Question about "Front Brake Upgrade Sticky"

[Dan B.]

The front brake upgrade post references the swap on 87-88 2wd Rangers.

My question...will the 89-9X (can't remember the exact year) I-beam swap and subsequent knuckle, spindle, twin pot caliper swap from the 9X-9X Ranger work on earlier year trucks...like the '84, '85, '86 year 2wd's also?

I've got a '85 that I'd like to upgrade. Thanks.

 

[Insanejughead]

You could easily get it to work, you'll just need some more parts.


To put the 95-97 calipers on an 80's model ranger, you'll need the axles, spindles, and calipers from a donor truck. I might suggest getting new rubber brake lines for the newer ranger (I did a quick look on RockAuto.com, and the newer ones seem to be longer)


83-88 axles have the ball joint pressed in them, not the spindle; sliding pin single piston caliper
89-94 axles do not have the ball joint in them, they're in the spindle; still use sliding pin single piston caliper
95-97 axles are same as 89-94, but have a dual piston sliding bolt caliper.


Does that help?

 

[Dan B.]

Yes.

By "axles" do you mean the I-beams?

I did understand needing the 89-94 beams. From there, are the rest of the parts from the 95-97 or do I need spindles from the 89-94 truck? I looked for a parts list to avoild asking this question but could not find one.

 

[Insanejughead]

Yes, axles and I-beams are the same thing in this case.


You will need the I-beams from a 89-97 ranger, but you will have to have the spindles and calipers from a 95 and newer ranger. The spindles for the 89-94 are made to hold the sliding pin caliper, which is in no way interchangeable with the sliding bolt caliper from the 95-97 models.

 

[AllanD]

The front brake upgrade post references the swap on 87-88 2wd Rangers.

My question...will the 89-9X (can't remember the exact year) I-beam swap and subsequent knuckle, spindle, twin pot caliper swap from the 9X-9X Ranger work on earlier year trucks...like the '84, '85, '86 year 2wd's also?

I've got a '85 that I'd like to upgrade. Thanks.

The Original post is nearly two years old and you are the first one to spot that particular typo.

Swapping the entire '83-88 beam off for a '95-97 beam will work
on any '83-88 2wd.

The '89-94 use the later balljoint setup.

'95-97 use the twin pot caliper

what your you have determines which stock brake lines you will need

'83-88 use a -block for the front brakes.
this T-block is mounted to the top flange of the frame just behind
the engine crossmember.
And from there seperate metal lines run to each of the front brake hoses.
Granted the left side metal line is only 10" long or so...

on an '89-94 there is no "T-block" the line from the master cylinder runs directly to the left side hose because the top of the hose is the T-block and the metal line runs from there to the passenger side hose.

But there's a neat trick that sidesteps this complication...

Ford made some '95-97 2wd's with FOUR-WHEEL-ABS.

So on an '83-88 you just get the Drivers side hose for an 4wABS truck
For an '89-94 you get the NON-ABS hose

the passenger side hose is the same in either case.

On my Ranger I revised the metal lines to the '89-up pattern and replumbed all the hard lines in stainless steel (So I'll NEVER have to do it again)

So I'm using the NON-ABS hose.

The rub is that my truck is a 4x4 and they only made non-4wABS trucks in 1997, so if you were working on doing this upgrade on a 4x4 and you didn't have ABS you would get a drivers side hose for a 1997 4x4 WITHOUT 4WABS

Is that all pretty clear now?

Sorry for the previous confusion.

Since you also need the second design I-beams it makes no sense whatsoever to take anything off an '89-94

Get all your parts off of a 1995-97, beams, knuckles, caliper brackets and calipers.

If someone already robbed the calipers and/or caliper brackets don't panic, these parts are the same on Torsion bar SLA Explorers and Rangers through the end of 2003

I would HIGHLY recommend retaining your original Radius arms.
The welded stud lower shock mount on the later radius arms simply sucks compared to the through bolt and brace bracket of the '83-88 part.

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[Insanejughead]

DAMN! Allan,... Way to go explaining that out!

 

[micheal96712]

are their any pictures available for this swap?