The Quest For Affordable Rear Discs on a D44

[sierrablue]

Here's the thread that initially got me down this rabbit hole, and some background on my particular application: viewtopic.php?t=23549

The short version is that drum brakes are complicated, frustrating, and they don't shed heat very well, which won't be doing me any favors in the mountains.

So this afternoon, I was under the Jeep anyway, and went ahead and took some measurements on the outer flange that the backing plate bolts to. Mostly just measurements of the bolt pattern. Mine has 6 holes, which I've read people typically just use 4 of, but I had all 6 in mine when I got it, and I put all 6 back in when I did the rear wheel bearings. I also crawled under the '95 ZJ (first year those got discs standard in the back; in '93-94 it was optional), and low and behold the ZJ has the same pattern as the top 4 bolts on my SJ (all of which are on one side (ok, one side and half way down) of the bearing). So that right there tells me that if I bought all the ZJ brake pieces, and had the center bored out and the 6x5.5 lug pattern drilled in the rotors, it would be a bolt-in swap. However, since these are not particularly great brakes IMO, being non-vented, with a parking brake that's prone to seizing up if you don't use it all the time, and the pads rest on the caliper bracket, they actually wear little dips into the bracket that I had to fill with weld and grind back down to flat on our ZJ (I had to do that on the fronts too).

[sierrablue]

So at this stage, this portion of my post is all theoretical. If you go this route just know that I haven't verified that everything actually 100% works--it's all theoretical based on what I've read but I can't find anything stating that it's absolutely true.

So the TJ/LJs with disc brakes have a different pattern and slightly different rear brakes from the ZJs, from what I can tell, and there are sources telling me that they are identical to the rear brakes found on an Explorer 8.8 from the same time period. Based on my measurements, this pattern appears to be the same as the farther apart bolts on my flange, but I haven't been able to 100% verify that.

Those are some better brakes that address a number of the issues I have with the ZJ brakes, but not the parking brake. And that brake is fine, plenty strong, if I need to, I'm ok with going that route, BUT it's not my preference.

Funny thing about the 8.8...I've only been able to find one bolt pattern referenced for the flange, which means that the brake brackets from an SN95 Cobra (bigger rotor than the V6/GT, effectively the same caliper) SHOULD bolt right up. Again the rotor would have to be drilled, but it should theoretically bolt right up. Those have the parking brake mechanically clamp the pads around the rotor, which is a lot simpler and puts everything all in one place. Additionally, I've read and been told that you want about 4x the braking power in the front as in the back, and if you're using the stock '74+ GM brakes up front, it should be pretty much perfect for that, unlike say the Eldorado calipers, which have a massive piston (and a reputation for seizing up).

Like I said this is all theoretical at this stage, BUT I think it might actually work, based on what I've been reading.

[sierrablue]

The last option, I have no idea if it bolts up to my flange or not, but if I find a Honda Passport or Isuzu Rodeo being parted out, I'm taking the rear brake assembly off both sides in the back. They use a D44 rear with a factory 6x5.5 lug pattern, with some nice brakes, very similar to the TJ/Explorer setup (but with a taller rotor for sure--I can't really tell if they're otherwise the same or not).

[sierrablue]

Now obviously there's no saying that the spacing between my axle shaft and the axle housing matches these applications, however I think the bracket should move about the same amount as the rotor in effect, so this would negate those changes.

I really want to find the Rodeo/Passport rear brakes to install because I think they'll be nice and easy but I really don't know. Any feedback/suggestions (other than "there's nothing wrong with the drums") is encouraged.

I realize there are really expensive disc brake conversion kits out there. However they don't really use great calipers. Additionally I have some serious trouble believing that they redesigned that flange a billion times; it wouldn't make sense from a cost or design perspective--no sense reinventing the wheel (so to speak). The issue is that anybody who discovered that this WAS the same back in the day has had their threads and info lost to time. Hopefully I can find something.