New 8.8 with Disc's going in first gen

[FordLover]

Any words of advice? I'm putting a new rear axle from a 2000 explorer with 3.73 and track lok in my 92 2 door. From what I can see everything will swap over with the exception of the parking brake and perhaps the brake lines?
Anyway, just looking for some wisdom by someone who's done this before beyond what I've come up with by searching.
-Martin

 

[410Fortune]

Searchity....

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86114&highlight=disc+brake+conversion

 

[FordLover]

Well, it's in. Everything looks like it's gonna go in great, with the exception of the brake lines and e-brake cables, which I plan to get from the dealer or a junk yard tomorrow.

Can someone explain to me why the gen 1 master cylinder won't work well with the disc brakes? I wasn't expecting to deal with that.
Ahh well, live and learn, and use lots of duct tape.
-Martin

 

[FordLover]

Sometimes I feel like I'm doing this just to see myself type, but perhaps it will help someone.

I went to a junk yard to get the rear brake hard lines and e-brake cables(35 bucks). Just got lucky and found a '00 sport that had few miles. When I brought them home, everything went in like clockwork and the brakes are a huge improvement over what they were with the damn drums. A brand new track lok also works incredibly well.
My only problem is the brake lines leaking some at the caliper. Not sure what to do there, but the pedal feel has never been this firm, so I guess I'll just keep an eye on the brake level.

 

[metstalker]

dont worry about it even if it just helps one person you will still contributing keep us posted

 

[CADDYBILL]

I just had the rear on my 94 replaced with a used one of the same year. I had asked the opinion of my mechanic about swaping in a newer one he said that the proportioning valve and master cylender would not be compatible with the disk rear.

 

[FordLover]

My drums were absolute ****, only took 800 miles of driving after turning the drums and installing new shoes, they were fubar. The parking brake wasn't effective at all, and the rear brakes were causing a very soft pedal that made the X very scary and dangerous to drive on the street. Turns out the rear adjuster wasn't working, and a small cable had broken inside the drum.
I assumed my soft pedal was a bad/going bad brake booster. Imagine my surprise of the pedal feel after hookin up the rear discs..

Impressions after more driving with the new rear axle:
Bad ass, the old drums NEVER felt this good, I have very positive brake feel, very even stops. It even seems to be proportioned correctly front and rear.
Driving in wet weather today, I didn't have a single tire lockup. I used to lock up a front tire all the time coming to a stop on wet pavement, as the rear brakes weren't doing ****..

 

[410Fortune]

Keep an eye on those rear pads you will wear them out quickly.
Take my word for it I drove around with the rear disc 8.8 for 2 years before I swapped over to the correct master cylinder. UNtil you install the correct master cylidner it will not work properly, sure they fell better then the drums but they are not working prooperly until you swap the master.

Leaking at the caliper is no good, make sure the line is tight and not cross threaded.

 

[Ryan1]

ford lover, Im doing the exact same swap within the next couple of days. were you able to get all the ebrake cables hooked up? any other huge problems

Ryan