^ Cobra brakes? I thought that was for a 2WD only? I would like to upgrade my brakes though some way. Pulling the 6X12 trailer full of mulch or stone, yeah the truck definitely feels it slowing down, but pulls the weight like a champ.

But that $1400 for all is too high for me. I'll check around locally and see what prices there are for 285/70 or 285/75.

 

Cobra rear brakes, running 11.65 rotors. For you having a 2001 your best bet would be to get some steering knuckles from an 03+ truck and new rotors and pads. In 03 ford went from the 11in front rotor to a 12in front rotor, and it makes one heck of a differance stopping, then add in the cobra rear brakes and it stops real nice!



and ya the 1400 is nuts thats why I didn't pay it thats just what the shop wanted.

 

Did you at all try test fitting 15s? I heard there's a likely possibility they work. I'm just wondering because I'm about to order this brake kit...

The complete kit without axles for 549$
North Racecars Brake Solutions

Additionally Mikerider, can you tell me if that kit looks complete to you? I realize I might need to order a brake line extension and the "copper tubing ebrake mod"

 

Ah I gotcha, my bad! I'm looking at just upgrading the front, but the back would be nice too. Can I use the calipers I have on there now with a set of 03+ knuckles, rotors, and pads? (That's probably a dumb question...)

 

Oh Les Schwab, that would explain the prices! I stopped buying stuff from them a long time ago. I got tired of a 1+ hour wait every time I went in for a rotation, having them constantly over torque everything and break wheel studs, and hire prices than anyone else. Oh and the fact that they would never touch brakes unless they replaced everything (calipers included). Bunch of idiots most of the time.
I had a much better experience when I started going to Discount Tire. I would rather support Les Schwab because they were local, but they mostly suck unfortunately.

 

I tried my old 15s and they don't clear my front calipers. If I get a chance I can borrow an alcoa of my girlfriends brothers ranger and see if they fit my rear brakes. I like my 16s though.

edit; these didn't fit rubbed the caliper


Thats a good kit and has everything you would need except the anti moan brackets, dust shields and brake line adapters to go from the m10x1.0 to 3/16 hardline.

you can save $100 and get these 3 things...

Buy Ford Racing Parts - Rear Brake Bracket Kit

Buy Ford Racing Parts - Cobra Rear Black Brake Calipers

Currie Enterprises Racing Rear End Categories

Then you just need some caliper bolts, and to either cut and re-flare your stock hardline or just run shorter new ones. Hope that helps ya PM me if you have any questions.


I think they are the same calipers, the bolt holes on the knuckles are just different on the 03+ trucks so next time you need to do your brakes just order 03 parts and throw on the new knuckles.

 

That sounds like plan to me. I'm due for brakes prob the next oil change after this one which will take place in about a week. Thanks for the info man, you have been quite helpful!

I thought about putting a tranny cooler on my truck b/c I tow with my truck basically everyday but the weekends in summer b/c of my landscaping business. I think that might be over the top, but I know some people that have put a tranny cooler on their Ranger before. However, more stopping power would be excellent thanks to some bigger brakes. On the subject of the brakes again, would you recommend going with just a set of stocker style rotors or like a slotted rotor?

 

Happy to help, I am running EBC slotted rotors and Hawk HPS pads and love them but the slotted rotors really do nothing but look cool, stock rotors and a good set of pads are fine. If you have an auto the truck should already have a tranny cooler, tranny temp gauge would be your best investment to extend the life of your transmission.

 

Alright cool deal. Yeah I have been running stock rotors and thermoquiet pads since I had the truck.

Yeah my truck is an auto. If I'm not correct the radiator has a built in tranny cooler or something? I will look into putting a tranny temp gauge. There is no way that thing doesn't get hot when I am pulling 2000+ pounds. So far with 105K I have had no problems from the tranny. The X3 I think will help extend transmission life even more thanks to custom tuned shift points that make it shift much firmer and stronger compared to the stock sluggish and crappy shifts.

 

The 5 speed auto runs warm anyway with my experience. Buy a scangauge 2 and you can monitor transmission temps digitally, along with four other parameters at once.

In my sport trac (same drivetrain) the transmission normally ran at 180 degrees just with normal driving. Yes there is a factory cooler, but a bigger stacked plate style cooler is never a bad idea. With the bigger cooler I had installed I noticed a 20 degree temp drop across the board. While I was use to seeing 180 all the time, it dropped to 160. The highest I ever saw the temp was towing a 6x12 cargo trailer loaded down, through the mountains on the move here from Oregon. After a LONG steep grade it peaked just over 200 degrees but I was running WOT the whole run at 55-60+. It is a good investment.

For reference, my F150 runs at 145 degrees almost all the time. The highest I've seen it was 185, stopped and go in heavy traffic when it was 95+ out with the a/c running.

 

Ok cool deal. Looks like my next investment will be a scangauge 2. Gotta wait for the cash flow to come back though lol. On their website it says that the scangauge can help you get better gas mileage. How is that possible when it does nothing to the computer or how the truck runs?

 

Of course the scangauge itself doesn't improve economy. They say that because it provides "instant" fuel economy. If you monitor it you are more likely to see what affects mileage more and you can get better economy by knowing what uses more/less fuel.