Since I've heard a ton load of crap about the cadillac calipers, I'm in search of another caliper that has an e-brake and actually works... I've heard of using Camaro Z28 93-97 rear calipers. Anyone know of these calipers or any others that would work good? The only prob. with the camaro calipers is that they fit a 20mm thickness rotor I believe and my rotor is 5/8 or 16mm approx. I think the rotors are the same diameter, mine is 11.5" I think using the caliper on a 16mm might be pushing it... any ideas?

Thanks much.

-Josh

Any One? Any help would be great...

-Josh

a lot of people whine about the caddy caliper e-brakes becuase they fail to put the return spring in the lever. I have them i nthe back of my jeep, and while they are kinda sucky for stopping power, the e-brake does hold on a 7% grade street with 35" tires, so it's not that crappy.

Does the 93/97 camaro have the parking brake in the caliper or is it seperate parking drum unit inside the rotor? Brett

Originally posted by ALEX Bronco
Does the 93/97 camaro have the parking brake in the caliper or is it seperate parking drum unit inside the rotor? Brett

If I'm not mistaken, its in built into the caliper. However, the major advantage and difference to it is that it is SEPERATE from the single piston. Thats what I've been told. Napa didnt have any rear calipers in stock when I called them up... I'm going to check another napa this weekend and see if they have them... And since it's seperate, adjustment and such is cake.

Sundowner,
Thanks... I agree with you there. Many people are clueless on setting them up... I've been thinking about using them again, but now I have a rotor with a width of 5/8 not the 7/8 that would be required for the caddy caliper.

Off to work on it this weekend...

-Josh

Originally posted by Sundowner
a lot of people whine about the caddy caliper e-brakes becuase they fail to put the return spring in the lever. I have them i nthe back of my jeep, and while they are kinda sucky for stopping power, the e-brake does hold on a 7% grade street with 35" tires, so it's not that crappy.

I and friends who ran them used the return spring. Don't know why anyone wouldn't. They still were crappy. I wouldn't have trusted my jeep on any kind of grade using the ebrake. I spent mucho time bleeding and trying to adjust them up. I think that problem I found most aggravating was that the auto adjuster wouldn't rachet (yes, I used it often..) so as the pads wore, the ebrake became less and less effective.

don't know if you wanna go ford but some of the Lincoln Mark series had Discs in the back. with ebrakes...

I don't know much about 'em, but the 88 Buick Regal that mf g/f has has rear discs w/ the park brake on the caliper.

Wouldn't most cars with 4 wheel disks have integrated parking brakes? So why do so many people use the $$ caddy calipers? Is it just because of the thickness of the rotor? Enlighten the newbie please. :D

Originally posted by AGGIE_04
Wouldn't most cars with 4 wheel disks have integrated parking brakes? So why do so many people use the $$ caddy calipers? Is it just because of the thickness of the rotor? Enlighten the newbie please. :D

If you use a TSM kit, the brackets (dana 44 anyway) are made for them. They are common, they have the integrated ebrake. Rebuilt calipers are not big $$. Especially if you go find a pair of donors in the yard as cores...

Just a thought here. How about using a setup like HighAngle Driveline's Ebrake off the Tcase? Then one could just use the 3/4T front GM caliper. John

I am almost finishing up using the firechickens caliper on my 44. It is the same thing the hardest part is finding the calipers. I will let you know how they work when its finished.

Originally posted by cj8scrambld
Just a thought here. How about using a setup like HighAngle Driveline's Ebrake off the Tcase? Then one could just use the 3/4T front GM caliper. John

Wish I could... see the problem is that I'm not running a CV style rear driveshaft. Did look at the option, but it does require you to run a custom driveshaft that I don't have the money or need for right now...

Originally posted by AGGIE_04
Wouldn't most cars with 4 wheel disks have integrated parking brakes? So why do so many people use the $$ caddy calipers? Is it just because of the thickness of the rotor? Enlighten the newbie please. :D

Well, one reason is the thickness of the rotor... newer cars are not really running 7/8" thick rear rotors now... As said above also, TSM's kit is made to fit them... well, their kit is made to fit any caliper that has 5.5" between mounting bolts.

I'm going to look at the Buick Regal and the Lincoln Marks... if I remember correctly, I saw a couple Lincoln marks in my local u-pull it yard but I think the thickness of the rotors is off. My big problem is the rareness of a 5/8" thick rotor which I might now switch out to another thicker one.

Just to let you guys know, Dodge Ram 4x4's 2000 and up front rotors fit the rear of a dana 44... since the inside cap is 7 1/16" in diameter... I'm not going to use them since they're too thick, 1 1/8" thick, but if any one wants them I'd sell them for what I bought them for plus shipping... I could get some pics if anyone wants them...

Thanks for all the help... keep the ideas coming.

-Josh

Well the rear firebird/camaro calipers allow you to use the front rotor from a tj. That is what we are doing with a few of our 44s after we test mine out.

What year camaro rear calipers did you use? I assume they have the integral parking brake?

Did you just use a weld on caliper bracket? I'm digging up all the parts to do my own homebrew rear disc conversion on a D44. I'm curious to see how yours was put togther/ turns out.

The new style (93 and up) cadillac calipers work well. There are set up for 5/8 inch solid rotors,but they have 2 bolts that mount to the knuckle and pads are small compared to the old ones.Ihave not seen any problems in 9years of use.One draw back they are not serviceable.

I'm using a 6 bolt pattern so I went w/ rotors from a Toyota PU and the calipers from a 85 Toy Cellica Supra. The parking brake cable pulls inward, a big plus. A friend is using the same setup but had to turn the rotor to clear the new pads- they were just a tiny bit thicker than my new pads - figure. Anyway my pedal bottoms way lower than before but I can lock up the 33" w/o pumping and the parking break holds a lot better than ANY of my other vehicals. I'm sure you could find a rotor that would fit your needs using the supera caliper, just may take some time w/ a micrometer and an auto parts shop willing to let you take a few hours searching.