Advice for newbie

[Countryss]

Looking to do AAJ disc in front and do an axle swap in rear on my 46 dodge. The years ive seen for explorer axles are 98-00 with 3:73 and 3:55 gears. If I use this is the stock parking brake still used? Also are there any guys on here from Long Island NY that can recommend me a shop?

Thanks Rico

[Robert Horne]

I believe the Explorer rears are 1995 and newer for disc.

I used a Ranger rear 3.73, (not disc, and more narrow), and used the Ranger park brake setup,

working good....

[Countryss]

How much better is it to have a disc disc setup as opposed to disc drum? Or is it more common to find a rear that fits our cars with a drum setup?

[Robert Horne]

I have been real happy with my drum type Ranger setup.

The problem I see very often with disc, is the low quality of rotors available.

My new Dodge had 500 miles on it, and I had to have new rotors installed.

When I replaced my 90 Plymouth rotors, I could see the thread of bolts

in the rotor, poor manufacturing....

It is poor quality when rotors go bad before the brakes pads do.....

[nonstop]

I have disc/drum and could not be happier.  Fronts are Scarebird, while the rears are updated from a 65 Coronet.  As was explained to me by a rep from one of the big aftermarket brake companies, if I were road racing my OT car I was asking about, then 4 wheel disc would be great, but drums are just fine for a DD.

[50desotocoupe]

I think if your rear brakes are servicable you are a step ahead not going through the rear end upgrade.  I decided to do 4 wheel disc brakes because my drums were bad on the back axle and didn't want to deal with the adjusting hassle.  Plus, at some point it might be a good selling point if I were to sell the car.  Again, just my opinion. 

[Lumpy]

In theory it's better to have drums on the rear, as the front does most of the braking, (weight transfer) so really you want stronger brakes on the front, and less brake on the rear. If your rear brakes are "too" strong, and lock up before the front brakes, then you can have your back end sliding and loose and possibly out of control. Also discs always drag a bit, so in theory less rolling resistance without discs on all four wheels...although that resistance must be very slight. But some people won't run them on the back for that reason.

 

The main advantage to discs is that they don't fade as bad in a high speed panic stop, say from 85mph to zero...and again that's where the front brakes are going to be working the hardest. So discs make sense in front, if you want that little bit of extra insurance in the case of a high speed panic stop. But again, you don't want your rear axle/brakes locked up and finding yourself sideways at 85mph. Just something to be aware of. For normal stopping and speeds around 50mph or so discs aren't that much if at all superior to good drums.

 

If you do go with disc in the rear, just be sure to use a proportional valve (I guess that's what you would call it) so that there is less line pressure to the rear brakes, and so less braking power than the front brakes.

 

I hope that made sense.

 

ken.

[Countryss]

Sounds good. Thabks for replies. I will look into explorer drums. Is there a specific year or range that has ebrake that will work with our setup? Or is it worth rebuilding the current stock setup?

[nonstop]

It depends. What are you looking for? Are you looking to do a whole axle upgrade or are you looking for better brakes? There are guys that swear the Lockheed brakes work great when you can get them adjusted (I couldn't). I did my front disc conversion, but still felt I could get more out of the rears. I retrofitted a self adjusting Bendix set up to the stock axle and am happy with them. Again, it depends on what you want from all of it.

[Countryss]

I considered the idea of swapping the axle because of the fact that you can upgrade the gear ratio. Im not sure of the current condition of the drums.