Best Disk Conversion for the 9"?

[Dust]

Just what the title says.

Dust

[ChaseTruck754]

You need a parking brake???

Best I've found it piecing it together. Jeep comanche of Dodge 1500 4wd front rotors (5x5.5 lug pattern & slide on style), chevy calipers & make your own brackets or buy brackets from one of many vendors online. Easily done for CHEAP!

[philofab]

I like drum style parking brakes so my vote is Explorer rear disks for 15" and F150 for 16" and above.

[Dust]

You need a parking brake???

Best I've found it piecing it together. Jeep comanche of Dodge 1500 4wd front rotors (5x5.5 lug pattern & slide on style), chevy calipers & make your own brackets or buy brackets from one of many vendors online. Easily done for CHEAP!

Yes BUT it can be on the TC.

[Dust]

I like drum style parking brakes so my vote is Explorer rear disks for 15" and F150 for 16" and above.

I've got the Explorer 8.8 in our Ranger.
Easy axle swap a bit of optioning to get cables that work. No big but it did take a bunch of FuFu to get them to work.
that Ranger flat stops! But the pads talk on the disks way to much for my taste and changing the pads, gluing the pads and springing the pads has made only minor changes in the squawking. I could go with the Drum or on the disk.

[philofab]

I put a set of F150 rear discs on a Jeep Rubicon D60 I did and it makes no noises.

Did you swap the residual from 10lb to 2lb?

[Dust]

I put a set of F150 rear discs on a Jeep Rubicon D60 I did and it makes no noises.

Did you swap the residual from 10lb to 2lb?

It made no difference.
...but I think I have the original in there ...
I swapped it appeared to have no effect and then wondered so I put it back to factory and...
Now I wonder if I did ever put the 2 back in the system.

[bajascott]

same a chasetruck0u812 said, exept i use bronco rotors.,3/4 ton chevy calipers.works good on the few i have done, i am doing the swap on my new rearend for my bronco i think i am into it for 75 bucks so far, i need to make lines and route them to my bias lever

[campbbg]

I am going to go with Phlio on this one. I am going to use the explorer brakes on my axle. The parking brake works really well if you are in an area that requires them. I have had them on two explorers I have owned and never had a single problem with the drums ever, and only ever changed the pads on the rear.

You can get the parking brake cable from lokar that makes it a snap, and currie sells the rotors already drilled if you don't want to go through the trouble. After the cash for clunkers you can't help but trip over them in junkyards around here.

[SteveG]

The only complaint I've heard about the Explorer set up is that the drum can get filled with small pebbles and debris.

[Smart Alex]

I did bronco front rotors with factory porsche 4 piston brembo calipers. Scored the calipers for freebie from one of my road course guys I do work for.

The only tricky thing (not so tricky actually) is the calipers are for 1.125" rotors. Bronco rotors are 1.250" I took the used rotors from the front of my bronco, turned them down to 1.124" (1.120" is the thinest ford says they should be turned to) and put it together.


M

[ChaseTruck754]

If you're going into "weird" stuff like that - I was going to use the tacoma 4 piston calipers on all 4 corners of my ranger. The Tacoma rotors are narrow and because I'm not a fan of turning down a bunch of the rotor I was going to take a piece of .250" thick tool steel and use it as a spacer to widen the caliper. When the calipers come apart there are o-rings in them that seal the 2 pieces so the fluid can flow across them. Machine the tool steel for o-rings and wha-la - wider calipers. No need to waste a bunch of use out of the rotors and about the same amount of machine time...

[SteveG]

There are so many nice OE calipers these days that it seems silly to use the fancy aftermarket stuff. The OE units are usually better quality, sealed better (a lot of the aftermarket stuff I've seen isn't sealed at all) and best of all, you can buy replacements at a local parts store.

The new Toyota calipers are massive and, if I'm not mistaken, all aluminum.

[ChaseTruck754]

the above is pretty much my reasoning for the tacoma calipers. They are nice units, and while they aren't as light as the aluminum wilwood ones they certainly don't flex as much and i can still buy parts and pads at any autoparts store - even in Mex...

[PaulW]

Just what the title says.

Dust

=======
Vendors sell kits. Diy is harder and need special brackets.
Look for a Ford Varga with the cam for the park brake
Basic parts come off SVT Mustangs and SHO Tauras among others. Use the biggest ones you can find pad wise
Drums collect pebbles and ruin the drums and make a hell of an amount of noise.
PW

[philofab]

The austrailan made calipers off the 03 or so Mustang Cobras are nice.

I still have yet to encounter a problem with the explorer drum/disc combo or standard drums in sand, silt, and the local river.

[PaulW]

When I upgraded the Jeep (D44) I found a vendor that had a neat package. Bigger rotors, custom bracket and 48mm 2 piston Bosch calipers designed for a Ford PU front. No park brake feature. Check out Vanco brakes. Expect about $1k with all new parts. Major braking improvement.
PW

[Smart Alex]

If you're going into "weird" stuff like that - I was going to use the tacoma 4 piston calipers on all 4 corners of my ranger. The Tacoma rotors are narrow and because I'm not a fan of turning down a bunch of the rotor I was going to take a piece of .250" thick tool steel and use it as a spacer to widen the caliper. When the calipers come apart there are o-rings in them that seal the 2 pieces so the fluid can flow across them. Machine the tool steel for o-rings and wha-la - wider calipers. No need to waste a bunch of use out of the rotors and about the same amount of machine time...

Reason for the tool steel? Heat? very flat?

M

[ChaseTruck754]

Precision thickness of the material.

[hobbyturnedobsession]

Would you be using craftsman grade tool steel or harbor freight? sorry I had to.