Got a brake question for smart brake-loving people...

[Thed]

So my '96 Ranger obviously has some nice Bendix dual-piston calipers that do a decent job bringing the mini truck to a stop...

But theoretically what if I went to a setup that had a larger rotor but only a single-piston caliper? Although clamping pressure would be down, there would be more rotor to dissipate heat which obviously helps braking power. There's also leverage, as in the larger the rotor, the easier it is to bringing the wheel to a stop.

OK now for some specifics, the Ranger has a 10 1/4" rotor and is 1.03" thick. The theoretical brake setup has a rotor that is 11 3/4" in diameter and 1.19" thick.

All things being equal (same pads, same truck, ect.) would there be a noticeable difference in braking power, if any? Would the single-piston setup work better than the current stock two-piston setup if the rotors were slotted and if there were high-performance pads?

And for any wise-ass that figures out what brake setup I'm thinking about, please keep it to yourself. Mkay?

 

[adsm08]

With that setup I would think you might see a bigger change in brake longevity than braking force.

You will not gain much in terms of "leverage" because all gains there must be calculated against half the increase in diameter. With that, take into account the loss of the dual piston setup and you will probably see better pad life before you start to see better stopping force.

Not knowing all the formulas they use to figure these things out in the design phase this is mostly an educated guess, but I would guess that it is, at the very least, not going to be worth the work when you sit down and weigh out the cost/benefit ratio.

 

[Thed]

Decent answer... Longevity and cost really aren't an issue for me though.

 

[JoshT]

I think you'd probably be better off staying stock. I know that first gen Rangers (possibly up to 94 as well) were single piston with the same diameter rotor as you have now. To me the dual piston calipers were a big upgrade in braking over the earlier stuff. I don't think that extra inch of diameter on the rotor with a single piston is going to make any improvement over what you have now, if anything I expect it will do the opposite. You would also have to change the master cylinder to match the new caliper. As adsm said I don't think it's going to be worth the cost or work involved.

As using drilled/slotted rotors and better pads on the single piston. First you won't gain anything from drilled and slotted rotors. The one exception is if you like to glaze the pads on a regular basis in which case the slotted will brake the glaze every time you press the brakes. Second what ever gain you saw from good pads on the single piston you'd also see on the stock set-up. Price and performance wise you would probably be better off putting good pads and rotors on your current set-up.

If you feel the need for a bigger rotor Check into the Explorer Sport Trac rotor. The later STs used a rotor that was almost 12" in diameter and the caliper was the same as the one you have. Their spindle was made different for the caliper to work with the larger rotor, but you could make a bracket to do the same. You would have to move to a 16" wheel to use them, that said you will probably have to so the same for the conversion you were thinking about.