Full Width HP44/9" Build-Up

[JEONLYEP]

Some photos of my disks on the 9" I'm building. I used everything from a 97 explorer. Had to get 18 holes drilled (4 on each caliper bracket, 5 on each rotor/drum) other than that, it's bolt on.

Redrilled the rotor/drums to fit the 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern.

Redrilled the brackets to fit the bolt pattern of the 9", this was tricky due to the fact that the orginal pattern was with in a half inch or so. The holes ended up just being ovals.

I haven't bothered to straighten the tinfoil gaurd yet.

DAryl

 

[baseballneal86]

Sorry for the slow update. I've been in Sacramento (3000 miles away) all summer so I haven't gotten to work on my jeep in 8 weeks.

For the caliper mounts I stuck with my original design. Although I did find out the hard way that there was a change in Maxima rear calipers between `89 and `90. :sure: I'll be re-doing the brackets in mild steel once I get back to school on Labor Day.

JEONLYEP: What kind of parking brake setup does the Explorer have? Is it the internal drum brake style?

When I get home I'll be able to make some progress on the front end. I'm still planning on running some extended radius arms mounted inside the unibody. Gil BullyKatz has a thread going now which shows a great way of mounting the arms. I will most likely be copying his design (with a few mods of course )

Gil's Mount:

Gil's thread: http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=93683

 

[baseballneal86]

Here's a pic of how it currently sits. You can see about half of the tire sticks out from the fender. Hopefully a set of TJ flares will keep the cops satisfied.

And here's a shot of what I've been working on all summer in Sacramento.

 

[GottaBeJeep]

For the caliper mounts I stuck with my original design. Although I did find out the hard way that there was a change in Maxima rear calipers between `89 and `90. :sure: I'll be re-doing the brackets in mild steel once I get back to school on Labor Day.

What was the change in the calipers? I'm going to be working on my 9" and I have some 92 Maxima calipers with rockcityfab brackets, and plan to use the zuki rotors. What new nightmare should I be looking forward to?

 

[Kittrell]

Daryl, could you find a more rusted set of rotors..............

 

[baseballneal86]

The distance between caliper mounting bolts changed between `89 and `90. Also the newer style uses a slightly bigger brake pad. Other than those differences, the calipers are very similar in appearance. Here's a pic from the projectxj site that shows the mounting distance I'm talking about.

I found this out when I broke off a bleeder screw on a `90 caliper, got a replacement caliper off of an `89 at the junkyard, and it wouldn't bolt up to the brackets I made.

GottaBeJeep: The rockcityfab brackets look identical to the ones that fatwreck used and has drawn up on his site (http://www.projectxj.com/mods/ford9inch.htm) That bracket wouldn't fit my `90 calipers, but did fit calipers from an `89. I would test fit the caliper to the bracket before you get it all bolted into your Jeep.

 

[JEONLYEP]

Daryl, could you find a more rusted set of rotors..............

Maybe, but this truck was a 97 that had been setting in the yard since 2001 after rearending a cement truck, so the rust has had plenty of time to grow. I thought about getting something with a bit more rust, but just couldn't find anything that was as bad as these. Because you know the rust helps add friction so that it'll stop even faster! Really.... you should see the disks from the 79 d44 that I'm getting ready to put under the XJ! I'll never be able to get anywhere, I'll be stoping even before I start!!!!

JEONLYEP: What kind of parking brake setup does the Explorer have? Is it the internal drum brake style?

Yep it's a disk brake with a drum parking brake.

.002

DAryl

 

[GottaBeJeep]

GottaBeJeep: The rockcityfab brackets look identical to the ones that fatwreck used and has drawn up on his site (http://www.projectxj.com/mods/ford9inch.htm) That bracket wouldn't fit my `90 calipers, but did fit calipers from an `89. I would test fit the caliper to the bracket before you get it all bolted into your Jeep.

I compared the fatwreck patterns to the RCF brackets, and the mounting holes were dead on, there were just very small differences in the rest of the bracket. I bolted the 92 calipers to the bracket without any problems. I haven't bolted anything to the axle yet, but the bracket and caliper fit perfect. Strange.

 

[baseballneal86]

I compared the fatwreck patterns to the RCF brackets, and the mounting holes were dead on, there were just very small differences in the rest of the bracket. I bolted the 92 calipers to the bracket without any problems. I haven't bolted anything to the axle yet, but the bracket and caliper fit perfect. Strange.

Very strange. I'll take some comparison pics when I get home in 2 weeks and post up what I figure out.

 

[baseballneal86]

Well it's been forever since I've updated this thread, but I'm still making slow progress on the project. Between school and work I have not gotten to put in a whole lot of time on this.

I got the HP44 stripped down, cleaned up, and painted. Now it's just a matter of putting it back together with better parts

Chevy flat-top knuckle and caliper brackets. I still need to get the pass. side knuckle, both spindles, and both stub shafts.

The tires I'll be using for mock up.

I want to run something in the 35-37" size. Most likely it will be 35's since this will only have stock shafts and joints to start.

Hopefully there will be more updates soon.

 

[JDiotalevi]

awesome wirte up...im aslo swapping a 9 inch and 44 into my cherokee.

 

[baseballneal86]

No new progress worth mentioning, but here are a couple more pics.

36x13.50 vs. 33x10.50

36's on 4" of lift just for fun. I'm still deciding on how I want to lift the rear a few more inches. Right now I'm thinking I'll use MJ leaf packs with a few extra leaves tossed in. Hopefully that will give it some flex.

 

[JEONLYEP]

36's on 4" of lift just for fun. I'm still deciding on how I want to lift the rear a few more inches. Right now I'm thinking I'll use MJ leaf packs with a few extra leaves tossed in. Hopefully that will give it some flex.

Just get out the sawzall...


35's with 4 inches lift.

About half of my tires are sticking out from under the Jeep too.

DAryl

 

[whitetrashxj]

you probly heard this already but your shock mounts look a little scarey, and looking at the first pic, just curious but why didnt you just cut the whole shock mount off the d35 and weld it onto the 9"?

 

[baseballneal86]

Those shock mounts in the first few pics didn't end up getting used. I made some new ones and had my dad weld them for me.

just curious but why didnt you just cut the whole shock mount off the d35 and weld it onto the 9"?

I didn't ever have a D35...

 

[YELLAHEEP]

Ok, someone please explain to me how this setup is going to safely stop an XJ running 36" tires?

The problems as I see them (just being constructively critical here, not bustin yer chops...)

1) The rotor isn't centered on the hub - the rotor is gonna float because the hole in the center of the rotor is much larger than the size of the hub it should be snug against. When you remove those lug nuts and put a wheel on, isn't it gonna be off centered? When you tighten the wheel down, the rotor is probably gonna turn with a noticable off-centered up/down motion in the caliper.

2) Aren't you concerned that using the rear caliper off an import compact car designed to stop 15/16 inch wheels on a 3000 lb car isn't going to work well at all in stopping a 36" tire? That's a lot of rotating mass. There isn't a whole lot of pad making contact with the rotor - at any kind of turning speed, those pads and calipers are gonna get super hot when you use them. The e-brake will likely be quite ineffective as well - again, not alot of surface being pinched to hold a 4000 lb vehicle on a hill.

In this pic, you can see the noticable difference in the size of this rear caliper and how much surface the pad is in contact with. This rotor isn't hub centric either and you can see the holes for the studs are much bigger than the studs - I can't imagine there won't be out-of-round issues once the wheel is bolted up.

 

[fatwreck]

I ran that exact setup on mine for a couple of years without any issues...on 35x13.50 Toyo M/Ts.

I agree that the rotor isn't hub centric, but I honestly never noticed any vibes....as if the tire was unbalanced. There is clearance in the caliper for the rotor to be off one way or another. So, it shouldn't be a problem.

As far as the braking power.....it was decent. I wouldn't enter any road races with it, but it worked well for every situation I was in. I drove my rig to and from the trail....and up and down many steep inclines on the trail. I never said to myself, "hey, I really wish I had more braking power." And the ebrake did its job too.

I think you brought up some valid points, but I thought I should let you guys know, first hand, that this setup works well for the amount of money you put into it.

On a side note, because the calipers/pads were so cheap, I always carried a spare setup with me on the trail.

 

[baseballneal86]

The rotor just barely slips over the wheel studs, so I don't see how there would be any way for it to move around or become off centered.

It's actually a decent setup for someone looking for a cheap way to get rear discs and an ebrake. It's kinda ironic that I went this route in order to have an ebrake, yet I still haven't hooked the cables back up.

It stops better than the drum setup that I had with the rear 44, but not as well as I was hoping for. Over the summer I may switch to a weld on bracket with Chevy calipers.

 

[JEONLYEP]

Who's axle is this, I want to see more photos of trussing...


.

 

[baseballneal86]

Who's axle is this, I want to see more photos of trussing...


.

Jegs sells a 9" truss that is pretty similar to the one YELLAHEEP posted.

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10001_10002_749714_-1_10141