Rear Brake Cable

Rusty' Offroad web site show item number DBC-05, which is a 52" cable for $18.48 which is a lot less than I see listed on other sites. Have anyone used or is using these? What are your thoughts? My XJ have no parking brake since I installed the ZJ discs in 2008. I did leave the country July the same year and returned last year. I now drive the XJ 1 or 2 times per week and would like to the brake working again.

Another topic but related,....

A few days after I installed the rear discs, one side stuck and over heated after repeated brakeing in stop and go traffic. All I did was work the caliper back and forth a few times and the problem went away. Yesterday, under similar conditions, the same thing happened on the same side. This time I remove the caliper and inspected the slides They seem OK to me,...no scoreing, no rough spots, the rubber bellows in good shape and the slide have some grease on them.

What I plan to do is completely clean and grease the slides/pins and replace the rotors. The rotors and calipers were used items from the donor XJ. Now, I think the one that stuck is warped. The piston in the caliper move easy so I will not replace them (yet).

:wave: Anyone have any tips and tricks?

Tip - use a '06 TJ rear disk brake hardware kit and '06 TJ pads next time around ... this will give you SS overriders and any sticking due to bracket corrosion and wear will be pretty much a thing of the past. The rear calipers are the same between the TJ and ZJ (and the Explorer) so price all three and choose the cheaper if you want to save a bit of coin.

The caliper can stick due to either a cocked piston due to loose tolerances or from swelling due to heat when dirty/corroded or just plain too tight tolerances on a poor reman. Usually the corrosion will be an issue when used intermittantly or when it sits for a long period of time. Also check the bracket face where the pads ride ... if there are divots the pads can stick (but this usually shows as simple uneven wear).
I replaced a seized front caliper (did both sides at the same time) and then the XJ sat for 6 months and when I put it back on the road I had to replace yet another caliper (replaced only the faulty one this time).
Any water in the system will exaggerate the issue (old dirty fluid will have a ton of moisture to it).

If the rotor is warped it was due to the caliper sticking, if the caliper has stuck once, it'll stick again ... replace the caliper and rotor as the rotor is a symptom of the caliper issues.

As for the cables, I'm using a stock driver ZJ cable and an explorer passenger cable ... but I have a '00 with the equalizer to one side. If yours is in the middle use a pair of Explorer passenger cables (cheap as well) and they should be good past 6" lift. Mine are a little short but I'm a ways from being trail ready so they work for the street ... I'll swap to dual KJ cables when the time comes though (have one already).

Thank you Devilfrog.

This TJ brake hardware kit, what does it consist of? I may have to look into it before I re-assemble the brakes. There is a little wear in the area the pads sit but not enough (or so I think) to cause a problem. Funny thing is, the wear is at the outside where the outer pad sit and the outer pad is a tiny bit smaller that the inner pad. I am fearing the caliper may be bad. At this time, I only ordered the rotors hopeing they/it will solve the problem. I will keep my eyes on it and the first sign of sticking I will stop and let it cool so as not to destroy another rotor.

My/the 1996 XJ have the parking break handle in the center of the console. That necessitate equal length cables. I do have a set of Explorer passenger side cables but they are about 20" +/- than they need to be plus I will need a longer bolt from the brake lever to the cable equalizer along with some creative routeing to use up all that extra lenght,... not a big thing just something else I will have to custom make. I will try to put it back together this week end.

the kit has four rubber boot/seals for the caliper sliders and four steel over riders that snap over the bracket sliders and give a nice clean fresh surface for the pads to slide on.

Raybestos part number H5695A disc brake hardware kit.



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Rockauto lists the kit at $6.68