walker949 said:
Well, if you have the money I suppose that is one way to do it. Personally I do not like it. That kit was designed and built for the 8 inch rear end and I have my suspicions about it. I prefer something designed and built for the toughest rear end known to man, the Bronco 9 inch!!
Not to mention, my latest grab of rear disks and Hboost cost me 50. Guy ran a dodge wrecking yard and had a lincoln car in it with the boost in it. Made a deal and installed the whole assembly in a buddys 76 in a weekend.
TOFIC
I guess I'm missing something. For one thing, the Explorer brakes were used on the 8.8" rear end, not the 8" rear end. Big difference. The housing end flange on the 8.8" rear end has the same bolt pattern and uses the same size bearings as the late big bearing 9" housings: 3.15" OD bearings, the "Torino" housing end. The late Ford Explorers are as heavy as a Bronco and actually have more weight on the rear axle than an early Bronco does.
I installed Explorer brakes on a new Currie 9" housing with Currie 31 spline axles about 4 months ago. They are a nice improvement on the GM metric (Caddy) calipers I had before. The piston size is smaller so I have a higher pedal (better feel). Smaller normally means less stopping power, but the fact is that even with hydroboost, a 1-1/8" master cylinder and T-bird calipers in front I still need a proportioning valve to keep the rears from locking first. Since the proportioning valve reduces the pressure to the rear brakes (thus reducing their stopping power) that tells me that the Explorer calipers are up to the job of stopping my Bronco, which has a hardtop and a 35" bumper-mounted spare tire. Having an emergency brake that actually works well is a bonus.
I just got back from the Rubicon a couple of days ago. The brakes were great on the trail. I found that hydroboost is much more consistent and easy to modulate than the vacuum booster I used to have. On the drive home descending from almost 7000 feet to sea level on windy mountain roads my brakes were fine- no fade, no pulling, no problems.
The Explorer setup isn't cheap, and installation is more complex than some other rear disc brake setups. You need to get different axles, but if you were thinking about upgrading to 31 spline axles anyway, it's not more expensive to get axle shafts that are Explorer compatible than any other design. The Explorer backing plates can be redrilled to fit standard big bearing ends or you can get the Torino ends and have them welded on. If you have a small bearing housing that's a cheaper option than buying a new housing. I'm sure the Lincoln stuff is fine, but it's unrealistic to say that the Explorer brakes are inferior in any way other than cost.
