rear disks

Mavericknutt · Oct 4, 2005

Mine are the weld on brackets and the jeep rotors(no drilling) yes no parking brake but I still have park as far as the master cylinder goes well.....you will get different answers mine is the original master cylinder with no adjustible prop. valve....works fine with no drag so???

maverick75 · Oct 5, 2005

thanks for the great info

idk which direction i'm going to go

i have to have to chat with my uncle

but i know i am going to have the disk because the drums are all messed up
and he has done the convertion on several different cars before so that will help

BTW: probally going to sell the mach 1(if i get it) that will probally give me more $$$ and more options

Andysutt · Oct 8, 2005

mavman said:

I've done it 2 different ways. Exploder and S10. The S10 was cheaper of the 2.

If you do the exploder style: Get the brackets, rotors, flex lines, calipers, and anything else you think you'll need. You'll have to drill out the bracket holes to 3/8" (they're 9mm I think factory...a hair smaller than 3/8" for sure), but that's no problem. They bolt right up to the 8" housing ends. The rotors go right on as well. The calipers...well, you'll have to remove the axle clamp u-bolts to get the lower caliper bolt in because the leaf spring is in the way. I ended up having to shorten the lower bolt because it was REAL close to the spring (less than 1/16"). That's about it. You'll also have to build new brake lines for the axle as the drum hard lines are too long and the fittings are different, IIRC. Not a problem though if you know how to use a double flaring tool. I never got around to hooking up the E-brake cables, so I couldn't tell you about those. Most importantly, the caliper brackets are thicker than the drum backing plates, so the axle bearing and axle moves back & forth inside the housing end about .200" (going off of memory of course). You can remedy this by having a couple spacers made up to go in between the bearing and the caliper bracket.

The S-10 route was easy. I bought NEW rotors for a 4wd mid 80's S-10 as well as new loaded calipers. Then I had to buy/build the brackets that hold the calipers to the axle housing...I made them out of 3/8" thick steel. They come in 2 versions, bolt-on and weld-on. I kind of made both in one...bolted, and welded on the backside. Down side is, there's no E-brake provision (no problem on a race car). The brackets are available from most circle-track suppliers (Day motorsports, Speedway, etc) for around $20 for the pair. I used the GM rotors as well...just drilled them for the smaller ford bolt circle. I used an old axle with the studs removed to mark/drill the holes.

Either way, you'll need an adjustable proportioning valve and a new master cylinder. Don't waste your time on the SVO/MKVII MC, they don't work any better than your stocker does. You'll want to get a MC from a '87-'93 Dodge 1/2 ton pickup....doesn't matter whether for power or manual brake (they're the same MC) and drill the mounting holes out to 3/8". So far, it's the only MC I've found that actually works.....and BTW, it's the exact same MC that Wilwood and others sell for $150+. Available at parts houses for $30 or thereabouts--BUT, the parts house MC doesn't come with a reservoir, so either get one from a JY or from Dodge. The JY was my preference (less than $1)

The S-10 route, cost (at the time) around $125 with new MC and all of the brackets, rotors, calipers, hoses. Probably higher now, but still cheap considering the advantages of rear discs. BTW, the rotors are large...11" IIRC (the explorers are 11.25 IIRC). I bought the explorer rear end pretty cheap as well, but they use solid rotors rather than the S-10's vented rotors, and the Exploder rotors are notorious for cracking. They do work pretty good though, so the choice is yours. 'Course you could always spend $1000 for Aerospace brakes...or Wilwood...or SSBC, whichever you prefer. Even then, it's not a "true" bolt on (is anything?).

Do a search for "explorer rear discs"...I posted pics a while back about how everything fit.
Click to expand...

Update on the reservoir. They do sell them w/ them, but you have to ask for it. When I was looking for one w/ a buddy, they had them, but we had to ask. Only Autozone carried them, not Oreillys. Not sure on Advanced Auto either

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rear disks

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maverick75 Gotta Love Mavs!

Andysutt '72 Comet GT

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rear disks

Mavericknutt member

maverick75 Gotta Love Mavs!

Andysutt '72 Comet GT

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