A great many questions about replacing brake system

[cpeters1965]

Good day unto all,
Thanks to the forums here, I have been able to keep my '97 Explorer running EXTREMELY well ! By doing such things as adding a perma cool tranny filter and a secondary cooler, she runs sweet. But due to my work (I'm a delivery driver, meaning the car runs all day long) I am now in the process of having to rebuild several systems, to ensure they work well and lets face it almost everything on it is almost 14 years old and should start being proactively replaced :!

The first area I am going to work on is critical (for me), the brakes! I want to replace the master cylinder, hoses, calipers and rotors and brakes. Here's the thing, I would prefer to put on some heavier duty parts as the truck is a delivery truck and does some moderate to long haul towing.

I have been looking at carpartswholesale.com and am at a loss as to what parts to get for the pads, calipers and rotors for the truck. Can you all give me some suggestions and assistance to help sort it out. Thank you all in advance, you all have been a great help in the past. Here are the specs on the truck:

1. 1997 Ford Explorer XLT
2. 6 Cylinder 4.0 ltr
3. OHV X-Vin
4. 225,000 miles

I will be posting a couple other questions about the differential and such as well. I LOVE my truck and want to keep her for several more years!

 

[Dan Whitaker]

As for rotors & pads go with Power Slot rotors & Hawk Pads.

 

[joecrna]

I currently use the Power Slot Cryo rotors and Hawk pads. Honestly, I can't tell the difference. In theory they should be better than stock. The truck just plain needs bigger rotors and more total swept area.

 

[cpeters1965]

Dan,
Do you use them and why do you prefer them?

Joecrna,
What do you recommend and how would I go about getting a larger rotor etc, and what othe rmods would have to be done?

 

[joecrna]

Larger wheels to accomidate the bigger brakes. I know of no brake packages designed for the explorer. You might check Explorer Express. Also search this site, others have done this. To get an idea how expensive and complex it will be, go to Tire Rack and look at there complete packages. This is just the starting point, you then will need to modify mounting points and spindles. Some have converted to Cobra parts too. Not cheap or easy but where there is a will, there is a way.

 

[cpeters1965]

Joecrna,
I dont think I want to go that far (yet) . Right now just looking to improve braking ability and update the components. Driving a delivery vehicle here in North Carolina can get hairy at times!