Sorry that I haven't had updates in a while. I have just gotten busy with alot of family stuff recently.
I honestly feel that the key to a truly powerful, reliable kit that will work well with the factory master cylinder (which is hard to replace due to space issues) is to use a FIXED caliper. Not a floating caliper. The other part, that alot of people are missing, is that you have to match the front to the rears. I'm almost there. The rears are tough because you have to match the caliper to the rotor, but also use a rotor that will still fit the factory parking brake assembly. OR... find a whole new parking brake backing plate that will bolt into the D44 axle flange, but with a new size parking brake/rotor combo. The adapter for the caliper is the easy part
I had to get in contact with Dana directly to get help in hunting other applications with a matching backing plate bolt pattern. That took FOREVER!
One other guy on the thread recently posted the Ram 1500 caliper setup. That's what the overseas military-oriented Jeep J8 build uses, and it's no doubt an improvement! But it's still a floating caliper... and my experience with trial runs with a fixed 4-piston caliper are like night and day - it's hard to describe how solid it feels with the fixed caliper. Plus, I worry that the Ram 1500 caliper is really too much bore size for our factory master cylinder. Not to mention, the rears haven't been matched for proper front to rear bias. That's a big thing that, IMO (which may not be worth a shit) people are forgetting. The Ram 1500 fronts compared to our puny rears really, really throw the bias off. (that means that the fronts do so much work, the rears really have little function in slowing during hard stops). I hesitated in adding this paragraph, because I honestly, truly didn't want to come across as bashing the other guy's work. I think it's freakin awesome that someone is having fun doing this research like I am! I just wanted to inspire further thought on part choices... and discussion is what this is about, right? :thumb:
I'm glad to see this has inspired others to think about it, though. I just can't emphasize enough, though, that brakes are systems, and one component swap affects other parts, and therefore the big picture has to be seen to really get benefits, AND to keep things SAFE. Thus why this has taken me so friggin long
Anyway... the other half of the issue is how to release the final results without getting myself into a liability issue. I've received alot of PMs that got quite political, and some have even told me that when I release my results, some other forum members are planning to snag the idea, and market the kit. Kinda defeats the purpose of my research... to give an off-the-shelf parts list to everyone wanting to build it themselves. It kinda left a bad taste in my mouth, having to deal with so much politics
... But, alas, I'm going to continue on. I will WELCOME anyone that finds a better suggestion, or new ideas!! Who knows...maybe I'm going about it all wrong. If so, please show me why so I can refocus.
Here's the key points on the project so far, for summary:
- Keep factory master cylinder. No need for larger if more rigid calipers used. Can't fit larger in tiny Jeep underhood area, anyway
- 4-piston FIXED, NON-FLOATING calipers front and rear
- have settled on roughly 13.25" front and rear rotors. Down from original 14". Little loss of brake torque, but fits nearly any aftermarket 17" rim now.
- utilize pads with highest COLD friction coefficient available. HUGE increase in braking here. Often ignored point. Just don't expect 'low dust' pads
- machined caliper adapter for front
- rears: will most likely NOT need caliper adapter because will utilize entirely new parking brake backing plate that matches the new caliper.
- pad compound is chosen and mentioned a while ago. EBC also will make the same line of pads to fit the NEW calipers, as well
I hope my slow project progress hasn't pissed anyone off. Life sometimes gets in the way of things like this. Let me know if anyone has suggestions on how to release this project info, once a concrete parts list is assembled, without getting myself sued or liable if someone doesn't install it correctly. That's kinda my biggest hurdle now. I started this as a fun, personal project, designed to be released for DIY type folks to have an economical and fun upgrade to the safety of their Jeeps. I just wanna keep it that way, if possible...
Thanks for your encouragement, and to those adding their own work!!:thumb:
