Disc brake conversion mod

[Lake Huron]

So, here we go. This thread is gonna go on for a little while. It's cold here and wont be doing the install until things warm up a little bit.

I ordered my kit the last day of December 2019 to avoid the price hike. It took a few weeks to get it because they ran out of the longer brake hoses and I didn't need mine right away due to winter being here. When it came it was delivered via freight carrier and was on a pallet. I was like a kid at Xmas and just HAD to open it up and drool. Pretty nice kit but was 't real impressed with the packing. I found the calipers and the mounts just banging around on each other in there.


They were a little marked up and the tops of a few bleeder screws were jacked. Deal with that later. First thing I did was open the bag of bearings and such. Yup, just as I thought, China bombs. Went to my local bearing dealer and just about choked at the price of Timken's. Thank God for Amazon! I try to support my local businesses as much as possible, but when it becomes highway robbery I have to draw the line somewhere. Since the seals in the kit are a triple lip seal I may end up using them, I dont know yet. I haven't ordered the bearings just yet, but will soon.

Since the calipers and mounts got all marred up, I found myself in a little dilemma. My brake pads are red and that got me to thinking of how far I really want to go with this. So I decided to step it up a little and put some color behind the wheels. I threw the calipers on the bench and went to town. I completely tore them down and good thing too. When I popped the pistons out I found a small piece of a shop rag in one and a wire off a twisted wire wheel in another.



Calipers, caliper mounts and the bare metal mounting bracket for the pump all went to the powdercoater today.
The pump mount is getting gloss black.
Caliper mounts are staying silver.
Calipers are getting gloss Brembo Blue.
Add the red pads to it and it should look pretty sharp in there.
I should get everything back from powdercoat next week sometime. I'll post up pics when I get them.

[Lake Huron]

I forgot to add, I didnt really like the steel brake line mounting hardware so.... Amazon. Found some aluminum, rubber insulated line clamps.

[Magnolia Tom]

Looking forward to seeing the progress!

[RedHorse1]

Originally Posted by Lake Huron

When I popped the pistons out I found a small piece of a shop rag in one and a wire off a twisted wire wheel in another.

Wow! Quality control, Job #2! And scoring of the cylinders/pistons or seals?

[RoadrunnerII]

I will be following your progress!
From across the bridges

RoadrunnerII

[Lake Huron]

Originally Posted by RedHorse1

Wow! Quality control, Job #2! And scoring of the cylinders/pistons or seals?

Nope, I got lucky. The pistons are perfect and absolutely nothing wrong with the seals and o-rings. I even put my glasses on to look them all over. Lol!

[oh355mbqs]

Is your setup for a 7000 lb axle? What was the cost? I got a quote from www.stopyourtrailer.com, it was about $1850, including shipping. That was a setup for 7000 lb axles, 8 lug rotors.

[Lake Huron]

Yeah, mine is 7k axles and it was $1956 shipped to me. I needed the adapter because I have a 15 Silverado and that was like $85 figured into the $1956 price. Without the adapter the price would have been $1871. Your quote at $1850 is cheaper than what I got mine for. Either I got hosed and got this years price increase instead of last years cheaper price or they didnt do a price increase like they said. I dont know. The extra $21 difference could also be in the shipping cost because I'm farther north than you.

[Lake Huron]

So, I pulled everything into my basement and opened things up to see what all I have to deal with here.
Am I having a total bonehead moment here or am I missing something in the hose department??

The best I can gather, compared to the parts list PDF off their website, is I'm missing a 4" brake line, and they shorted me a caliper hose, that's been updated from an 18" to a 24". But I got an extra 24" hose that comes off the actuator.

I've ready taken the calipers apart, since they weren't packaged very well and came all marred up, and sent them off to powdercoat along with the mounts and actuator mount for a little color customizing. With this snafu in the hose and line department, I might as well go into full idiot mode and customize the crap out of this entire thing.
Thank God I got overtime to afford my addiction, or to be politically correct it's a disorder, not an addiction.

[Magnolia Tom]

Love your addiction! I’m not PC so I’ll call it what it is! Lol![emoji23][emoji1787][emoji1787][emoji23]

Of course I too suffer from the same thing from time to time!!

[2naEagle]

Originally Posted by Magnolia Tom

Love your addiction! I’m not PC so I’ll call it what it is! Lol![emoji23][emoji1787][emoji1787][emoji23]

Of course I too suffer from the same thing from time to time!!

Addiction. So are we Supporting each other or enabling each other?

[Magnolia Tom]

We support each other.

[Lake Huron]

Tom,
Was it you I saw in a thread somewhere that replaced the studs(?) that hold the caliper mount brackets on?

[Magnolia Tom]

Originally Posted by Lake Huron

Tom,
Was it you I saw in a thread somewhere that replaced the studs(?) that hold the caliper mount brackets on?

Yes. I got wheel studs for an ATV to use instead of the grade 8 replacement

[Lake Huron]

Thanks!
If mine aren't already grade 8 in there, I'm hammering them out and replacing them as well.

I did an on the floor mock up to see what I have and dont have for parts. First I have to find a suitable location for the actuator, which may be behind the basement rear wall like Earl did. Off the pump is going to be a custom braided stainless hose down thru the floor to my hardline, which is going to be upgraded to stainless, and everything is going to be stainless hardline except for the brake hoses that will be braided stainless and red in color.

Good thing I have a good few months to fiddle around with all this. I'm gonna need it.

[Magnolia Tom]

Sounds like it’s going to be a sweet setup!

[Lake Huron]

I hope so.
I'll make sure to post lots of pics for us to drool over.

[Lake Huron]

It started to snow yesterday while I was in the basement fiddling around with this kit. We woke up this morning headed to church and it snowed more overnite. A solid 2" on the ground yet the weatherman said it was going to hit 45* today. By 1pm the snow was pretty well gone and I couldnt take it anymore. I had to get out there. I unzipped a panel of the cover and started to unload the basement. I had to reinstall my inverter that I sent back to Xantrex for some warranty work. I pulled the back wall out and started looking for a possible spot to mount the actuator pump. I did a little relocating of a 110 plug for the central vac system, untangled an afro of wires feeding the slide controller box and was able to make some really nice room in there for it. I wanted to keep it on the outside side of the frame in case of a leak or some accidental spillage of fluid.


It's going to be high enough above the calipers and yet low enough to be serviceable thru the access panel in the wall. A mod I did last year was that access panel to one of the low point drains and the other access panel to the water pump and water filter system, I put hinges on them with magnetic catches to keep them closed.

I'm dont think I'm going to be able to bend up a hard line to come off the pump and run all the way down the frame to the first connecting block. I'm also worried doing that might create too much stress on the fitting at the pump and it either leaks or breaks off. With all the vibration and flex these things have going down the road, that's the last thing I need.

[Bones1]

Your brake mods look great. I look forward to seeing what everything looks like painted.

[Lake Huron]

I checked out my local hose and fitting shop and was a little disappointed. They said they dont handle stuff this small in size. Good thing I found a place off the ole interweb.
Today it made it to 45* and was sunny so I hurried home and got the trailer blocked up on the back side of the rear axle. I did some rooting around under there looking for a path to run my hardline and this is gonna be a pain. Theres more stuff in the way than you can shake a stick at. And to add insult to injury the weatherman changed his lie again. It supposed to get some freezing drizzle then change over to snow with 3-5" coming on wednesday and more around the weekend.
Delays, delays.