacers ect but the drum stay has no place to bolt up to 380 forks on 1 side.
The T500 forks are a good bit more primitive than the GT380’s. I’d rather not go that route.

I had originally bought the T500 2LS as a spare after I read about the cracking problem, and bought the GT550/GT750 4LS for an upgrade to the T500.

A while back I posted a topic about using the 4LS on my T500. That resulted in a lot of pro- & anti-mod responses.

The GT380’s motor needs some sorting.
After that I need to figure out what I’m going to do with it.
The stock 2LS is adequate if I’m just going to put around in the neighborhood.
It needs more front brake if I decide to take longer rides on the hilly Pennsylvania backroads.

Plenty of time to think about it.
Always have a few bikes to work on & there are a few in the queue in front of the GT380.

Re: T500 2LS front brake on a 72 GT380J?

Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 12:50 pm
by Alan H
The original upgrade for the GT380J 2ls brake back in '72 was to instal Ferodo green racing linings.
That really did make a big difference and my mate was one of the first to get his done at tbe Ferodo factory in Chapel-en-le-Frith in Derbyshire.
We had a guided tour of the works while tgey did the relining of tye original shoes.
I had the 4ls done on my original GT550J soon after.
Another mate has recently fitted a GT750J front end (triple trees, forks, the lot) to his T500. What an improvement as the original 2ls fitted to that model was marginal. The 380 was quite heavy for tbe original front brake which was the same as the 250 iirc.