Ranger/Explorer disc brake sawp/conversion?
 

Is there any way I can keep my 28 spline Ranger axle which is already geared and use parts from an explorer 8.8 to do a disc brake swap? Its half off at the junk yard this weekend and there is no shortage of explorers

MUSTANG BRAKES!!!


Alon....Check out my little brothers 12" cobra rear brake conversion on his '01 Ranger...complete bolt-on to a 28 spline. You can use the regular GT or v6 04 and older stang brakes as well.

Link to project log: http://turborangerforums.com/showthread.php?t=933

Also pics in his classified for an extra set of regualar stang brakes: http://www.fordrangerforum.com/classifieds/4582-rear-cobra-disc-brake-kit-your-ranger.html

http://i718.photobucket.com/albums/w...1/P9120157.jpg

http://i718.photobucket.com/albums/w...1/P9140224.jpg



It is BY FAR more superior than an expo brake system. E-brake alone makes me want to pay the money for the special caliper bracket that I need for my 31spline axle.

Explorer backing plate/caliper brackets won't bolt onto a 28 spline....you'd have to modify the brake flange on the axle.

I vote stang as it's a complete bolt-on and a far superior parking brake design that uses the caliper instead of drums which btw, are a BITCH to work on(expo brakes).

Sweet looking Ranger your Bro has.

OK, so sounds like I'll go the stang route. I should be looking for something before 04 and just take everything brake related i can see pretty much? Is it really as easy as it looks on your brothers link?

easy as cake....you'll see where you need to cut the caliper bracket to slide over the axle tube and bolt it on the BACKSIDE of the brake flange(ad link), then rotors go on, calipers, anti-moan brackets, etc.


Get the caliper bracket(gotta pull shafts out to remove it, but you already know that), disc, caliper, antimoan brackets(ubolts w/ a bracket). He used 12" Cobra vented rotors, normal rotors are solid(like an explorer) and 11" i believe. He used his existing parking brake lines, and spaced the spring away from the caliper using copper tubing.

I'll get his butt to join or at least make a good thread on doing it all. I took all his pics. lol.

Learned something there, I did not know you couldn't bolt Explorer rear disc brake backing plates to a Ranger rear.

Thank You

Ray

Shane dont u have to notch a bracket on the 31 spline?

Howdy! Shane made me make an account here...seems like a sweet place.


And yes, the mustang rear disc brakes were CAKE to put on. It took about 2hours of so to install it all.


Yup, 94-04. Either GT/V6 or Cobra rear disc brakes.
The GT/V6 are a 10inch solid rotor.
The Cobra (like mine) are 12inch vented rotors which are the best route to go.

Get the calipers (cobra and GT/V6 are the same calipers).
The caliper brackets (you'll have to pull the axles out to unbolt this).
The anti-moan brackets (the weird thangs that bolt the caliper to the axle tubes).
The rotors (less you'll buy them new).
You could use the soft lines, but it'd be best to buy new SS because they're so cheap.

I'll make a nice build up with pics and stuff later on.

Good luck! and have fun!

I sure hope I have enough time to do all that tomorrow before the junkyard closes. Thanks for the info so far guys!

I would definitely take some penetrating oil, and large breaker bars. Some of the bolts on there are really tight, and a son of a gun to take off.

I just read this article: http://www.therangerstation.com/Maga...isc_brakes.htm
This sounds like a real PITA to do, but where I live the Mustang parts are not readily available, (like nonexistent, the newest Mustang I have seen in a yard here is about 95 and all that was left of it was the body and front suspension) so it might be one way to go.
Don't the newer Rangers have rear disc brakes? I could have sworn I saw some on an 08 or 09. Maybe it was a full size.

Ray

Putting the expo brakes on a 28spline axle is a pain in the butt, that is what the mustang brakes are for, lol.
No Ranger came with rear disc brakes.
If you can't get the parts from a junk yard, just buy them new. That is what i did. If you figure you're going to get new/reman'd calipers (i couldn't trust ones i pulled from a junkyard), that is a lot of your cost. Plus the new rotor. It adds up to where its better and easier to just buy new.
Plus for me, where was i going to find a Cobra to steal its rear brakes from?...

As I said above, and confirmed by my lil bro, putting discs on a 28spline is CAKE...easy as shit.

Shane you never answered my ?

Do u still have to notch the bracket on the 28 spline or just the 31 spline