Caddy Vs. Lincoln Rear Disc

[thegreatjustino]

I have an opportunity to get a complete 9" rear end set up with Lincoln disc brakes for a decent price. This is not a "steal" but it is a better price than I could probably get scrounging through junkyards and getting cores, plus all of the machine work is done on everything. I have read a couple of articles on the Lincoln conversion, and it seems more complicated than the caddy conversion that Chuck sells. I'm sure not many people have run both setups, but I'm trying to get any opinions on one setup or another. I know people rave about the simplicity of Chuck's setup, and I was eventually going to go that route, but this deal on the Lincoln setup would be cheaper than going the caddy route and I'm wondering if it would be worth the extra money to do the caddy swap.

 

[Steven_in_SC]

Go with the Caddy setup. It's easier in the long run and the parts atleast here are more available and cheaper when you have to replace them.

 

[SteveL]

Chucks set-up is nice vecause it is mostly off the shelf parts you could get locally if in a bind. I think the lincoln set-up requires narrowing the axles shafts and redrilling the rotors. I have the caddy set-up from tsm but chuck has better brackets.

 

[EricLar80]

I have the Lincoln setup on my Dana 60. I don't really know how hard the conversion is as it was already done when I bought my rig. I do know that the new rotors cost about $80 a pop, and I took them to a machine shop to have them drilled perfectly. As far as performance, they work great, I can lock up the tires no problem if I want to. As far as Chuck's setup goes, the only thing I don't like is how the rotors are pressed onto the axle with the wheel studs. Or, that is how I understand them to be anyway. Seems like it makes it a little difficult for whatever you want to do. I run a 15" rim, and the Lincolns fit great, so nothing to worry about there. The one thing I don't like about my setup is that, to this day, I have not been able to get my e-brake to work, even after new cables, calipers, everything. But I may just be retarded.
-Eric

 

[flint_knapper]

I have the caddy setup from chuck and I like it.

 

[sicaz66]

i`ve heard from people that have done both that the lincoln setup is the way to go. ???

 

[chuck]

I started out doing the lin. but once I used the caddy brakes I dropped the lin stuff. All rotors are held in place by the wheel studs. The reason that with my set-up the rotors are mounted on the inside of the axle flange is. If you were to break an axle on the trail you could use a stock axle but if the rotor was on the outside of the flange the flange would have to be cut down so you would have to have a special axle. I figured it would be easier to get a stock axle than to get a stock axle and find a place to cut the flange down.

 

[tonto]

I’m partial to the Lincoln rear disks, probably because I’ve been running them for about 10 years, when I did my conversion I thought it was the easiest and most inexpensive upgrade I had done up to that point.
Advantages of the Lincoln in my opinion are the rotor fits right over the front of the axle flange and can be removed by hand, sure you need to have the flange turned down to fit inside the rotor, personally to me that’s not an issue, and I carry spare axles prepped for a rotor swap.
Disadvantages of the Lincoln rear disk set up is the caliper mount/bearing retainer has to be pressed on between the wheel bearing and axle flange, that’s not an easy trail fix, some have cut a notch in the mount so it can be removed easily by slipping the axle through the notch with out having to be pressed on/off to remove.
Also most people I’ve talked to have had problems getting the parking brake to function properly, I’d rather not have the cables to get caught on stuff so I don’t run them, so I don’t know the specific problems, I do know the piston needs to be adjusted and is done if it needs it every time the parking brake is set, in my case I just get under there once a month or so and crank on the lever 25 times on each piston to keep the piston adjusted, actually what it does is rachet the piston out to take up wear/decreasing thickness of the pad.
In my opinion the disadvantage of the B.C. kit is having to press the rotor on the backside of the flange, and if memory serves me right some people have had problems with the initial install with the dia. of the hole in the center of the rotor being large enough to let the rotor fit flush to the backside of the flange, solution is to open the hole up if needed so some people had to have addional machine work done to get them to fit, I’m a little concerned about the only axle available to borrow on the trail the center hole in the rotor being to small, also having to press/pound the rotor off the flange on the trail and to press/pound onto the backside of the borrowed axle flange sounds like addional work.
Also the relocation of the lower eye of the shock to the outside of the shock mount with a spacer, going from a double shear mount to a single shear mount seems like it would be weaker.
Ultimately I think both setups are equal in performance for stopping, one advantage with the B.C. kit is it’s a phone call away to order all new parts with several different kits to choose from and the excellent tech support B.C. gives with there products.
With the 9” Lincoln stuff you can save a little and get the parts at the boneyard usually having to take the axle shaft with the caliper mounts on them home to remove them and use the calipers for cores, leave the rotors at the boneyard unless you have easy access to a machine shop because Currie sells them used and re-drilled for 5X5.5 for $90.00 a set, I’ve only had one set per axle in the 10 years I’ve run the Lincoln set up (per axle I mean I’ve sold my axles rotor to rotor twice now) so they seem to last a long time, you will still need to to have the flanges turned to the I.D. of the rotors and get disk brake wheel studs which have a longer shoulder to locate the rotor.
Here’s a link to a really good install article
http://www.bronco.com/technical/upgrades/rear_discs.shtml
Take Care, Francois.

 

[chuck]

[In my opinion the disadvantage of the B.C. kit is having to press the rotor on the backside of the flange, and if memory serves me right some people have had problems with the initial install with the dia. of the hole in the center of the rotor being large enough to let the rotor fit flush to the backside of the flange, solution is to open the hole up if needed so some people had to have addional machine work done to get them to fit, I’m a little concerned about the only axle available to borrow on the trail the center hole in the rotor being to small, also having to press/pound the rotor off the flange on the trail and to press/pound onto the backside of the borrowed axle flange sounds like addional work.

THE rotors that I sell, $30 each are cut out to fit all axles so if they come from me that is not a problem but for some of those that have stock axles and got their own rotors it is a problem. As far as changing rotor on the trail it is only 5 studs, they can be knocked out with a hammer and re installed with the lug nuts. A little work but not as much as cutting down the axle flange

Also the relocation of the lower eye of the shock to the outside of the shock mount with a spacer, going from a double shear mount to a single shear mount seems like it would be weaker.

IT may be weaker but it is still more then up to holding the shock in place and as the setup uses the whole mount I don't think single shear is the right expression to explain the set-up


With the 9” Lincoln stuff you can save a little and get the parts at the boneyard

SAME with the caddy stuff.
I designed my set-up to be easy to fix on the trail or trip with stock parts bought at the local parts stores as much as possible. My .02