Big Brake Kit

[dmonds03]

I upgraded my brakes on my GT500 and now I have the 4 piston 14" Rotor Brembo take offs sitting in my shop.. I know the Mustangs and STs share the same bolt pattern.. does anyone know someone that could manufacture a bracket so these brembo calipers will fit on a ST? My aftermarket rims' offset will provide clearance for the bigger calipers.. Brembo provides big brake kits for the Edge, Expedition, F150 but not the Explorer!

 

[UIN2IT]

I would talk to Blow By Racing....they might have an answer!
They have an Adrenalin that they were supposed to do some stuff for....but they have been side tracked lately. If we get soem people calling them pushing them to start teh mods on the STA, they may actually get underway on it!

 

[CDW6212R]

Start by measuring the piston area of the calipers in question. The stock Explorers(95-01(and Sport Tracs to 2004)) have piston sizes of 1.75", twin pistons. So begin by finding twice the are of your stock ST caliper pistons. Then do the math for the FR500 caliper pistons.

If the piston is very close, say within 10%, you could make those work. I suspect that those car calipers will be much smaller in piston area. Remember to only count one side of the caliper, a four piston caliper with two on each side is the same as a caliper with just two pistons on one side, in brake force with equal size pistons.

The rotors are a different subject by themselves. Compare the rotor offset, the distance from the hub surface to the outer most rotor surface. I bet the truck has a bunch more offset. On my truck the offset is about 1.450", while a Mustang Cobra is 0.350", and a Corvette is 0.850" in offset. The smaller that offset is, the closer the caliper will be to the wheel, making fitment of wheels very tough.

I'm soon going to upgrade my brake upgrade with different and larger calipers. I found a good deal on a pair of six pot Wilwoods recently.

 

[dmonds03]

big brake

thanks for the feedback.. I haven't measured the piston area yet, but let's say it is within 10% and the offset of the rotor hub is acceptable, then what is the next step? Fabricate a bracket to mount the caliper?

 

[CDW6212R]

Yes, and take your time doing that. Make it out of steel, try to work with something like 1/2" steel. I was very fortunate to be able to make a 1/2" steel plate and make rotors near the stock offset to work with the steel. Meaning that it was a matter of four precise holes, two tapped, and carefully shaping the outer perimeter to fit around the caliper and spindle. That sounds almost easy but it was not.

You would need to hold the caliper and rotor in place to mock it up. You need to see it close, to visualize where things can go. I ended up bolting the bracket to the inside of the spindle instead of the outside. The stock caliper bracket has the bolts go through thee spindle into the caliper bracket. I have to bolt my brackets to the spindle first(spindle to bracket(threads)), so my aftermarket calipers have to bolt to the bracket last.

I'm just pointing out that custom brakes can be done many ways, or it's determined by the parts used.

Note the bottom picture, that is a mock up of a bracket used to mount my caliper on a Cobra rotor. Check out the offset of the rotor, it's 0.350", which places the caliper way outboard compared to the stock rotors. I had about 1/16" of clearance to the spokes of my aftermarket wheels. I have over an inch of clearance now with offsets close to 1.450" for custom rotors.

 

[STATUS]

Those are some nice brackets CDW
I did something similar with some range rover calipers and rotors on my 01 ex sport

 

[dmonds03]

big brake

Nice Work CDW!! However, fabricating caliper brackets goes a little beyond my expertise.. what do you recommend?

 

[CDW6212R]

Welcome Status, and what did you do to that frame for it to be cut up front there?

Making a caliper bracket is the only way to change brakes for these Explorers. For your later truck you might discover another model which is a cousin that has bigger brakes.

There are no aftermarket parts, other than the obsoleted and recalled Saleen/Alcon brakes for 95-01 4WD's. The Saleen Explorers had that option, but the aluminum brackets were failing, all but one were recalled, replaced with stock brakes. The man in Sweden with those duplicated the caliper bracket in steel, and special ordered the calipers, pads and rotors. That was a cost of over $2000, and pads and rotors wear out fast.

My first big brakes were just over $1000, but the pads don't last any longer than stock. I was after more brake power, plus longer life for my severe duty. My 2nd version had custom rotors, but the SSBC calipers still don't have bigger pads. So for near $1400 I am still not thrilled. I think I will do the brackets one more time for these bigger race Wilwood calipers. The pads are aftermarket only Performance Friction, but at least they are about 1" thick instead of like stock which are about 1/2" at most. It's all a matter of time and money of course.

Note the difference in rotor offset below. The top picture is a Cobra rotor that places the calipers too far out at the wheel. The next one is my first rotor made, it has the proper offset, it fits properly near the tie rod end.

 

[STATUS]

I Z'd it (raised up the front suspension 3 inches)

The brackets i made to adapt the calipers are made out of 1/4 steel do you foresee any issues out of them?
These are the only pics i have

 

[CDW6212R]

That looks like a very good fit of the brakes. The steel brackets should do fine as long as the bolts stay tight. Do be sure that they are really strong bolts, they need to be grade 8 or better. Those look like a size you could find other for if you needed to. I'd have spares also just in case, and use a drop of red loctite each time. I used the strong stock bolts for my brackets, and grade 8 for the caliper bolts.

I don't think that I've seen the 2WD spindles, they look much different than the 4WD part.

 

[McLawyer136]

Big Brakes

Some good work on brake mod! Does anyone know if some other vehicle brakes might match up? Could you take the calipers & rotors from a F150 or 250? I am a newbe to this site and sport trac, so forgive me if this is a stupid question. I know that on BMW's we could use the brakes from a seven series on the five to increase stopping power.

 

[CDW6212R]

Ford doesn't have many good brakes to rob from, other than the Mustang, and those have small calipers. The F series has lots of aftermarket options, but they are too different to be worth the effort. The bolt patterns are different along with the mounting issues, so that's out.

 

[JoeCool6972]

I'm just going to use EBC pads with the stock calipers and get these stock size performance EBC rotors... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=260376571640

 

[CDW6212R]

My first brakes were EBC rotors and pads. They did very well, and lasted 38-45k miles.

 

[kevinspann]

The only other brake upgrade option might be the 12" Sport/Sport trac brakes. As far as I can tell, you just need the rotors and knuckles to upgrade. However, it may not be worth it to most to do that upgrade since its only a half inch or so larger rotor. But, its something. I personally have to change my lower balljoints, so changing the knuckles is too much more work.

Edit: Never mind for 2007+ this applies to the gen 2 explorers.

 

[itallian1488]

any performance calipers for 2006+ expo?