Ford Ranger Forum - Forums for Ford Ranger enthusiasts! - View Single Post - Discuss How to: Rear disc brake conversion for stock Ranger rear end

zekew64 · 04-30-2012, 05:22 PM

UPDATE

Finally got this mod done...between rain storms, no less, lol...

Everything went together as I've seen, save for one thing.

That is, the E-brake cables. Even with the mod, the stock Ranger cables are too long--however, I found a solution (in the weirdest of places, to boot). The solution is, after reading a Jeep magazine (don't laugh, my brother R3V413 is a Jeep Forum guy, so he buys the mags). The solution is to acquire the E-brake cables from a '95 & up Expo, as they are shorter than our stock cables and are already designed to work with disc brakes.

Also, I do want to know how to stiffen up my brake pedal; I know I've got bad fluid in the front (which I plan on changing out, as soon as the weather clears up). But what I might end up doing, if the fluid change doesn't stiffen up my pedal is changing out my master cylinder for an Expo one. I know there are those that have done this, but for some reason, my pedal isn't stiffening up at all with the engine on, so I guess I have some more work ahead of me (not that there's anything wrong with that, lol).

Also, when I bled out my fluid for the brakes, I noticed that the fluid itself was a blackish-brown color. If you see this, get yourself a helper or a "one-man bleeder kit" and bleed out your fluid--the color indicates that there is too much water in the system, and what good does it do to put disc brakes on when your fluid will vaporize, internally, when you apply the brakes?

But, as it stands, I'm loving the new brakes and axle--found out when I tore out the old stuff that both rear-wheel seals were bad and leaking majorly. So, with new seals in a good axle and clean fluid, no more vibrations from the rear (thank God).

Hope you all are having luck with your builds/mods--sadly, no pics due to not having a camera, so I can't show you all what exactly was done.