You're right, but I thought I'd ask, lol. Really as interested in your print as you making them, if I think about it. I could get them made at work on the computer controlled plasma cutter.

No worries, though, if you didn't make print. I just like yours with the parking brake hooked to the discs better than the explorer rear disc swap I was going to do.

 

Very nice job, I'll have to read more on this before I go back home to the truck. This is a real must since the traffic in atlanta is gettong worse!

 

very nice work Bob.

looks good

 

thats a-amazing..i love it ive always wanted to do it but man tis friggen hard to get parts in canada and i cant really fab anything up..but id sure love to do that! nice job

 

It's a month later and I have nothing bad to say about 4 wheel discs. The change to rear discs is nearly transparent in everyday driving compared to the former drums. Harder braking seems just fine on a variety of road surfaces with the antilock function and electronic proportioning adapting well to the new hardware.

My truck has had an empty bed so I can't comment on how the new discs would handle a loaded truck or truck/trailer combo. However, I have every confidence that they will be more than up to the job. The vented rear rotors are the same ones that SVO and Saleen used on the rear axles of their hotrod Mustangs. The calipers are from the portly Toronado/Eldorado/Riviera platform and have some meaty pads on them.

It is great to drive away in the morning without stuck drums and grabby brakes. No issues whatsoever.

One glitch: early on, I occasionally experienced some drag traced to the driver side parking brake mechanism. During the build, I had tried to err on the long side with the dimensions of the parking cable adapters. My thinking was that it would be a lot easier to remove metal later than add it on. So that's what I did to fix it. Turning 3/16" off of the length of the parking brake cable adapters seems to have solved the problem.

I'll post more info as it becomes available.

 

Hey Bob I don't mean to dig this one up out of the grave, but could you give me some more details about the adapters you made for the parking brake? How does it integrate with the Ranger's cable-actuated parking brake?

 

They are just large bolts (3/4" IIRC) with the heads cut off and drilled out for the stock Ranger cables. There is a larger hole on the unthreaded end to accept the end of the Ranger cable housing. A pair of jam nuts on either side of the Caddy cable bracket make the adapter adjustable.

 

that is nice Bob.......i wish i had the stuff to make the plates for mine.....(i would be all over it)......you don't happen to have the templates for the plates do you?

i wonder if Mustang 28 spline 8.8 brakes would be a direct bolt up to my 28 spline 8.8?

 

You can buy off-the-shelf adapters for these calipers for around $100:

Eldo caliper brackets or rear disc kits for 7.5, 8.8/28 and 8.8/31 pattern axle flanges.
http://steeltechsolutions.com/REAR_DISC_PAGE_CODE.html

These guys have kits for all three as well:
http://www.tsmmfg.com/Ford_truck_rear_axles.htm

 

would it be smart to just get their complete kit and then do what you did for the parking brake? $400 shipped for a rear disc kit seems cheap to me....then do what you did with the parking brake....

 

It's up to you. I think their kit is worth $375 since the calipers alone are in high demand for muscle car conversions and often go for $250 for a rebuilt set.

I looked for a long time, then lucked out and found rebuilt calipers for under $40 each on eBay. Then I found a guy who sold me new SVO/Lincoln rotors for $8 each! Since I made the rest of the parts, my setup cost around $200 total but it would be very hard to match that.

 

How thick are your caliper brackets Bob? They look REALLY thick. I've got access to a CNC plasma cutter at work, so I might try to use that to cut some brackets. Think I could get by with 1/4" plate?

 

They are about 7/16" mild steel. This might be overkill but I don't mess with brakes when I have no way to actually do a failure test. Besides strength, the extra thickness gave me what I needed for the threaded holes for the guide bolts without welding anything on.

Check out the links for pictures of the aftermarket adapter brackets. They appear to be thinner but I don't know how much.

 

looks really good. i just checked out your cardomain...and my god!!! that head unit mod, where the volume goes up with the speed? thats nuts. and the taurus keypad locks is really cool among all the other mods too. i've always thought about doing it....so maybe i will now that i know it can be done.