GoFastBroncos.com

I have a 9" that currently has 4:10 gears, and a detroit locker. I'm not really sure which way i want to go with this. I have thought about swapping out the drums for discs. JBG has a nice kit http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/i-322 ... _studs.htm $295 but still would need calipers and proportioning valve. I've heard about the expo swap, but i don't have much info on that.

Trussing. I've thought abot trussing what i have, but after looking at the costs, i might just go with a currie heavy duty housing.

I'd like to add a filler to that, and just run it as is, no trussing.

For the vss, i guess it's a toss up between the LeDuc relocating kit, or the Brea auto electric kit. I'm very interested in how Philo did his by tepping into the 3rd member, basically doing it like the stock housing.

For the budget minded, what would you more experienced guys do?

you can use blazer front calipers and get brackets from ballistic ,the axles will neet the flanges turned down about an 1/8 inch to accept bronco front rotors. my conversion diddnt cost anything because i saved the calipers from a blazer i built i beams for and i had rotors from various front ends i stripped. but at the junk yard, 100 could get all hard parts and 40bucks for the caliper brackets
i dont like the explorer conversion beacuse they are not vented rotors. you can alos look at http://quickperformance.com/Products/brakes.htm these are the brakes we ran the 1466 truck of paul holguin(dirt alliance truck)
very good kit.

Nick,

I've been speaking to Tony Sato at Currie about a 9" rear end and while discussing a rear disk set up he advised that I run the Wilwood set up over the Expo set up because of the weight of the vehicle and he thought the Wilwood set up was better for a full size Bronco.

Chris

BC Broncos sells a nice caliper kit for a 9" It uses new Cadilac cailpers and has a parking brake built into the caliper so you wont need the dumb drum setup. Call Chuck and he will help you out. Highly recommended and is what I put on my 72EB. On my 96 I have Turaus SHO calipers with built in park provision. No dumb drum brake. Cost more because custom hanger brackets mus be fabed.

Lesson. Drums get filled with small stones in the desert. This makes them wear and make noise and caused drag. Darn, these lesons are pricey. The Willwoods are for circle track guys

I suggest you might want to be leary of rock crawler suppliers. Any of the desert fab guys will give you much better advice. Learn like me - the expensive way.
PW

PaulW wrote:Lesson. Drums get filled with small stones in the desert. This makes them wear and make noise and caused drag. Darn, these lesons are pricey. The Willwoods are for circle track guys.

Haha! Yeah, I ended up gutting the drums Paul. Same scenario and it was driving me nuts. No parking brake now.

That's why i'm asking. I learned a semi expensive lesson on my last bronco, can't afford to do that again! Thanks for the input.

The racers probably laugh at what the prerunner guys use for brakes. They never have parking brakes and they sure do not use stock calipers and rotors.
Makes me wonder why we need what we use to save a buck - inspections !!
Brian, you did the correct thing - dump the shoes & keep the calipers whch work fine.

Off topic
BTW, I am going to re-pad the 96 to see if I can improve the stopping power. Hawk Performance pads F&R. Hawk instead of EBC that I have on the Jeep. Hope the improve my system.
PW

When it comes to disc brake conversions, I recommend finding someone that has done the swap using the EXACT same parts you want to use. We've done a fair amount of disc brake conversions and have been really let down by "complete" bolt-on kits. They all say they work just like an OE system and have great stopping power, but most of the time the customer ends up disliking the pedal feel. We usually end up having to change the proportioning valve (again) and even the master cylinder to make it right.

I have a 94 Mustang Cobra convertible that came with some very nice brakes. The rear disk calipers have a parking brake designed into them (not a drum). Ford still sells these Cobra calipers in the SVO catalog because it's a popular upgrade for the Mustang guys, has anyone tried them on a prerunner? There are kits for sale to put these calipers on a 9" big bearing rear end.

baja-chris wrote:I have a 94 Mustang Cobra convertible that came with some very nice brakes. The rear disk calipers have a parking brake designed into them (not a drum). Ford still sells these Cobra calipers in the SVO catalog because it's a popular upgrade for the Mustang guys, has anyone tried them on a prerunner? There are kits for sale to put these calipers on a 9" big bearing rear end.

I'll have to look into that.

baja-chris wrote:I have a 94 Mustang Cobra convertible that came with some very nice brakes. The rear disk calipers have a parking brake designed into them (not a drum). Ford still sells these Cobra calipers in the SVO catalog because it's a popular upgrade for the Mustang guys, has anyone tried them on a prerunner? There are kits for sale to put these calipers on a 9" big bearing rear end.

I picked a set of those up for my friend Kenneth in AZ. The guy said they were 8.8 rear disc calipers from a SVT or something. I noticed the parking brake lever (not having drum setup) but thought maybe he was pulling my leg. Good to know.

You guys might be better off with aftermarket calipers and large rotors (or stock front rotors) and a separate e-brake on the output of the t-case. There are kits with tiny drum or disk brakes for emergency use.

Nick wrote:the vss, i guess it's a toss up between the LeDuc relocating kit, or the Brea auto electric kit. I'm very interested in how Philo did his by tepping into the 3rd member, basically doing it like the stock housing.

For the budget minded, what would you more experienced guys do?

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Make you own VSS tone wheel and mount it like the expensive ones on the transfer
Info is on the web for the wheel. Its nothing more than a circular wheel about .2" thick with equally spaced teeth that you can make with a band saw & file. Bolt it between the CV & the end of the transfer.
Thats a huge amount of your time to save some bucks. In theory the thing does need square teeth so maybe you could get by with a wheel made with die grinder with oval notches.
The hole in the housing is touchy to get alignment correct. That was the old way before Curt came up with the transfer unit.
PW
pw

first sorry nick iam not trying to hi jack your thread Paul or anyone else do you think if you made your own VSS and mounted it at the T-case you could also use it as a disk for a parking brake (w/ a caliper of coarse) again sorry nick

Blueblood wrote:first sorry nick iam not trying to hi jack your thread Paul or anyone else do you think if you made your own VSS and mounted it at the T-case you could also use it as a disk for a parking brake (w/ a caliper of coarse) again sorry nick

It all ties in Mike, no problem!

Blueblood wrote:first sorry nick iam not trying to hi jack your thread Paul or anyone else do you think if you made your own VSS and mounted it at the T-case you could also use it as a disk for a parking brake (w/ a caliper of coarse) again sorry nick

Don't see why not... make sure to use a mechanical caliper rather than hydraulic. I was thinking go cart stuff would be the ticket.

Blueblood wrote:first sorry nick iam not trying to hi jack your thread Paul or anyone else do you think if you made your own VSS and mounted it at the T-case you could also use it as a disk for a parking brake (w/ a caliper of coarse) again sorry nick

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Hee is the science adn some suggestions.
The VSS sensor is a Hall effect device which is an electomagnet looking for an interruption to the magnetic field. The interruption is caused by the teeth on the tone ring. When used in the diff there is a space between the tone ring and the ring gear and the tone ring is as big as the ring gear. So the caution is if you have a metal brake disk I wonder if sensor will be confused unless there is a space?
When the tone ring is on the drive shaft it has to be a lot smaller in diameter. About 4"? Your disk brake probably will be much larger since the caliper is large in radial dimension?? If so then the VSS wont be able to get close enough to the tone ring in the radial direction
Conclusion: Your idea wont work - sorry.
Suggestions:
- Put the brake at the front of the DS and the VSS at the diff end. Then make a guard to protect the tone ring.
- Use disk calipers with the biult in cam for the parking brake. Even if the caliper parking brake is inferior to a drum you probably wont use it much assuming you run an automatic like the rest of us.
PW

PaulW, There is no reason it can't work. A 4" or 5" disk is sufficient to stop the vehicle and hold it due to gear reduction in the axle. Just have the rotor rather than the output flange machined with "teeth" on the OD and then use a standard Ford VSS. The reluctor ring on our trucks is 108 tooth, so if you divide it with the rear end ratio (example 4.56) you get the amount of teeth needed on the driveshaft:

108 / 4.56 = 23.684

So with a notch machined every 15 degrees you would have 24 teeth and additional tuning could be had by programming the PSOM.

The pads ride on the face of the disk and not the outer edge so they can co-exist.

Look here for small mechanical brake calipers:

http://www.gokartsupply.com/discbr.htm

The rotor could be sourced and modified from many places such as a golf cart, go cart, or industrial supply.

[quote="philofab"]PaulW, There is no reason it can't work. A 4" or 5" disk is sufficient to stop the vehicle and hold it due to gear reduction in the axle. Just have the rotor rather than the output flange machined with "teeth" on the OD and then use a standard Ford VSS. The reluctor ring on our trucks is 108 tooth, so if you divide it with the rear end ratio (example 4.56) you get the amount of teeth needed on the driveshaft:

108 / 4.56 = 23.684

So with a notch machined every 15 degrees you would have 24 teeth and additional tuning could be had by programming the PSOM.

The pads ride on the face of the disk and not the outer edge so they can co-exist.

Look here for small mechanical brake calipers:

http://www.gokartsupply.com/discbr.htm

The rotor could be sourced and modified from many places such as a golf cart, go cart, or industrial supply.[/quote
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But the CV is about the same diameter and the required tone ring. Right? No room for a caliper unless the disk is big enough to clear the CV.

PW

PaulW wrote:

philofab wrote:.

But the CV is about the same diameter and the required tone ring. Right? No room for a caliper unless the disk is big enough to clear the CV.

PW

I'm not as familiar with the underside of the BB's, but one of the drawbacks with the EBs is finding enough room between the t-case and the body for the rotor to fit. Be sure to check that variable when trying to fit something in there.

Todd Z.