do the lincon backing plates have the same bolt patern as the explorer or do they match the patern on the 8" housing end?
I had a set of brakes from both the Lincoln and the Explorer. Ended up using the Explorer ones because I liked the parking brake better, and because the Lincoln ones would have ended up with the calipers on opposite sides of the rotors. Not a problem functionally, since that's how they were in the original application, but just less cosmetically appealing I think.
so you 9" has small bearing ends? if that is so then it seems to me that the lincon brakes would be more popular for brake swaps on 8"s. i guess whats unclear to me still is if the lincon brakes drictly bolt on to the 8" housing ends with out having to be drilled. facelessnumber, do you have pics showing the lincon brackets and explorer brackets togther?
I don't, but I can tell you they bolt on without drilling. The Explorer ones do too. Only reason drilling may be required on those is leaf spring/caliper interference, and that was a non issue for me since I have lowering blocks. If I didn't, I would've had to "clock" the holes a bit like Frank mentions in his tech article. I don't know if the Lincoln brakes have this issue because I didn't get that far when I was test fitting the brackets.
So all of the Explorer disc brake parts were usable including the stock Explorer "inside the rotor" parking brake shoe type system? Nothing needed to be tweaked? I want to replace all of my stock heavy Versailles disc brake parts on my 9 inch and the Explorer swap gets more interesting every day.
This is some good information: http://www.fordmuscle.com/forums/braking-articles/488169-budget-rear-discs-8-small-9-axles.html
Basically, yes. I am using the Explorer parking brake with the original Maverick handle and cables. I did very little tweaking actually. I didn't modify any of the Explorer parts. That was a goal I had so that future repairs wouldn't require me to remember every little thing I did, or in case I had to fix something while I'm out of town, away from my tools, etc. Here's the thread that gives some of the specifics I did. In this pic you can see how I attached the cables. I did have to mod those a little bit, but nothing ridiculous.
thanks for the clarification guys. know i know what i wanted to know and can give my customers the best options.
Yes, I have the small end's like an 8", just had to shave the flange and bolt them up. The bearings on my Moser's stuck out just enough so I did not have to make spacers. Very clean and stright forward. I also pulled a set from a 97 explorer for a friends large bearing 9". Again they bolt right up, but he has some 5 on 5.5 patern axles and we need to find roters that will fit.