9 inch rear disc brake installation

I did a quick search and did not see anyone talking about the explorer rear brakes already. If someone has, sorry!

I have done 4 cars so far with explorer rear disc brakes and have been very happy with them.

I typed up some instructions for the folks at 57fordsforever.com but thought I would share them here as well since there are a lot of people on here with 9 inch rearends who could benefit.

They sure beat the versaille brakes in ease of installation and one huge added bonus: the emergency brakes actually work well! That is important on a daily driven car with a manual tranny.

Here is an excerpt from that post:

1. Take off old drum stuff including hard lines.

2. Slot the explorer backing plates to bolt onto the rearend housing. Mine is a big bearing housing so I had to first drill out the holes to 1/2" and then slot them with a die grinder.

3. For big bearing only: You have to cut the axle bearing retainer plate flat across the bottom to fit inside the emergency brake. This is no big deal since you have the axle out already. Just make the bottom match the top.


4. You will need longer axle bolts. I just get new bolt 1 3/4" inch 1/2" bolts (for big bearing) and then ground one side flat to match the originals and used lock washers and nuts. I use the grade 8 stuff just to be safe.

5. Bolt the axles back in

6. Put the rotors and calipers on .

7. Put the brake hoses on

8. Dril and tap holes to bolt down the brake hoses.

9. make hard lines from the original y

10. Bleed the brakes

11. Put wheels back and enjoy!


Since then, I have also learned that the 8" is the exact same steps as the small bearing 9 inch.

 

Here are a couple of pics of a small bearing that I did a few months back. Please ignore the ugliness of the rearend. I like to make the adaptations first, and then detail it out...


1957 Ford - Explorer Brakes by iamflashman, on Flickr


1957 Ford - Explorer Brakes by iamflashman, on Flickr

 

good info for a cheap upgrade. the 8.8 lincoln / crown vic. / and mercury marquis disk brakes are the same.

 

Flash, great info. I'd love to see more pics. Maybe assemble one side one part at a time. What year(s) explorer? I'd like to do this swap as it sounds simple. Thank you!!!

 

I think it's the 8.8" Explorer rear axle, 1996 through 2001-ish? Please confirm though...

 

Is the bolt pattern 5 on 4.5" on the Crown vicks or the Explorer?

 

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I used a 96 crown vic disc brake setup on my ford 8" but there was a helluva lot more to it than posted for me to be able to pull it off. Another hamber did a great tech article about it with a lot of pics and helped me with a trick or two.

 

I've just done this on a custom 9" .
Yes it is 5 on 4.5 explorer.
According to Currie axles, brake kit is from 95-01.

 

Yep, 95-01 is the right year range and there are LOTS of those in the wrecking yard.

I wish I had taken some more pics but you know how it goes when you are in a hurry. I have another set I need to do so I will get more pics then.

The sets in the local boneyard go for about $50 so it is a lot cheaper then the currie/wilwood sets. Just takes a little more elbow grease to clean them up and slot the holes.

The reason I like these so much is that the emergency brake is a drum style one so no external spring is necessary. They work with my factory handles in my 57's.

 

I noticed I did not mention two important details above:

1. For the brake hoses, I use two passenger side hoses. The drivers side hose for an explorer is one of those hoses that has those hoses that has the Y built into it. I found it better just to use the original Y.

2. In some cases, you need longer wheel studs. This is the case with older axles such as 57 ford axles. Frankly, they were too short for the originals too! The part number for the wheel studs is: Dorman 610-379

 

Sorry, I did not see the other writeup. I just did a search and did not see it. Maybe I am not using the right keywords...

Please let me know what I am missing from the steps. I did make quite a few assumptions that the person doing the swap had done brake work before so maybe I should have been more detailed than I was.

One assumption I made was that the car already had front disc so it would have the right master cylinder.

Also, if you had front disc/rear drum, you would need to remove the residual valve to make it work correctly.

I use an adjustable proportioner valve as well.

 

What did you use for caliper brackets?

 

The explorer backing plate is a single piece with caliper brackets. No welding required. You just bolt on the backing plate and that is it!

 

Hey, Flashman

I've got a '62 Galaxie that's already been converted to Granada discs in the front. I'd love to perfom this rear explorer installation on it too.

Question: What master cylinder would you recommend using for the 4-wheel discs that will bolt in to where my stock single 'fruit jar' master cylinder is now?

 

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The granada master cylinder works fine. You just need to use the right proportioner valve. An adjustable work wells really well.

Dennis at discbrakeswap.com sells brand new master cylinders and propo valves for really good prices.

You can also get new MC's them from AZ, O'Reillys and NAPA but I like the ones I get from Dennis because he has them made for him.

I have also seen a master cylinder/booster combo on ebay for $170 that has a bell-crank so it works with an FE if you are into power brakes.

 

Just a quick note, you need the MC with a 15/16 bore. If you have one of the later granada ones, it will have the wrong size bore.

 

about every custom rear axle ive built uses this brake set up.they work great and look good too.if you have a torino or late ford truck/bronco they have the correct housing ends..on all the currie kits ive used there was a spacer between the axle seal and mounting flange.
i have these brakes on my 53 ford...it stops killer...

 

I just did same thing not too long ago. I have 73-74 MarkIV 9 inch, used 1999 explorer rear brakes, re-drilled axle for 5-4.75. Cost $70 vs $700 Speedway style. Still cant unload rear axle from explorer though. Great post.

 

Great idea

 

So why do you have to slot it ?

 

The bolt pattern on an explorer (8.8) housing end is the same as the torino style tube end.

So, if you use the "torino" style tube ends, no modification is necessary.

Since the rearends I am using are 57 Ford, the tube ends bolt pattern does not match exactly and requires some modification.

 

used crown vics on this one after narrowing housing, bolted on with no mods

 

So I went to my local Pick A Part today and found some '97 Explorers. I see what you mean about slotting the braket holes. The bracket holes measure about 3.5 inchs center to center and my nine inch bolt holes are about 3.25 inches.

The explorer caliper is behind the axle and the Crown vic calipher is in front of the axle.

So dumb question. how do you pull the rear axles???? I took off the rear cover from the diff. Then what?

 

on the 8.8? (from memory so if I missed something...)

1. Remove calipers
2. Remove rotors
3. remove rear diff cover
4. remove the little 5/16 (maybe 8mm) bolt that holds the pin in
5. remove the pin
6. push one axle in
7. remove c-clip
8. pull out axle
9. push other axle in
10. remove c-clip
11. pull other axle out
12. unbolt the backing plates from the explorer rearend (4 bolts per side with nuts)
13. Just cut the emergency brake cable rather than try to remove it, those retainer ears are easy to break and not worth the hassle. Plus, you can reuse the ends.
14. I also cut the brake hoses rather than try to undo them. I buy new ones just in case.

Make sure to save all the pieces you can. the e-brake shoes are almost always shot but the hardware is usually still good and that will save you a few bucks.

 

Yep, you have to slot them about 1/8" for small bearing. Not much at all.

 

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My how-to for discs on 8" and small bearing 9" is the one Johnny1290 mentioned.
Go here:http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=358587

 

No disrespect, but too much work compared to the Explorer fix....