D44 calipers different for flat tops? | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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D44 calipers different for flat tops?

hazardiz

Active Member
Joined
October 28, 2003
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City, State
Prince George, BC, Canda
Year, Model & Trim Level
91 Eddie Bauer
I got a free set of flat tops from a buddy and put the first side together and was putting the brake caliper back on when i noticed that it bottoms out on the knuckle before even coming close to fitting...i'm guessing the flat tops took a different caliper or something...? what calipers would work? i'm not sure what year or make the flat tops are off of...other than they are not 8 stud...haha...
 



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It would be hard to tell not knowing what they originally came off of, but sometimes all you need to do is grind on the knuckle to get them to fit. As long as they bolt up right, slide them into position and find were they are hitting. Then grind that section off the knuckle. This must be done w/Chevy calipers on early Bronco knuckles and a few others.
 












james T...i saw the diff they came off of and i know it had disc brakes...i can see how you would think it was drums from the pics on the site...

thanks for the link by the way...good info...from reading it i think it is a F250 knuckle then that i got...hmm...that sucks...i wonder how much grinding it would take to make them fit...know anyone who's done it?
 






Just put the caliper in place as best as you can, and slide one of the bolts in to hold it into place. You should be able to see were its hitting once you do that. Then take it off and grind. You may also need to grind on the caliper a tiny bit.

Are you sure the caliper would fit on the bracket if it wasnt hitting the knuckle?
 






Probably came off a 3/4 ton dana 44. they took dual piston calipers and were quite large. All you have are the knuckles?

I run flat top knuckles with small chevy disc brakes on my sploder. I had custom caliper brackets made to allow them to fit. Plus I wanted to stick with 15" rims and the dual piston calipers would not fit in them (without grinding the calipers)
 






james t...ya i'm sure the caliper would fit if the knuckle wasn't in the way...but i'm just wondering if i grind it won't it make it very weak? or will it be an issue?

and yes i just have the knuckles because my buddy had them lying around and said they came off a d44...so i just snagged them...hope i can make them work...was looking at the WFO concepts knuckles and arms...seems like a nice setup...if all else fails...
 






As long as you dont have to take half the side off the knuckle it will be fine. You have to grind a good chunk off the eb knuckles when you do a disc swap and there are several other caliper/knuckle combo's out there that require grinding. Its no big deal.
 






well the way it looks is that i'll hafta take the material where it hits right out...so there will be no material left in one spot...not half of the back of the knuckle...but still a piece...but i looked at it and that side of the knuckle isn't takin any of the force anyway really...so it shouldn't be too much of a concern...
 






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