h233b drum brake to disk brake conversion.

[roastbeef]

these will replace my drums on my '02 frontier tomorrow without the use of a welder.
i guess we will see how it goes.

[truckinfouble]

Where did you get those?

[sasfrontier]

More info would be nice

[06_footy]

Looking forward to some more updates man

[roastbeef]

teaser.

[sasfrontier]

what master cylinder are you running, and are you using a proportioning valve?

[roastbeef]

theres really not much to it. got some pathy brake assemblies (ebrake/caliper bracket) and put it on instead of the drum. the tedious part is taking the drums off the shaft, because it requires a special tool for pressing the shaft out of the assembly.

as it stands below, the shaft needed to be pressed down towards the ground to be separated from the drum assembly.


doing the above can be a difficult task, but kenny built a tool that bolts onto the axle brackets for the drums. the arms on the tool suspend the shaft/drum assembly in the air on the press, giving it room to press the axle shaft out of the drum.


here is a picture of the press and tool in action;


this collar came out of the drum assembly with little trouble. a couple taps with a hammer, and it came right out and slid into the pathy disk brake assembly with no problems.


frontier drum brake collar thing mated to the pathy disk brake assembly.


some light tapping to get it seated down before we bolted it on.

ebrake needed some slight modification. for the passenger side, the ebrake cable that came with the pathy brake assembly from the junk yard wasn't long enough because a pathfinder's ebrake setup is very different from the frontier.
we were able to reuse the frontier's cable for the passenger side, but we had to modify the flange that connects and bolts to the brake assembly. the cable hole is slightly smaller then the frontier's, so we had to grind off the small piece of supporting metal around the cable that guides the cable into the assembly. inside the assembly, there is a guide channel for the cable, and we are confident the modification will not change anything.
here is a pic of the bracket face we had to grind flat, and the piece we had to grind off is at the end of the pliers.


assembled the pads, bolted the caliper on, and that was it.


both sides done.


you can get steel brake lines at just about any auto store for pretty cheap. 3/16" diameter with metric thread is what you need.
while we were working on it, i figured i would replace the soft line going to the axle and got a 20" stainless braided line made with a "T" fitting on the end of it. there is a tab on the passenger side of the axle that holds the ebrake cable that can easily be bent up (it already had a hole in it) to bolt the T fitting to. worked out really well.

[roastbeef]

custom bent line to keep it out of the rocks and perfectly meet up with the pathfinder soft line retainers.


done! bleed the brakes and took her for a test drive.


i got lots of questions as far as what i was going to do for a master cylinder. i haven't done anything yet, and i can tell you that this setup has better stopping power then the disks did. however, the performance is unique to my truck because of the giant single piston calipers on my front 60. my stopping power was significantly reduced by my sas, but i can say that i gained back some stopping power with rear disks.
i do plan on upgrading my mc and using a proportioning valve to tune my braking system for best performance, but i have yet to make a decision on the route i want to go.

if any of the terminology sounds out of whack, let me know. i'm not sure i named it all correctly.

[06_footy]

Lookes bitchin dude

[roastbeef]

thanks man! yea, it does look pretty blingin. probably the most blinged out h233 in existance. haha

did you end up buying richard's white x?

[boardbysled]

When I start buildin my H233b (if I do) I am gonna put 14 bolt hubs on it, with ballistics chromoly spindles an solids 14 bolt 6 lug hubs Be nice an easy to do disc brakes then I may start with a 33 spline unit though, for the additional strength.

Looks good!

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by boardbysled

When I start buildin my H233b (if I do) I am gonna put 14 bolt hubs on it, with ballistics chromoly spindles an solids 14 bolt 6 lug hubs Be nice an easy to do disc brakes then I may start with a 33 spline unit though, for the additional strength.

Looks good!

yea, it will be nice and easy right after all that serious, precise, and expensive modification to the housing. good luck with that.

[berardj]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

thanks man! yea, it does look pretty blingin. probably the most blinged out h233 in existance. haha

did you end up buying richard's white x?

no, he did buy it

but beef, some of us dont have that home made press, how could a guy like me go about doing it?

[boardbysled]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

yea, it will be nice and easy right after all that serious, precise, and expensive modification to the housing. good luck with that.

I know.
Hopefully someone comes out with some cheaper gearing options for this axle, then a build like that might be worth while, otherwise, it will probably never end up happening.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by berardj

no, he did buy it

but beef, some of us dont have that home made press, how could a guy like me go about doing it?

wait... what? did he buy it or not. i'm confused now.

i don't know how hard it would be without the press, but i can tell you the press made it super easy. i suppose a basic machine shop would have the ability to do it.

[berardj]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

wait... what? did he buy it or not. i'm confused now.

i don't know how hard it would be without the press, but i can tell you the press made it super easy. i suppose a basic machine shop would have the ability to do it.

let me correct myself, no he didnt, it went to someone who deserved it

[82FB]

If its anything like a toyota shaft, just pull off the snapring, turn the shaft spline side down on a piece of plywood on concrete and pound away. Slam the whole assembly down hard a bunch of times and the retainer, bearing and backing plate slide right off. To re-install, slide a piece of pipe over the shaft that is a bit longer than the shaft, but no bigger than the retainer and pound away again.

[wickedOZ]

Any chance of a pic of the bracket and caliper fitted up?

[Blue X]

great info...I am considering this down the road...Thanks!!

1 question for ya....What year pathfinder do we need for the parts?

[alexrex20]

Originally Posted by boardbysled

I know.
Hopefully someone comes out with some cheaper gearing options for this axle, then a build like that might be worth while, otherwise, it will probably never end up happening.

throw a 9in under the back and call it a day. unlimited aftermarket for a fraction of the cost. i used a F150 housing, aftermarket case, Detroit locker, moser axles, explorer disc brakes, and superior 4.86 r/p. the complete axle (minus the tabs for links and shocks) cost less than just an ARB and gears for my H233B.

[boardbysled]

Originally Posted by alexrex20

throw a 9in under the back and call it a day. unlimited aftermarket for a fraction of the cost. i used a F150 housing, aftermarket case, Detroit locker, moser axles, explorer disc brakes, and superior 4.86 r/p. the complete axle (minus the tabs for links and shocks) cost less than just an ARB and gears for my H233B.

Yea, but everyone has those

[SteeevO]

Originally Posted by Blue X

great info...I am considering this down the road...Thanks!!

1 question for ya....What year pathfinder do we need for the parts?

95 or older

Originally Posted by boardbysled

Yea, but everyone has those

Dito!

[alexrex20]

everyone has those

i wonder why