MJRIBEIRO
Mar 6th, 08, 11:12 PM
There have been a few posts about installing rear disk brakes from a 1998-2002 F-body car onto a 12-bolt axle. Well, I just finished mine and I’ve found a few solutions for the nagging parking brake cable question.
Axles from 1968 and later – You have no problem – there is ample clearance between the parking brake lever and the shock mount. Page down to the Cable / Bracket / and Spacer sections.
1964-1967 is a different situation. The overall axle housing length is shorter - and guess where the length is taken from? From between the shock mount bracket and the axle-housing flange – right where the F-body parking brake lever needs to go.
12643
Parking brake lever
There are basically three solutions to the problem. I’ll order them in my personal preference – but you can choose for yourself.
Use C5 rotors (from John ‘Hammered’). The C5 rear rotor has 13 mm (.51”) less offset than the stock F-body. This would force you to space out the backing plate an additional ˝” to keep the abutment centered on the rotor – but you get the side benefit of extra clearance for the brake lever. A complete bolt on solution! But there has to be a down side, right? Sure - you may not have the wheel clearance to support moving the caliper out the extra half-inch. This could be fixed with a spacer or adapter, but then you have tire clearance to contend with. In my case, 285-40 on a 17x9.5, 5.5 BS Boyd Smoothie I – this was not an option. On to the solution two.....
Lever customization. (The parking brake lever can be easily modified to give the additional clearance. I found that a very small wedge shaped slice (3/16 down to 1/8”) could be removed from the lever to give the necessary clearance. Just cut, reposition the two halves, and weld them back together. 12644
12645
12646
Reverse the plates. (From Randy ‘Randy 67EC’, Brad ‘tired67’, and others) You can mount the backing plates on the opposite sides, still keeping the lever on the bottom side of the plate. This would cause the cable to need to pull the lever towards the rear of the car to engage. I actually tried this, the method does give you the clearance you need – but I just couldn’t find a cable routing method that I was happy with. Its just too much cable in too tight a space. Spacers (applies to all years) – I test fit the baking plate /caliper and pads at least 20 times. Conclusion? All year axles will require some kind of spacer to center the abutment on the rotor. Here are the items I was contending with on my test fits.
Axle shaft flange. Stockers and some aftermarket (definitely Alloys) need a bit of grinding done on the axle shaft center flange so that the rotor fits flush to the axle shaft face.
Rotors – I started my test fits with old rotors. They were fine to use, with plenty of life left – but the inner surface, piston side had 1/16” less surface material than the outer. I can understand why – but it could give you a false read when measuring the spacers. Just make sure you will have enough room if you want to ever replace the rotors.I only needed a 1/8” spacer to get the abutment centered. You can fab up new ones out of aluminum or steel, but I followed the lead of Derek and others who just cut out the perfectly predrilled section from the drum brake backing plate.
Brackets (applies to all years) – I hope you got them with the backing plates- because they do work with some very easy mods.
This is the stock bracket for the F-body – its designed to sandwich around the shock mount, hold the brake cable and the flex line.
12647
The stock bracket is made up of two pieces welded together. Take your time and separate the two pieces with a cutting wheel by cutting right at the welds. The only side you need is the half that holds the cable. They will attach using the bolt from the rear lower control arm. You will notice an extra ‘appendage’ hanging down from that bracket. Once to test fit the bracket, figure out a nice spot to lop that off, but do not throw it away as you can trim that piece for welding to the top of the housing for the flex line. It’s a perfect fit.
12650
Cables (applies to all years)
The F-body cable seems better made than the stock A-body ones. The housing and inner cable is slightly thicker, and have a (Teflon?) liner. The business end of the lever is very unique and must be preserved. The only aftermarket equivalent I found is from Lokar – it is made to fit on the Explorer rear brake levers.
First, cut off the ferrule on the frame side (not the lever side). Slide out the cable and remove the spring. You will want to cut approximately 1-1.5” from the spring, as there is too much to fit between the lever and the bracket. Replace the spring.
Next you can use the stock ones as an approximate measure (they’re a little too long) or just test fit to the car determine the needed cable housing length. Cut the housing to length with a cutoff wheel. With a utility knife, remove the last ˝” of the black outer housing, exposing the spiral wound ‘inner’ housing.
You have a choice here, use the F-body or A-body frame side housing end. They will both work. I chose the A-body end since it seamed to have an better retainer (actually a clip) than the F-body. To reuse the once crimped on housing end, Put the housing end in a vice, channel locks on the cable housing and just spin out the inner cable. Make sure that there is none of the outer housing sheath in the end – if there is just dig it out wit a pair of needle nose pliers. You may be temped to try to thread the cable back on – don’t do it yet, It’s tight enough that you will actually start to unwind the inner housing. Put the good end in the vise, heat it for 20 seconds with a butane torch, and then thread the cable back in. You will need to hold in place for a minute while the housing cools and shrinks – but once it does – it is not coming off! Last step, reinstall the inner cable, and test fit on the car to determine the inner cable length. Once marked, cut the cable, remove ˝” of the clear (Teflon?) cover, and swedge on some new ferrules.
That’s basically it! The only other points to share are that the C5 vette calipers and pads are interchangeable with the F-Body ones – you can mix and match these as needed. Also Tobin at Kore3 has nice 12” braided lines that come with the metric banjo fitting on one end and the stock SAE hard line fitting on the other. Nice stuff!
12649
Axles from 1968 and later – You have no problem – there is ample clearance between the parking brake lever and the shock mount. Page down to the Cable / Bracket / and Spacer sections.
1964-1967 is a different situation. The overall axle housing length is shorter - and guess where the length is taken from? From between the shock mount bracket and the axle-housing flange – right where the F-body parking brake lever needs to go.
12643
Parking brake lever
There are basically three solutions to the problem. I’ll order them in my personal preference – but you can choose for yourself.
Use C5 rotors (from John ‘Hammered’). The C5 rear rotor has 13 mm (.51”) less offset than the stock F-body. This would force you to space out the backing plate an additional ˝” to keep the abutment centered on the rotor – but you get the side benefit of extra clearance for the brake lever. A complete bolt on solution! But there has to be a down side, right? Sure - you may not have the wheel clearance to support moving the caliper out the extra half-inch. This could be fixed with a spacer or adapter, but then you have tire clearance to contend with. In my case, 285-40 on a 17x9.5, 5.5 BS Boyd Smoothie I – this was not an option. On to the solution two.....
Lever customization. (The parking brake lever can be easily modified to give the additional clearance. I found that a very small wedge shaped slice (3/16 down to 1/8”) could be removed from the lever to give the necessary clearance. Just cut, reposition the two halves, and weld them back together. 12644
12645
12646
Reverse the plates. (From Randy ‘Randy 67EC’, Brad ‘tired67’, and others) You can mount the backing plates on the opposite sides, still keeping the lever on the bottom side of the plate. This would cause the cable to need to pull the lever towards the rear of the car to engage. I actually tried this, the method does give you the clearance you need – but I just couldn’t find a cable routing method that I was happy with. Its just too much cable in too tight a space. Spacers (applies to all years) – I test fit the baking plate /caliper and pads at least 20 times. Conclusion? All year axles will require some kind of spacer to center the abutment on the rotor. Here are the items I was contending with on my test fits.
Axle shaft flange. Stockers and some aftermarket (definitely Alloys) need a bit of grinding done on the axle shaft center flange so that the rotor fits flush to the axle shaft face.
Rotors – I started my test fits with old rotors. They were fine to use, with plenty of life left – but the inner surface, piston side had 1/16” less surface material than the outer. I can understand why – but it could give you a false read when measuring the spacers. Just make sure you will have enough room if you want to ever replace the rotors.I only needed a 1/8” spacer to get the abutment centered. You can fab up new ones out of aluminum or steel, but I followed the lead of Derek and others who just cut out the perfectly predrilled section from the drum brake backing plate.
Brackets (applies to all years) – I hope you got them with the backing plates- because they do work with some very easy mods.
This is the stock bracket for the F-body – its designed to sandwich around the shock mount, hold the brake cable and the flex line.
12647
The stock bracket is made up of two pieces welded together. Take your time and separate the two pieces with a cutting wheel by cutting right at the welds. The only side you need is the half that holds the cable. They will attach using the bolt from the rear lower control arm. You will notice an extra ‘appendage’ hanging down from that bracket. Once to test fit the bracket, figure out a nice spot to lop that off, but do not throw it away as you can trim that piece for welding to the top of the housing for the flex line. It’s a perfect fit.
12650
Cables (applies to all years)
The F-body cable seems better made than the stock A-body ones. The housing and inner cable is slightly thicker, and have a (Teflon?) liner. The business end of the lever is very unique and must be preserved. The only aftermarket equivalent I found is from Lokar – it is made to fit on the Explorer rear brake levers.
First, cut off the ferrule on the frame side (not the lever side). Slide out the cable and remove the spring. You will want to cut approximately 1-1.5” from the spring, as there is too much to fit between the lever and the bracket. Replace the spring.
Next you can use the stock ones as an approximate measure (they’re a little too long) or just test fit to the car determine the needed cable housing length. Cut the housing to length with a cutoff wheel. With a utility knife, remove the last ˝” of the black outer housing, exposing the spiral wound ‘inner’ housing.
You have a choice here, use the F-body or A-body frame side housing end. They will both work. I chose the A-body end since it seamed to have an better retainer (actually a clip) than the F-body. To reuse the once crimped on housing end, Put the housing end in a vice, channel locks on the cable housing and just spin out the inner cable. Make sure that there is none of the outer housing sheath in the end – if there is just dig it out wit a pair of needle nose pliers. You may be temped to try to thread the cable back on – don’t do it yet, It’s tight enough that you will actually start to unwind the inner housing. Put the good end in the vise, heat it for 20 seconds with a butane torch, and then thread the cable back in. You will need to hold in place for a minute while the housing cools and shrinks – but once it does – it is not coming off! Last step, reinstall the inner cable, and test fit on the car to determine the inner cable length. Once marked, cut the cable, remove ˝” of the clear (Teflon?) cover, and swedge on some new ferrules.
That’s basically it! The only other points to share are that the C5 vette calipers and pads are interchangeable with the F-Body ones – you can mix and match these as needed. Also Tobin at Kore3 has nice 12” braided lines that come with the metric banjo fitting on one end and the stock SAE hard line fitting on the other. Nice stuff!
12649