not long after putting 35's on my 89' F-150, I realized my stock drums just weren't up to the task. After tearing itno the stock brakes, I noticed that a stock ford rotor looked like it would fit over the axle
After checking all the rotors Napa had to offer in that bolt pattern I found that no stock rotors would fit stock. Rotors from a 94-02 dodge would clear over the axle flange but were to small in the centering hole to fit the stock 9" axles. CJ rotors, pre 94 dodge rotors and ford dana 44 rotors would all fit, but were to small to fit over the axle flange. Since the ford rotors seemed the closest fit, I bought them, $25.99 each at napa. I then just ground the axle down to fit them.
Now just cut a plate to mate up the calipers of choice, I used ones from a 82' K-10 4x4. The pl;ates were simple 3/8" steel. First I madea templet with cardboard and then chalked it onto the steel.
Then I blasted it out with a plasma cutter. After grinding it smooth, I got it into place on the axle, and welded it.
Test fitting plate
half ton 4wd chevy calipers, $7.99 lines from napa, $9.99 for pads. calipers were $10 each at the junk yard.
And the 15" rims even clear it.
looks much better than rusty stock drums..
Can I get a "bling bling"? 31 spline ford 9 inch, with a mini spool, and disc brakes, all for $230?? hell yes.
How does it stop?
Much better than stock, and the stock proportioning vlave seems to work quite well, only under extremely hard braking can I get the 35" BFG's to lock up on pavment. On snow, it brakes a bit different from stock, but the braking is still fairly well balanced, but the rears do seem more agressive than before.
Does the rotor center up good just using the wheel studs? It doesn't look like a tight fit from the pics. Guess it would vibrate or shudder if so. Looks good, though, way better than rusty drums.
What did you do with the gap between the axle bearing flange and the actual bearing cup where the old backing plate used to sit? I thought of cutting the old backing plate into a spacer to make up the difference. Looks good this is the next mod to be done to my 9, thanks, judd
well, I thought about cutting out the center of the back plate as well, but then just found 4 washers the same thickness, and put them in there as shims. Since it's a sealed bearing, it won't leak anything.
The Howe mounts are 7.040" mounting bolt to mounting bolt. They work with '74 blazer calipers. Should work with most any pickup or fullsize car from the 70's. I'm not a GM guy so I'm not sure of exact years or models with that spacing.
Kickass thread! Just what I was looking for. Does anyone know if those 9" brackets like the Summit one and the ones you get from race supply houses will accept the Cadillac calipers with the e-brake provisions?
Also, I've heard many people have great success using the stock h-blocks that come with 4-wheel drum setups when they go with 4-wheel disk, but other insist on getting a disk/disk proportioing valve. Anyone know of a specific reason why one is a must over the other? (of course I'll switch to a disk/disk or drum/drum MC)
You screwed up bad dude!
the rotor is not true on the axle, look at all that rust and junk you left.
AND the rotor is not centered on the studs, bad idea
Here is mine: http://fordfuelinjection.com/bronco/brakes.html
You screwed up bad dude!
the rotor is not true on the axle, look at all that rust and junk you left.
AND the rotor is not centered on the studs, bad idea
Here is mine: http://fordfuelinjection.com/bronco/brakes.html
As for them not being centered.. The dial incator says they are, there isn't any runout, or anything strange going on driving down the road, or under light or hard braking.
even if the rotor is perfectly centered it will spin on the flange hitting the studs each time you brake.
I'm not sure what this force will do to the lugs, but those little spacers I made do lots of things to help the rotor stay centered.
Not sure how important that is to you. My Bronco will go 110+MPH on the highway if the cop's aint watching :flipoff2:
So any vibration can be a death wobble at speed
Nice thread! Thanks for all the info. What are the chances of an Eldarodo caliper being the same size of the other GM calipers?
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