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Early Knuckle brake mod

jamiemac

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Clarksville, IN
I have read plenty of threads on using WJ knuckles for the larger brakes, but nothing about using the early XJ knuckles with detachable anchors for brake mods. Has anyone done this? Why not make a custom anchor or adapt an existing anchor to use your choice of caliper rotor combos?

I'm Pretty sure that My last car which was a 97 Mustang Cobra with 13' brakes and dual piston finned aluminum calipers had the same wheel bolt pattern as our Cherokees. Don't know if Cobra brakes would work, but they are definitely worth looking into. If anybody has used early knuckles for a brake upgrade, I would like to hear about it.

I'm going to give it a shot myself eventually, but if someone has already dealt with the fitment issues, it might save a lot of research.

Mac
 
I have a bolt on brake kit coming. 12" rotors with 4 piston radial mount calipers. 6 pistons will be an option as well. No knuckle swap required. Keep an eye out for it soon.

In other words, your not the only one. ;)
Cool. I assume it will require cutting off the caliper anchor? Are you going to make an anchor that uses the hub bolts to fasten it?
 
I have read plenty of threads on using WJ knuckles for the larger brakes, but nothing about using the early XJ knuckles with detachable anchors for brake mods. Has anyone done this? Why not make a custom anchor or adapt an existing anchor to use your choice of caliper rotor combos?

I'm Pretty sure that My last car which was a 97 Mustang Cobra with 13' brakes and dual piston finned aluminum calipers had the same wheel bolt pattern as our Cherokees. Don't know if Cobra brakes would work, but they are definitely worth looking into. If anybody has used early knuckles for a brake upgrade, I would like to hear about it.

I'm going to give it a shot myself eventually, but if someone has already dealt with the fitment issues, it might save a lot of research.

Mac

Post some pics of the early knuckles if you have them, I'd like to see what you are talking about. In my opinion brake swaps aren't particuarly difficult. The problem is that you need access to a machine shop and need to take very accurate measurements. Overall, there aren't a lot of moving parts involved, just a caliper, bracket, and rotor.

To anwer your questions, mustang caliper swaps do exist. This kit was designed by GoJeep and sold to a company in Australia. You can buy it on Ebay for $850. The writeup is on gojeep's site. He used PBR calipers from a Ford Falcon, which are the same as the PBR mustang calipers. The Cobra calipers should be a direct fit to his caliper bracket, but I'm not sure about the rotors. Mustangs do in fact have a 5x4.5 lug pattern.
 
I have a bolt on brake kit coming. 12" rotors with 4 piston radial mount calipers. 6 pistons will be an option as well. No knuckle swap required. Keep an eye out for it soon.

In other words, your not the only one. ;)

Bryson,

Shoot me a PM about your kit. I'm in the market for a big brake upgrade. I was looking at puting together a 4 piston caliper kit as well. Radial mounts make a lot of sense.
 
Post some pics of the early knuckles if you have them, I'd like to see what you are talking about.

Knuckle.jpg
 
Cool. I didn't know that sliders were removeable. Anyone know if the early knuckles work with late model unit bearings?
Who cares,good brakes dont use them!
 
If someone had an early XJ, and could take measurements of the anchor holes I.E. distance between the holes and distance from the face of the hub +.25". There is a good chance that the existing anchor off of another vehicle with better brakes could be adapted to fit, or possibly even be a direct bolt on. That's why I mentioned the Cobra, as it had removable anchors. Brakes that large would require larger dia wheels, but there are plenty of vehicles out there with decent brakes that have 15" wheels.
 
If someone had an early XJ, and could take measurements of the anchor holes I.E. distance between the holes and distance from the face of the hub +.25". There is a good chance that the existing anchor off of another vehicle with better brakes could be adapted to fit, or possibly even be a direct bolt on. That's why I mentioned the Cobra, as it had removable anchors. Brakes that large would require larger dia wheels, but there are plenty of vehicles out there with decent brakes that have 15" wheels.
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1006385
 
Exactly. Unbolting the sliders and leaving two nicely machined holes is a better start than a late model knuckle where you have to hack off the sliders. I think that's the point of the OP.

:shhh:

And the early knuckles are cheap even brand new (for late model swaps).
 
Post some pics of the early knuckles if you have them, I'd like to see what you are talking about. In my opinion brake swaps aren't particuarly difficult. The problem is that you need access to a machine shop and need to take very accurate measurements. Overall, there aren't a lot of moving parts involved, just a caliper, bracket, and rotor.

To anwer your questions, mustang caliper swaps do exist. This kit was designed by GoJeep and sold to a company in Australia. You can buy it on Ebay for $850. The writeup is on gojeep's site. He used PBR calipers from a Ford Falcon, which are the same as the PBR mustang calipers. The Cobra calipers should be a direct fit to his caliper bracket, but I'm not sure about the rotors. Mustangs do in fact have a 5x4.5 lug pattern.

I already emailed these people about this same idea. I have the stock calipers/rotors from my '03 GT when I upgraded to cobra parts. I asked if these would fit and if he would break up the kit so I could just buy the knuckles, and he said it wouldn't work. I'm still determined to use them, although I'm not sure how much of an upgrade that would be.
 
I already emailed these people about this same idea. I have the stock calipers/rotors from my '03 GT when I upgraded to cobra parts. I asked if these would fit and if he would break up the kit so I could just buy the knuckles, and he said it wouldn't work. I'm still determined to use them, although I'm not sure how much of an upgrade that would be.

I'm not sure if we are talking about the same kit since the Aussie one doesn't come with Knuckles. Below you will find a link to the kit that GoJeep designed. I emailed the distributor and he is willing to sell the bracket alone. The bracket is very expensive, but it's the one item that gets you going on the brake it. I'm looking through the rotor dimensions to see what U.S. Rotors match the ford falcon. A call to a ford parts counter for a p/n cross reference would work also. What I like about this option is that one could upgrade to Cobra calipers down the road. I see a few disadvantates. You will need a custom brake line. Out of all the potential points of failure on the trail, the brake line would be most likely. I'd probably use a hard adaptor at the caliper. Another obvious downside is the questionable rotor compatibility. This is is a research issue though. I also like the fact that the vanco brake kit puts more force on the knuckle versus the three hub bolts.

Originally posted by 2000GT4.6 on MustangForums.com
You do not need anything else for the fronts, the cobra/bullitt/mach1 calipers mount directly to the stock locations after you install the rotors.

Its a very easy job, no more diffcult than replacing the stock stuff, it goes on exactly as the stock GT stuff does.

Mr. Spares kit on Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/300mm-JEEP-BRAKE-UPGRADE-XJ-ZJ-ZG-TJ-WRANGLER-RUBICON...

GoJeep's writeup:
http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoFordBAdiscs1.htm
 
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