Which pads for Sport Trac brake swap on `96 Sport?

[Bugzturbo]

I've researched this swap and have procured the spindles and rotors from an `04 Sport Trac to swap onto my `96 Sport, but with all the info about this, one thing seems to be missing. Which pads to use? I see that you can use either caliper, and found that the caliper brackets are the same for all. So I'm guessing that you need to use the pads from whatever truck the calipers are from. Is this correct. Since the pads fir into the caliper brackets, and they both use the same bracket, I'm assuming there is some minute difference that make the pads caliper specific. Is this correct, or am I missing something? Thanks

 

[MidnightRebel07]

I'm not too sure if the pads are the same but I have used caliper bracket from a 2nd Gen Explorer on my 2003 Explorer Sport Trac 4wd XLT. Now looking up the part numbers on AutoZone the numbers are different. The '04 ST pad #'s are 833 and the Explorer pad #'s are 652.

Best bet would be go to the parts store and check out both sets of pads together along with the caliper brackets. The only thing I can think of is that the backing clips that go into the calipers themselves are different sizes which is common for most vehicles. I know on the rear 8.8 ST disc brakes there are two different calipers and pads for the same vehicle, one caliper piston is phelonic and the other one is metal (can mainly tell by the size of the clips on the back of the pads).

Edit: Ok so after looking up the differences in the front brake calipers and pads form the '96 Ex and the '04 ST the ST has phelonic front brake calipers which have a different size piston and clips on the pads where as the '96 Ex uses metal caliper pistons with a larger size pad clip. So yes if you install calipers from the ST then you do have to use the pads for the ST.