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Homebrew Ranger rear disc brake conversion


V8 Level II

Dec 2008 STOTM Winner, 2008 Truck Of The Year
U.S. Military - Veteran
V8 Engine Swap
MTOTM Winner
RBV's on Boost
Joined
Apr 29, 2008
Messages
331
City
Michigan
Vehicle Year
2003
Transmission
Automatic
There are various ways to swap Ranger rear drum brakes to discs if one is so inclined. Here is my version:


Before: factory 10" drums
rear_disc_DS1_drum.jpg



After: SVO 11 1/4" vented rear discs
rear_disc_DS1.jpg


rear_disc_DS1_with_cover.jpg


rear_disc_PS1.jpg



Conversion Parts:
79~85 Eldorado/Riviera/Toronado rear caliper
84~86 Mustang SVO 11 1/4" vented rear rotor
94~04 Mustang GT front brake hose
Custom fabbed caliper bracket, splash shield and p-brake cable adapter

kit_sm.jpg


bracket_014.jpg


Splash_shield.jpg


rear_disc_Alcoa.jpg
 
OK Now for an easier and cheaper version. Grab all the parts from an explorer 8.8.

The FX4 L2 trucks had a 31 spline 8.8 out back. The caliper/backing plate mounting pattern is the same for the 31 spline 8.8 and use the larger bearings.

Only Shitty thing is the explorer park brake system sucks balls.
 
OK Now for an easier and cheaper version. Grab all the parts from an explorer 8.8.

The FX4 L2 trucks had a 31 spline 8.8 out back. The caliper/backing plate mounting pattern is the same for the 31 spline 8.8 and use the larger bearings.

Only Shitty thing is the explorer park brake system sucks balls.
Yes, I knew about that before I did my conversion. In fact, I did install the Ex rear discs on a friend's Level II. Had to do some custom work on that one for brake lines and parking brakes.

For mine, I wanted to try something a little different and also wanted to avoid the drum parking brakes under the Ex rotors.

A nearly complete set of new Explorer parts is available for around $400 in a kit from Ford Racing. Used junkyard parts would have cost less upfront but would likely have needed to be rebuilt.

For my conversion, I bought the Eldo calipers, SVO rotors new on eBay, got the Mustang hoses used and made the rest from scratch. It cost under $200 for everything which I thought was pretty cheap.
 
i did a cheap home brew disk swap like that but it involved a crown vic axle. total cost was 100 bucks

i morphed the crown vic brackets to my housing

0517081520c.jpg

0517081520b.jpg
 
Last edited:
Rwenzing: That looks great...might do that on my truck some day...but not exactly, of course...unless you start selling kits...haha
 
i did a cheap home brew disk swap like that but it involved a crown vic axle. total cost was 100 bucks

i morphed the crown vic brackets to my housing

0517081520c.jpg

0517081520b.jpg
And you have a 28 spline 8.8 too.

You should do your write up on that here Mark.
 

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