Disc brake upgrade

[e21pilot]

I've been convinced to upgrade my rear drums to discs and now I'm thinking about upgrading the front discs as well.

I like the idea of going to the 1997 non-ABS 2 piston calipers. Am I correct that I only need to source a used pair of left and right spindles from a 97 Ranger with non-ABS front brakes? I would then get new calipers, rotors, pads and non - ABS rubber brake lines all for the 97 model year Ranger. That doesn't sound too bad.

 

[PlumCrazy]

Yup. That should be all you need. I am pretty sure the beams/balljoints are the same, but I could be wrong on the 2wd.

 

[e21pilot]

One other question on this upgrade to the dual piston calipers from the later 90s Rangers. The original rubber caliper brake hoses on my 1992 very hard and in need of replacement.

When doing the dual piston caliper upgrade, should I order the 92 rubber brake hoses or the 95 hoses instead? They seem to have different p/n's so not certain which way to go.

 

[zrxsix3]

id honestly get both and see which one fits best then return what you dont use, that is how i personally do things so i dont get pissed that i got the wrong one the first time

 

[PlumCrazy]

On The 86, we used the original style hoses with the dual piston calipers. The attachment point at the coil bucket is what changed. The older hose had more hardline on the ends than the newer style.

 

[AllanD]

on 1st gen rangers up to the end of 1987 production used a separate splitter block on the frame, 1988-94 used the top end of the driver's side brake hose as a "T-block" to separate fluid flow the Left front and right front.

on the 1993-94 Trucks with ABS separate lines were required so the junction block feature of the driver's side line was eliminated for ABS equipped vehicles.

This this is the difference between 1995-1997 Rangers with or without ABS

So technically speaking the passenger side lines are the same for each year, it is only the drivers side that is different.

The outboard (Caliper end) of the hose is completely different on the 2-piston caliper Vs the single piston Calipers

I did this conversion on my truck in 2007 while I was also converting from 2wd to 4x4 and repowering to a 4.0, it was a very busy summer.

AllanD

 

[JoshT]

Copied from the TRS Tech Library article for brake upgrades:

Dual Piston Upgrade:

1989-1994: In order to add the dual piston (2-piston) caliper and larger rotor to your 1989-1994 Ford Ranger (or 1989-1990 Ford Bronco II), you'll need to swap your existing steering knuckle to a 1995-1997 knuckle.

If you want the new brakes to be easy to connect on a 1989-1994 (and some late 1988's) you need to order a NON-ABS Brake hose for the drivers side from a 1997. 1997 was the ONLY year that ford made any Non-ABS two piston trucks (I have no idea why).

The 1989-1994's without ABS use the frame end of the drivers side brake hose as a T-block to split the brake line off the master cylinder to the left and right side brakes (Thus the NON ABS hose) If on the other hand you have an ABS equipped 1993-1994 you want the ABS hoses.

 

[e21pilot]

Fortunately, I did pull a non-ABS front disc setup from a 97 so I'm in good shape. Wish I would have grabbed the hoses as a reference but I left them behind.

The notes from the library article suggest that a set of 95-97 non-ABS hoses would work for this conversion. What about the 92 non-ABS hoses (I have a spare OE set somewhere in my pile of stuff.) Would they work with the newer calipers or no way?

 

[SenorNoob]

In my case the newer hoses were noticeably longer than what I had. But, that was on a D28.