Bronco Brake upgrade options

[hollandermotorsports]

Also I probably have explorer mounts and calipers you can have if you want I just have to find them. When I bought my bronco it had a 9" with the GM metric brakes I hear that is a pretty cheap set up too.

[ChaseTruck754]

Rear disks on an 8. or 9" is dirt cheap if you don't need a parking brake. Had a buddy who did it for right around $100. The GM metric or other calipers are dirt cheap, rotors aren't bad at all either & then you just need caliper brackets to weld on. That setup is VERY simple. The front gets a bit more tricky as you can tell by the current discussion.

[birdco85]

That cantilever setup is sweet! And I'll take them Brandon. The drum setup on my 9 needs replacing so I'd rather spend money on disks.

[arse_sidewards]

11084958_1415702218738551_1341189858_n.jpg

Were you getting paid by length of weld?

[hollandermotorsports]

11084958_1415702218738551_1341189858_n.jpg

Were you getting paid by length of weld?

I do not follow your question? I did not personally build this set up. I would say that weld is pretty well justified due to the shear strength needed. If you allow any flex your ratio will be thrown off and when it comes to braking personally I would rather pay for 5-10mins extra of welding verse have an issue down the road. Usually a fab shop charges by the hour so I guess the answer is yes they bill by the length due to the extra time it took. I hope that answers your question whether you were being serious or a smart arse.

[arse_sidewards]

11084958_1415702218738551_1341189858_n.jpg

Were you getting paid by length of weld?

I do not follow your question? I did not personally build this set up. I would say that weld is pretty well justified due to the shear strength needed. If you allow any flex your ratio will be thrown off and when it comes to braking personally I would rather pay for 5-10mins extra of welding verse have an issue down the road. Usually a fab shop charges by the hour so I guess the answer is yes they bill by the length due to the extra time it took. I hope that answers your question whether you were being serious or a smart arse.

The "paid by the inch" was a joke. Questioning the merit of the design was serious.

I should have been clearer. I'm not saying it's excessively over built, I'm questioning the design process that ended up with something that needed to be plated for strength when heavier materials are readily available. Why not dice up some 1/4 wall square tube instead of making bracket a from scratch an plating it? Same for the pivot arm. If it needs plating (and I agree that it does in that case) then heavier material should have been used from the start.

I just don't see why anyone wouldn't design it so it doesn't need to be plated. The plating doubles the number of parts you need to cut and adds another step to assembly, it does look cool though.

[ChaseTruck754]

Are you talking the booster to master pivot bracket? Canti type setup at the end of page 5?

If so, where is it plated?
I see a 3, maybe 4 piece canti arm & then a boss for the bolt on either side of the pivot bracket.

Being one that absolutely hates the "just throw thicker material at it to be safe" mentality I can't see why anyone would throw 1/4" plate at that.


On a mostly related topic, parts that are lap plated or 2 plates welded together, with one being slightly smaller than the other, like this pic below (with or without the tube in the middle) are not only lighter than a thicker plate, they are stronger/more rigid due to the weld area. Yes they take more time to make, but yes they also look way cooler and as I said are lighter (albeit marginally). Comparing same final thickness stuff of course - ie: 2, 1/8" thick plates welded, vs. 1, 1/4" plate.

For many regular joes & not race teams working on race vehicles the time to make the part vs. the weight savings may not be worth it, but there definitely isn't anything wrong with building this way.

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[arse_sidewards]

I was talking about this.


It's what looks like 3/17 triangles welded to some bent 1/4 flat stock. The weight gained from using 2x2x1/4 square tube and cutting it up to make the same shape would be minimal for a part like this and rather than plating the back of the pivot arm I'd just use deeper rectangular stock. It looks like they used 1x1x3/16 square tube for the pivot arm so 1x2x3/16 should solve the problem. Using 2x2x1/4 (or maybe 3/16, whatever the thickness of that flat stock is should be the tube wall thickness) would make it hard to copy that bend but I don't see a need for that bend on a Bronco (the master cylinder would hit the firewall anyway) I'd have also added more beef around the pivot bolt by having the triangle come out further and used a different way to fasten the sleeve in which the pivot bolt rides.

I understand that whoever built it built it the way they did for a reason and it was probably a success but I don't think they saved more than a few ounces over a simpler method of construction.

[hollandermotorsports]

img_1201.jpg (68.59 KiB) Viewed 2171 times

Here is a booster relocation on a bronco if any one is interested.

[Jbfab]

Ok quick question for ya's. I have bin working on my rear axle tacking everything on. Got to the caliper mounts and the best way to get them to work properly is to mount the disk to the backside of the axle flang. There are front rotors mounted on the rear. Can anyone foresee a major issue with mountin them this way? They mount nice and flat on the backside and i will find different studs but before i do figured i would ask first. Thanks guys.

[dtbback]

I've had the same idea. As i see it there is really one major issue, having to completely remove your axle when exchanging rotors or getting them turned. Wilwood makes a 5x5.5 hat that I think would be perfect for mounting on the back of the flange. That elevate your rotor set up cost to roughly 360 though.

[Wrightracing.net]

Am I missing something? Would it not be simple to just sandwiched the rotor between the rim and the hub?

[dtbback]

That requires taking either 1/16" off the axle flange, which reduces the holding area for 5/8" studs, or increasing the rotor hat diameter by 1"16" in order to sandwich. I would prefer increasing the rotor hat diameter vs grinding down the flange.

[Wrightracing.net]

I guess my axle is different, on my 8.8 and 9" the Rotor I have mounted in the same location as the original drum brake did by sliding over the hub and lug nuts. I have 5/8" studs and I did not have to grind anything to mount it.

[toddz69]

Ok quick question for ya's. I have bin working on my rear axle tacking everything on. Got to the caliper mounts and the best way to get them to work properly is to mount the disk to the backside of the axle flang. There are front rotors mounted on the rear. Can anyone foresee a major issue with mountin them this way? They mount nice and flat on the backside and i will find different studs but before i do figured i would ask first. Thanks guys.

You could do that - that's how BC Broncos does their kits for the EB rear discs. But you do have to pull the axle to remove the rotor as the other post mentioned.

Todd Z.

[Jbfab]

I tried a e series disk that slides on from the front very nicely. But it causes two issues, 1 the disk width is small so the piston sticks out a bit. This worries me when the pads wear that it will pop out and i will loose brakes. Two with the e disk it moves my caliper mount to close to the original backing plate mount. That leaves an inch gap from the axle tube. I didnt think it was a great idea to add metal to the mount to make it work.

[arse_sidewards]

I tried a e series disk that slides on from the front very nicely. But it causes two issues, 1 the disk width is small so the piston sticks out a bit. This worries me when the pads wear that it will pop out and i will loose brakes. Two with the e disk it moves my caliper mount to close to the original backing plate mount. That leaves an inch gap from the axle tube. I didnt think it was a great idea to add metal to the mount to make it work.

Any reason you aren't using the full E-series calipers+mounts setup ? (Didn't want to use the drum parking brake?) I'm pretty sure they don't have that issue stock...

img_1201.jpg

Here is a booster relocation on a bronco if any one is interested.

That's the stock 1/2-ton vacuum booster, correct?

Did you consider having the pivot mount the booster 180deg at 10:30?

[Wrightracing.net]

What is the largest diameter rotor that can be run with a 15" rim and what caliper would fit?

I have considered going from 35 to 37" tire but then run 16.5" rims with Baja TA, 37x12.50x16.5. I would like to go with a bigger rotor on the 16.5. Also , what would be the largest condo on that size of wheel? I don't see me running hummer beadlocks but I have found a couple manufacturer's of much lighter 16.5 with just the outer beadlock, like most racers run.

[BDKW1]

What is the largest diameter rotor that can be run with a 15" rim and what caliper would fit?

12.17" is the largest off the shelf that will fit. They can be tight depending on the caliper/rim combo.

[Wrightracing.net]

Thanks, BDKW1.