2003 Rear Brake Disc Conversion: Was it Worth It?

[JoshT]

went off in the weeds really quickly there...

You're welcome...

 

[19Walt93]

My 2004 Ranger came with rear drums, every spring I'd pull the drums, inspect the brakes, dump the dust out of the drums and put them back on. My 11 had rear discs, every spring I'd completely disassemble them- including pulling the discs to get at the parking brakes- grind the rust off all the slide points, lube everything up, and reassemble them. Unless you're towing or hauling heavy loads, rear discs are no better than drums. If you're braking hard, all the weight is on the front wheels. Guys who don't drive in road salt may disagree, I don't blame them, I'm jealous.

 

[Danny74]

. . . Guys who don't drive in road salt may disagree, I don't blame them, I'm jealous.

I know how you feel about road salt. I live in NY.

 

[Danny74]

It's funny that we're talking about brakes and the front and back. I have a 93 Ranger 4x4 that I use as a work truck. And I'm going to be getting a trailer to put everything in instead of having it in the back of my truck and swapping out whatever tools I need. Cuz I have more than what the bed will hold even with the cap. So anyway I was planning on upgrading my front brakes and my choices are limited. I discovered on this site about the Dana front Knuckles upgrade. They seem to offer the best breaking option. And since I would have to switch out my knuckles anyway to do any type of break upgrade, Even if I went with the Dual piston caliper upgrade, I might as well go for the Dana upgrade because if I'm doing all that work to switch Knuckles why not go for the upgrade that offers the best breaking.

Does anybody know of anyone who has done that upgrade? As far as my rear is concerned I'm only thinking of switching out the ranger drums for the Aerostar drums. Unless I find a good deal on a Explorer axle.

 

[sgtsandman]

It's funny that we're talking about brakes and the front and back. I have a 93 Ranger 4x4 that I use as a work truck. And I'm going to be getting a trailer to put everything in instead of having it in the back of my truck and swapping out whatever tools I need. Cuz I have more than what the bed will hold even with the cap. So anyway I was planning on upgrading my front brakes and my choices are limited. I discovered on this site about the Dana front Knuckles upgrade. They seem to offer the best breaking option. And since I would have to switch out my knuckles anyway to do any type of break upgrade, Even if I went with the Dual piston caliper upgrade, I might as well go for the Dana upgrade because if I'm doing all that work to switch Knuckles why not go for the upgrade that offers the best breaking.

Does anybody know of anyone who has done that upgrade? As far as my rear is concerned I'm only thinking of switching out the ranger drums for the Aerostar drums. Unless I find a good deal on a Explorer axle.

I know a couple have done it and/or have talked about doing it. None that are regulars that I remember. This is one of the situation where we have to wait for one of them to login, see and read the whole thread, and respond.

 

[Lefty]

I know a couple have done it and/or have talked about doing it. None that are regulars that I remember. This is one of the situation where we have to wait for one of them to login, see and read the whole thread, and respond.

sounds interesting. Keep us posted

 

[Shran]

I put Explorer disc brake 8.8's in the back of several Rangers. I don't think that it helps much. But, I am a drum brake guy... I cuss them every time I have to work on them but they do work well enough.

It's funny that we're talking about brakes and the front and back. I have a 93 Ranger 4x4 that I use as a work truck. And I'm going to be getting a trailer to put everything in instead of having it in the back of my truck and swapping out whatever tools I need. Cuz I have more than what the bed will hold even with the cap. So anyway I was planning on upgrading my front brakes and my choices are limited. I discovered on this site about the Dana front Knuckles upgrade. They seem to offer the best breaking option. And since I would have to switch out my knuckles anyway to do any type of break upgrade, Even if I went with the Dual piston caliper upgrade, I might as well go for the Dana upgrade because if I'm doing all that work to switch Knuckles why not go for the upgrade that offers the best breaking.

Does anybody know of anyone who has done that upgrade? As far as my rear is concerned I'm only thinking of switching out the ranger drums for the Aerostar drums. Unless I find a good deal on a Explorer axle.

Look at a mid 90's full size Bronco or maybe an F150 as a donor - 94/95/96 might be your best bet. Basically you use the Ranger knuckle with the Bronco spindle, hub, and rotor. You have a machine shop turn down the OD of the rotor to match the OD of the Ranger rotor and this allows you to use the Ranger caliper and brake pads while gaining a MUCH better locking hub & spindle design. You also need the outer axle shaft.

The only bummer is that you lose 5x4.5 bolt pattern on your front axle so different wheels are needed.

The front brakes on our trucks are really pretty good, I have never had issues with braking power and the single piston calipers are as simple & reliable as a hammer. I prefer them to the dual piston "upgrade" - more parts to fail there - screw in slide pins always end up rusting and locking up, never had that issue with the older hammer in style.

 

[Lefty]

I put Explorer disc brake 8.8's in the back of several Rangers. I don't think that it helps much. But, I am a drum brake guy... I cuss them every time I have to work on them but they do work well enough.



Look at a mid 90's full size Bronco or maybe an F150 as a donor - 94/95/96 might be your best bet. Basically you use the Ranger knuckle with the Bronco spindle, hub, and rotor. You have a machine shop turn down the OD of the rotor to match the OD of the Ranger rotor and this allows you to use the Ranger caliper and brake pads while gaining a MUCH better locking hub & spindle design. You also need the outer axle shaft.

The only bummer is that you lose 5x4.5 bolt pattern on your front axle so different wheels are needed.

The front brakes on our trucks are really pretty good, I have never had issues with braking power and the single piston calipers are as simple & reliable as a hammer. I prefer them to the dual piston "upgrade" - more parts to fail there - screw in slide pins always end up rusting and locking up, never had that issue with the older hammer in style.

Interesting... The Ranger front brakes are most certainly good, but I bought slotted cross drilled discs anyway. I was looking for still more stopping power. I have wider tires which will grab the road. I thought why not? I drive in the city and have my fair share of close calls. I wanted to be better prepared for that rare, but all important, emergency stop.

I thought about doing more modifications, even did a little research, but decided go no further, mostly because I still don't know enough.

 

[Shran]

Drum brakes have a mechanical advantage over disks in that the pad surface is significantly larger and contacts a huge portion of the inner drum surface. I think if you played with proportioning, you could get the rear drums to perform every bit as well or better than rear discs - but you may run the risk of rear brakes that lock up easily. That's even worse than having too little stopping power.

 

[sgtsandman]

Interesting... The Ranger front brakes are most certainly good, but I bought slotted cross drilled discs anyway. I was looking for still more stopping power. I have wider tires which will grab the road. I thought why not? I drive in the city and have my fair share of close calls. I wanted to be better prepared for that rare, but all important, emergency stop.

I thought about doing more modifications, even did a little research, but decided go no further, mostly because I still don't know enough.

In my experience, the slotted and cross drilled rotors don't really make a difference with modern braking materials. The slots are helpful in clearing debris off the pads for off road driving. The purpose of the cross drilling was to relieve off gassing of the pads, something that doesn't really happen with modern brake lining materials. The slots and cross drilling doesn't hurt braking but it doesn't seem to help either.

I had them on my Honda CR-Vs because of towing a utility trailer for hauling and camping gear. Braking didn't seem to be any different before or after.

I do plan on installing them through attrition on the Rangers because of the off road driving and all the crap I found in the brakes after doing that.

So, you didn't hurt anything and if the cost of the slotted rotors were about the same as the OEM style, no money has been wasted either. Rotors for my years of Rangers are about the same as the Motorcraft ones. So, that and the debris clearing is why I'm going to do the switch.

Ceramic pads and shoes do seem to provide more of a benefit because they tolerate heat better and are less hard on the rotors than semi metallic pads and shoes and have the additional benefit of not generating as much dust. So, the rims get less dirty as a result.

 

[Lefty]

In my experience, the slotted and cross drilled rotors don't really make a difference with modern braking materials. The slots are helpful in clearing debris off the pads for off road driving. The purpose of the cross drilling was to relieve off gassing of the pads, something that doesn't really happen with modern brake lining materials. The slots and cross drilling doesn't hurt braking but it doesn't seem to help either.

I had them on my Honda CR-Vs because of towing a utility trailer for hauling and camping gear. Braking didn't seem to be any different before or after.

I do plan on installing them through attrition on the Rangers because of the off road driving and all the crap I found in the brakes after doing that.

So, you didn't hurt anythine additional benefit of not generating as mu
g and if the cost of the slotted rotors were about the same as the OEM style, no money has been wasted either. Rotors for my years of Rangers are about the same as the Motorcraft ones. So, that and the debris clearing is why I'm going to do the switch.

Ceramic pads and shoes do seem to provide more of a benefit because they tolerate heat better and are less hard on the rotors than semi metallic pads and shoes and have th
ch dust. So, the rims get less dirty as a result.

For all intents and purposes, OEM is just fine. My old rotors needed to be turned anyway, so I thought to buy slotted and drilled instead.

I don't expect to notice the difference, except for those very rare occasions when an emergency stop at speeds in excess of 40MPH or more. I would hope that they might just shorten the stopping distance by a foot or two. I do expect that I will need to change pads more frequently, but I don't really care.

 

[scotts90ranger]

On my V8 explorers which are very similar to your Ranger other than having I think a bigger brake booster and another 1000 pounds of vehicle and the rear discs I did drilled/slotted on the front of one because it was the same price when it needed new rotors... They stop fine, one has 31 10.5 15's and the other 255 75 15's so I think about the same size, I've towed with them, sure the weight balance is better as the extra weight is more to the rear but it's a 5k pound vehicle...

I don't have to deal with rust so I like discs, the parking brake is about useless on the Explorer setup though... better than nothing but is very lacking...

 

[sgtsandman]

Stopping distance didn't seem to change for me. Brake wear was accelerated but not unreasonably so. You make get a bit of brake growl while braking in certain conditions but that isn't abnormal and it wasn't alarmingly loud.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

If you can lock up your tires with the brakes you have now, then putting "bigger, better" isn't going to help other than specific situations. Like going down a mountain. Or racing. Maybe offroad.

 

[Lefty]

If you can lock up your tires with the brakes you have now, then putting "bigger, better" isn't going to help other than specific situations. Like going down a mountain. Or racing. Maybe offroad.

You are right. We have ABS.