which brake caliper piston material

[TireIron]

The calipers I'll be using on the knuckles i'm using come with either factory phenolic pistons or upgraded steel pistons. Which would be the better choice? Obviously I'm sure the steel are stronger but is the phenolic a better choice for lower heat transfer to the fluid or is that such a minimal point that the steel would still be a better choice? Price isn't an issue, the steel are only 10 bucks more each side.

-Jason

[MAKG]

Given that pistons are wear parts, I'm quite uncomfortable with phenolic pistons.

They don't corrode, and if they weren't wear parts, that would be great.

[Ranger44]

I would just go with the phenolic pistons (cheaper, and as from factory). As MAKG said they are a wear item. The steel ones, if given enough time to sit will rust. The steel ones are stronger, and the phenolic ones if impacted hard enough will break. The phenolic also kind of have a lubricating effect by themselves, being plastic on metal instead of metal on metal. Both have good and bad qualities.

[TireIron]

well the metal pistons are only 5 bucks more so thats not a real concern of mine... what are the factory ranger pistons made out of?

Oh and it's scary how much larger the dodge D44 calipers I'm useing are than the ranger calipers, I wonder if I'm gonna have to go to a fullsize master cylinder for the fluid capacity...

[TireIron]

anyone else?

[AllanD]

Ok, Each material has it's distinct advantages and disadvantages and in either case
the pistons aren't "forever".

you'd think the steel pistons were more durable, but they can rust

The phenolic pistons are rust resistant, but if you run them with warped rotors
in some brake setups the pads can transmit that motion to the pistons and dammage them by hammering them against the insides of the caliper bores.

I don't know what brakes you are running or what setup you are building,
but I'm running the 95-97 two piston caliper setup on my '87.

I was never happy with the tendency of the earlier brakes with the
single piston calipers to hammer the pad slot in the steering knuckle
and the resulting "lost motion" that created a situation where you
were never sure what point in the brake pedal travel the brakes
would start working

In my book inconsistant pedal height is 90% as bad as a pedal that
goes completely to the floor.

I don't have to worry about my pedal going to the floor either,
because the usual cause of that is a burst rigid line...
I replaced ALL of my rigid lines with stainless steel.

If you can only have one thing on your truck that is as reliable
as a sunrise that one thing should be the brakes.

BTW, when are you gonna pass by this way again?

AD

[TireIron]

Well I'm using the fullsize dodge brakes from the 70s and 80s. Talk about a HUGE single piston caliper. I know what you mean about the pad spacing on the older ranger brakes but thankfully the dodge ones are setup a good deal different. The only thing I'm worried about is that with the increase in size of the caliper that the master cylinder won't have enough capacity to actually work the calipers correctly. I'll have to take a picture tomorrow of the ranger caliper next to the dodge caliper and post it up for reference. The 1/2 ton brakes will certainly be nice though for stopping power, especially once I get disks in the rear. I guess I'm leaning towards the phenolic pistons for the rust factor and if they are good enough to stop 1/2, 3/4 and 1 ton trucks then it shouldn't be much of an issue on a little ranger like mine.

As for heading out that way I have no idea, I've been working 50-60 hours a week for the past 3 months and my weekends are now taken up maintaining my moms car, my girlfriends ranger and working on my axle to get it in the truck before my balljoints and wheel bearings go bad on the TIB. At least I have 80 percent of the parts I need for it now and can start to assemble the finished axle, I just need to order my locker so I can pull the carrier and the ring gear and install it and then new axle seals and get the carrier back in so I can put in the axleshafts and the rest of the hub parts. Damn Dana 44 not haveing any clearance for the crosspin to slip past the ring gear. And of course after I get the axle in I have to figure out something to do about my poor engine, it's using a quart of oil every 500 miles or so now, but I guess nearing 400K miles will do that to an engine.

-Jason

[AllanD]

The master cylinder in your '94 should have a 1" bore.

If you do some "junkard shopping" and get a master from a later truck the '95-97's used a 1-1/16" bore master cylinder, that may not sound like much but it's actually a pretty radical change...

I've got a pair of calipers here that closely resemble the '95-01 explorer
'98-up Ranger calipers, same bolt mounting spacing but slightly larger
pistons made of phenolic.
I think on the two piston brakes the soft pistons will be a non-issue.

Have you already bought a D44 locker?

AD

[TireIron]

Yea, I still have to grab a picture of the calipers next to each other. I think I'll end up going with the phenolic just for the rust resistance issue here in NE.

And for the locker, yea I have an aussie for a D44 sitting here next to me new. I just have to get around to finding all the torque values I need (I have a friend with access to alldata that I can bug for them) and then assembling the axle. I am definitly going a different direction than anyone here has used before and I will have pictures of everything I do when I build it, but the main thing is it will be a disk brake D44 out of an EB with a 5x4.5 bolt pattern and manual locking hubs.

[TireIron]

So this is the difference in caliper size between the ranger caliper and the dodge caliper that I'm using. I don't think it will have an issue stopping the 31s I have or the 35s I may end up running. The ranger is on the left and the dodge is on the right. 1/2 ton parts are a nice thing.

[MAKG]

Are you sure you'll have enough pedal travel to fully actuate those enormous calipers? Do you have drums in the rear? If so, it will affect proportioning.

[TireIron]

Yea I have a feeling it might be an issue, but a lot of people run the chevy calipers on their SAS swaps with the dana 44 disk brakes and don't have an issue with the ranger master cylinder. The chevy calipers must be just as large if not larger than these. I'm not opposed to swapping to a fullsize master cylinder either although I'd like to wait till I have disks in the rear also and then use a master from posibly an expedition or a newer F150 with the rear disks. I do have a proportioning valve sitting here also for when I end up with rear disks so I can dial things down a little if need be.