Before: factory 10" drums




After: Mustang SVO 11 1/4" vented discs










79~85 Eldorado/Riviera/Toronado rear calipers (eBay)
84~86 Mustang SVO 11 1/4" vented rear rotors (eBay)
94~04 Mustang GT brake hoses (eBay)
Steel brake lines and fittings (auto parts store)
Caliper brackets, splash shields and p-brake adapters (home fabricated)

 

Holy Cow! Good work! You never sease to amaze me Bob!

 

Your truck is like the mecca of Rangers, I envy your skill....

 

great work bob! love to see it in the spring at the next BBQ meet

 

bob ur the man!

 

Damn thats some skill right there, nice work.

 

damn, looking good bob

 

can you feel the difference when braking, or is just a good feeling inside that you know you're safer and look cooler?

 

Very nice work Bob, have you noticed any braking performance differences?

 

how to..... lol make one man, you are the guru..

 

I haven't driven it that much and I'm still breaking in the pads so I haven't jumped on them real hard yet. So far, light/moderate braking feels about the same.

With the ABS turned off, rear lockup is easier on pavement. Haven't tried it off-road but I'm hoping that they will be a bit more mud resistant than the drums.

Do I look cool?? I don't need 4 wheel discs for that!

 

Do you still have an E-brake, or did you lose it???

The truck looks awesome.


Vic

 

Those are rear calipers and have an integral parking brake mechanism that acts on the piston to apply the service brakes. The Ranger cable fits after I made a set of adjuster/adaptors out of a couple of drilled out 3/4" bolts:

PS (parking brake cable coming from the right):


DS:


Adaptors:

 

Any chance of some part files for the mountings

 

They aren't worth the time it takes to make them and my mounts wouldn't fit your truck anyway. You can buy similar mounts ready made for your axle for about $100.

 

Awesome! I look forward to hearing commentary once you break them in..

 

I got on them enough to activate the ABS today and they feel strong. Under more normal braking, the electronic proportioning seems to be doing a good job of controlling rear wheel lockup in spite of the big brakes.

With the ABS switched off, I get rear wheel lockup more easily than I did with the drums, as one might expect.

Braking in reverse is easily twice as good as before - I'm not sure how valuable that is on a day-to-day basis but it's probably good for backing down from hillclimbs you didn't make ... or something.

 

now make a kit like that for my 93 F150! LOL, looks great.

got a total price for everything?

 

My out-of-pocket cost is a bit deceiving because I made some of the parts, had the steel and some other bits onhand and got some good deals on eBay:

These prices include shipping and tax, as applicable:

2 new aftermarket SVO Rotors $32
2 remanufactured Eldo calipers with pads $96
2 used Mustang GT front brake hoses $13.50
steel brake lines and fittings and brake fluid $15
springs, fasteners, etc. $14
sanding discs, etc. $10
paint $16

total $196.50

A more realistic figure would be $400~500 if you bought a set of remanufactured calipers and the rest new. A few companies sell the bolt-on mounting brackets for various axles for around $100 and there are complete or semi-complete kits for $500~800+.

Rebuilt 80~85 Eldorado/Seville/Riviera/Toronado calipers are in high demand for muscle car rear disc conversions kits and usually go for $150~250 a pair.

The most economical way would probably be 2001-back Explorer rear disc brake components from a boneyard. Unfortunately, the Ex parts will only bolt on to the few Rangers that have 31-spline Level II style axle housings.

 

I got a chance to try the 4 wheel discs on snow/ice today and the ABS seems to be able to handle the change in hardware just fine. The pads are bedding in and braking on dry pavement is strong without being grabby. I like it.

 

OMG!!! I love that. I have an FX4 rear...dare I ask if you have time to make me a duplicate of your brackets and what it would cost?

 

Honestly, John, it makes no sense to build your own when you can buy them off the shelf for Ranger axles for about $100. I had some steel plate here and just wanted to see if I could do it myself.

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

 

so did you get away with this in the $400 dollar range?

Is upkeep and regular replacement of things gonna be easier or cheaper than the drums at all?

 

I did it for under $200 but I had some of the materials already and fabricated some of the parts. Scroll up for more info.

I think that the parts will last a very long time on a Ranger. Pads, rotors and rebuild kits are off the shelf if/when it needs it.

 

very cool