Explorer rear disc brake swap

[RICH MUISE]

quote me: "how is it the same rear cables can be used on Fairlane hardtops and Customs, etc.? Wouldn't you think the rear cables would be differentiated by short or long wheelbases?"

[gasman826]

Sunliners and Skyliners have X frame.

[RICH MUISE]

 yu so smaaat..LOL..my New England accent slipping out.

[CableguyJJS3]

Ok, so I'm really trying not to be completely stupid about this, but I have a question. I ordered the spacer rings from Currie and got them in the mail today. As I read the description from the Currie website it says the rings go between the bearing and the retainer plate. Now on my axles, my bearings are pressed on to the axle and the retainer plate just kind of floats around between the bearing and the flange. Now my questions is, how does a spacer between a fixed bearing and a floating plate move the axle any?? The bearing determines how far into the rear end it goes, not the retainer plate. And if I put the ring in the end of the axle tube, I dont see the bearing being allowed to fully seat in the tube and resulting in only about half of the bearing being supported. I'm seriously scratching my head here.....

[CableguyJJS3]

Disregard my previous post. I was misunderstanding what the exact purpose of what the spacer was for. It has nothing to do with getting the rotor away from the backing plate, it's to keep the bearing seated fully in the axle housing, and give the retainer plate something to clamp onto since the drum plates are much much thinner than the disc plates. Now that my brain hurts from thinking so much, i'm just going to put this thing together and see where I end up. Thanks for listening to me gripe.

[gasman826]

The bearing has to come off.  The spacer goes on first and then the bearing is pressed on.  This moves the axle outward about a 1/4" and will move the rotor away from the backing plate.

[CableguyJJS3]

We will have to agree to disagree then, I have read everything I can everywhere, and everything says the same thing, that spacer has exactly jack and squat to do with getting the axle flange spaced out from the backing plate and everything to do with getting the bearing to stay in the hole. Everything I'm finding says there are different axles in different applications and thats where the spacing difference comes from. I'm going to have to pull my axles back out and according to the directions I have seen I need to measure from the back of the bearing to the back of the axle flange, anything less than 2.3" won't get the flange out far enough to clear the ebrake assembly, which is the issue I am facing now. I got everything to clear sort of but once I bolted the wheel down, there was no budging it as the rotor was jammed tight against the backing plate, with the spacer rings installed. A couple of 1/2" flat washers on the studs between the rotor and the flange helped but I'm not a fan of that setup at the moment. A quick read through this confirms my issue with the rotor dragging

http://www.mustangandfords.com/howto/28733_bolt_on_rear_disc_brake_conversion/

[CableguyJJS3]

Ok so a phone call to Currie today confirmed my suspicions. The built in brake offset in my axles is not enough, and that is why I am having clearance issues. I have come up with 3 solutions to this problem. Different axles, a spacer between the axle flange face and the rotor, or having a spacer made up to go on the axle before the bearing. That last option would solve all my issues, but would require removal of the bearings and finding or making a spacer ring of some sort. I think for the time being since I have some wheel spacers on the shelf from something or another, I'm going to run that and see what happens. Suffice it to say, my experience has been a far cry from slot the backing plates, bolt on and go. I think my next go round will invlove me and some flat plate steel some cutting tools and a caliper with a built in ebrake and this little drum can go in the trash. Just my opinons of course. Sorry for all the gripes.

[gasman826]

The Ford SVO rear disc brake kit IS the Explorer rear disc brake.  Check this kit and several others include the spacer.  Currie, Strange, Mosier will sell just the spacer.  The disc brake kit requires 2.5" between the bearing face and the rotor face of the axle.  Most drum axles measure 2.25".  Thus the 1/4" spacer.  Some PU truck axle bearings are thicker and will be enough.

GET THE SPACERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CableguyJJS3]

I have the spacers, I ordered them directly from Currie. I installed them and they did not change thebrake offset in the slightest. Maybe you and I are talking about 2 different spacers, I don't know. These are what I ordered.

http://www.currieenterprises.com/cestore/productsRE.aspx?id=3044

And here is a pic of them



I measured my brake offset and it measures in around 2 1/8". I have a theory as to why I am coming up short as opposed to seemingly everyone else that has done this conversion with no issues. My rear is a big bearing rear and I believe that for some reason the brake offset on a small bearing is different from an early big bearing. My theory is further backed by numerous statements I have run across all over the web in my research that this conversion works for all small bearing axles and late big bearing axles. This was also confirmed by speaking to the tech line at Currie today.

But I will stand by my statements and from seeing with my own two eyes, the spacer I ordered that is pictured above is only to take up the slack from the difference in the thickness of the backing plates/ caliper mount brackets and has absolutely nothing to do with brake offset spacing. The spacer I ordered pictured above is the exact same O.D. as my bearing and in turn the exact same as the hole I.D. in the caliper mounting bracket/backing plate that the bearing fits through. If that spacer was not in place theoretically once the axle retainer plate was bolted down, since it floats on the axle, the axle could slide in and out of the rear end. That spacer is there to take up the 1/4" thickness difference in the backing plate and prevent the axle from moving in and out of the the hole. With the spacer installed between the retainer plate and the bearing there is now no where for the bearing to go once it is all tightened down. Perhaps it works differently on a small bearing rear, but on my big bearing rear that is it's sole purpose and function. Now if I was to stick that spacer in the end of the axle tube and then stick the axle in, that would change my spacing as it would shove the axle a 1/4" outward, but then the bearing wouldn't seat in the end of the axle tube fully. I suppose it could ride in that 1/4" thick backing plate but I'm not a huge fan of that idea.

Either way, I'm really not trying to piss anyone off or doubt anything I am being told, I am just making statements based on what I am finding with my setup, maybe things work differently for others, I can't say, this is all just what I am finding. And it all really matters little I have the rear end assembled, with the spacers in their correct positioning, and a few flat washers on the lug studs between the face of the axle flange and the back of the rotor and everything spins freely now. It will stay that way until I find a set of axles the correct overall length and the correct brake offset. Thanks for the help with this guys, it is appreciated.

[CableguyJJS3]

*Update*....Made a trip to the junkyard today for another set of these brakes for the Del Rio wagon, decided to grab the parking brake cables and see if I could make them work. Well low and behold wasnt hard at all. They need a bit of tweaking, especially at the trans cross member where it ties into the cable from the parking brake handle, but it works, that's all I was really after. I didn't use anything from the Explorer except the cables themselves, the rest of the parts are original to the car and original mount points. And as always...here's the pics, enjoy!!

[hiball3985]

You shouldn't have any problem, your are the "CABLEGUY" .

Last weekend I was talking to a guy at the swap meet that sells disc brake kits. he told me that the 57 hand brake won't work well with a disc conversion, it requires a foot operated pedal type that has more leverage. Don't know know if that's right or wrong, just what I was told..

[gasman826]

It will work if hooked up like OEM.  Must have leverage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RICH MUISE]

I'm just curious...Is the parking brake on one wheel only? I assume also it's the traditional little drum brake type affair inboard from the rotor.

[hiball3985]

His first posts show the typical drum type brake shoes. Looks like something off a Go-Kart