Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and Mr Ed
Member
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2010
- Messages
- 12
- Vehicle Year
- 2002
- Transmission
- Automatic
*Long read warning*
Hi all,
I have the beginning of this thread in the brakes section, thought it might see more action here. It encompasses more than the brakes too.
First off, why… True, this is not a cheap operation. As much as I had hoped to keep the price in line with doing a full drum parts/wheel bearings/seals replacement, the price crept up (like all car projects). However, My ’02 Ranger brakes are far and away the worst brakes I’ve ever had on a vehicle. My ’85 Ranger stops better. My ’72 Bronco stopped better with un-powered 4-wheel drums! Plus, once you’ve spent any time with Alcan, Brembo or Porsche “Big Red” brakes on all 4 wheels, you’re basically spoiled. The Ranger brakes had to be improved, front and rear. The idea of 31 spline axles and a limited slip differential sounded nice too.
I went the Explorer rear end route, using a wrecking yard rear end. I purchased new spring perches and shock mounts (made by Warrior Products) and mounted the new perches directly above the existing, as per the teck section article. I put an extra degree of pinion angle (7 degrees rather than 6) because I have an add-a-leaf in the rear. For the shock mounts, I took careful measurements from the stock rear end and clamped everything in place. I then took it to a welder to have everything set. To jump ahead, all the placements turned out great!
Replaced the calipers, rotors and pads from Pep Boys, as well as replaced the driver’s side brake line with a passenger side line as per YellowSplash's suggestion. Worked like a charm and allowed the use of the stock center brake line up to the frame. I did have to cut and flare the stock rigid lines to attach to the Explorer soft lines out to the calipers.
Once I had U-bolts made to the proper length (roughly $20.00 at a local spring maker), everything bolted right up. I had the rear driveline balanced and new U-joints installed and picked up an Explorer E-brake cable from the parts yard. The E-brake is the only remaining variable. I haven’t tightened the E-brake shoes all the way yet and there is some slack in the passenger side cable that I haven’t worked out yet, but the placements, brackets and cables all swapped over pretty well.
On the front, I went with EBC slotted “Sport” rotors and yellow pads.
I got everything installed, bled the brakes, ran it on the lift a bit to make sure nothing bound up and rolled out for a test drive. That’s when the price went up…. I could hear the proverbial mystery noise from the rear end. 20mph on up there was a constant grinding sound. Damn! Longer story shorter, I had a local rear end shop look at it and it turns out the pinion bearing was bad and somehow I had missed the bent passenger side axle flange.
Had that fixed, gave it 200 miles to seat the new pads and Bam! Not it stops on a dime! No more planning stops ¼ mile ahead, no more pedal to the floor, no more cold sweats when I’m pulling a trailer or have a loaded bed. It’s an amazing difference!
So in the end I’m in it a few hundred $$$ more than I planned and spent an extra week driving “Birdflu”, my ’85 ranger. My only regret though is that I’ll most likely sell the truck soon as work will necessitate a bigger truck.
My advice would be to do it if you can justify the $$$ and inspect the donor axle more carefully than I did. The smart thing would be to plan on a diff rebuild and new bearings. I will post some pictures asap. Thanks for reading, hope this helps!
Hi all,
I have the beginning of this thread in the brakes section, thought it might see more action here. It encompasses more than the brakes too.
First off, why… True, this is not a cheap operation. As much as I had hoped to keep the price in line with doing a full drum parts/wheel bearings/seals replacement, the price crept up (like all car projects). However, My ’02 Ranger brakes are far and away the worst brakes I’ve ever had on a vehicle. My ’85 Ranger stops better. My ’72 Bronco stopped better with un-powered 4-wheel drums! Plus, once you’ve spent any time with Alcan, Brembo or Porsche “Big Red” brakes on all 4 wheels, you’re basically spoiled. The Ranger brakes had to be improved, front and rear. The idea of 31 spline axles and a limited slip differential sounded nice too.
I went the Explorer rear end route, using a wrecking yard rear end. I purchased new spring perches and shock mounts (made by Warrior Products) and mounted the new perches directly above the existing, as per the teck section article. I put an extra degree of pinion angle (7 degrees rather than 6) because I have an add-a-leaf in the rear. For the shock mounts, I took careful measurements from the stock rear end and clamped everything in place. I then took it to a welder to have everything set. To jump ahead, all the placements turned out great!
Replaced the calipers, rotors and pads from Pep Boys, as well as replaced the driver’s side brake line with a passenger side line as per YellowSplash's suggestion. Worked like a charm and allowed the use of the stock center brake line up to the frame. I did have to cut and flare the stock rigid lines to attach to the Explorer soft lines out to the calipers.
Once I had U-bolts made to the proper length (roughly $20.00 at a local spring maker), everything bolted right up. I had the rear driveline balanced and new U-joints installed and picked up an Explorer E-brake cable from the parts yard. The E-brake is the only remaining variable. I haven’t tightened the E-brake shoes all the way yet and there is some slack in the passenger side cable that I haven’t worked out yet, but the placements, brackets and cables all swapped over pretty well.
On the front, I went with EBC slotted “Sport” rotors and yellow pads.
I got everything installed, bled the brakes, ran it on the lift a bit to make sure nothing bound up and rolled out for a test drive. That’s when the price went up…. I could hear the proverbial mystery noise from the rear end. 20mph on up there was a constant grinding sound. Damn! Longer story shorter, I had a local rear end shop look at it and it turns out the pinion bearing was bad and somehow I had missed the bent passenger side axle flange.
Had that fixed, gave it 200 miles to seat the new pads and Bam! Not it stops on a dime! No more planning stops ¼ mile ahead, no more pedal to the floor, no more cold sweats when I’m pulling a trailer or have a loaded bed. It’s an amazing difference!
So in the end I’m in it a few hundred $$$ more than I planned and spent an extra week driving “Birdflu”, my ’85 ranger. My only regret though is that I’ll most likely sell the truck soon as work will necessitate a bigger truck.
My advice would be to do it if you can justify the $$$ and inspect the donor axle more carefully than I did. The smart thing would be to plan on a diff rebuild and new bearings. I will post some pictures asap. Thanks for reading, hope this helps!
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