Big Brakes

[tactical328]

Hey all,

Ive been doing research on putting big brakes on the bronco, rear brakes can be had in all sorts of sizes if you have a floater housing etc. So I've been concentrating on front brake sizing.

It seems that 6 piston willwoods only have a ~6.9 sqinch piston area (tc6 caliper), whereas the stock bronco single piston is ~6.5 sq inches, Thunderbird calipers apparently will swap into the D44 knuckle just fine with some banjo fitting changes and have a piston area of ~7.5 sq inches.

The upside to having willwoods is a larger rotor 13" vs 11.7"

my question is has anyone tried the Tbird calipers to improve the braking on their bronco? And does swept area of a slightly larger rotor make up for the difference in piston area?
Right now i'm leaning towards trying out the Tbird calipers since its going to be way cheaper than fabricated knuckles and 6 piston willwoods.

[ChaseTruck754]

I bought the t-bird calipers for an old project and never ended up installing. My $0.02 at this point is pretty much what you said = they are cheap enough that it's worth trying 1st & seeing if they help. I THINK rotor diameter is going to be best at helping for better brakes from what I've read in the past though. Do keep in mind the master cylinder changes to go with any of these swaps though. I've read the F-350 ones of the same vintage have larger bore to push more fluid and help for the larger dia. pistons, but you'd have to do the reading/research on sizing there as it's been yeeeeears since i read up.

[Becks_Bronco]

all else being the same, larger rotor = more leverage = better braking power.

[Andy Jones]

all else being the same, larger rotor = more leverage = better braking power.

With bigger brakes, you need a bigger Master Cylinder. Don’t forget to factor that in.


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[Becks_Bronco]

all else being the same, larger rotor = more leverage = better braking power.

With bigger brakes, you need a bigger Master Cylinder. Don’t forget to factor that in.


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That’s only if you increase caliper or system volume in some way. Simply relocating the existing calipers onto a larger diameter rotor will help braking power.

That’s why I only stated “all else being the same” because there’s a lot that goes on with hydraulics, and I just wanted to point out that a larger rotor will increase braking performance even if you change nothing else.

Or I’m dumb haha, there’s always that possibility.

[Andy Jones]

all else being the same, larger rotor = more leverage = better braking power.

With bigger brakes, you need a bigger Master Cylinder. Don’t forget to factor that in.


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That’s only if you increase caliper or system volume in some way. Simply relocating the existing calipers onto a larger diameter rotor will help braking power.

That’s why I only stated “all else being the same” because there’s a lot that goes on with hydraulics, and I just wanted to point out that a larger rotor will increase braking performance even if you change nothing else.

Or I’m dumb haha, there’s always that possibility.

A larger rotor is not going to benefit you at all.
Get better brake pads if you’re worried about stopping.
If you’re going to do it with bigger calipers and rotors , do it right the first time. I’m running 13 inch rotors front and rear. with four piston wilwood calipers, front and rear. and a 96 expedition master cylinder.. the vehicle stops like no other.


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[toddz69]

All else being equal in the system, a larger rotor will increase your braking capabilities since you're increasing your brake torque. But changing your rotors and caliper mounts can be a lot of fab work unless you own one of the rare vehicles for which brackets are available (Dynatrac's kit for JKs is an excellent example).

I agree that changing to a pad with a higher CoF will also increase your braking force and is probably the easiest change. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of pad choices for the Ford calipers. The Hawk SD pads might be the most aggressive available.

Although I haven't used them on a TTB D44, I have done a stock caliper/T-Bird caliper change on the solid D44 on my EB with no other changes in the system. You can tell they, as you would expect, have a little more clamping force than stock, and of course change the brake bias a bit. I've never gotten scientific enough to go do back-to-back 60-0 stops to compare stopping distances.

Todd Z.

[BDKW1]

Larger rotors help if your pads are the right shape. If your pads don't match the shape of the rotors your not going to get all the advantages of them.