Rockwell disk brakes

Anyone on here ever ran 4 wheel disk brakes on Rockwell axles?
If so what's the most economical way to make it happen and does having the brakes on the corners cure the drive shaft vibrations?
I saw the kits that Ouverson makes but $1300-1600 per axle for brakes seems a bit high. I've heard of some running F-650 brakes but can't find any pics or a parts list of one completed.

Any help is appreciated.

You still got the old CSC buggy?

Draco said:

You still got the old CSC buggy?

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So far I do but I think I have the chassis sold. Plans are to rob the power train and other miscellaneous parts to start a new, lighter buggy...

Bringing this old one to the top. Everything in the axles was rebuilt and tightened up with spools. New Hero case. Wilwood pinion brakes and it still rattles. I read somewhere on Pirate that installing disc brakes on the front was enough to stop the driveshaft rattle. Anyone have this experience? I know this doesn't seem to hurt anything but driving the ole lady's buggy with tons has me spoiled.

greenlion said:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/general-4x4-discussion/944694-free-rockwell-wheel-brake-recipe-rims-smaller-than-20-patooyees-parts.html

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When I rant hat setup I never specifically listened for the common rockwell gear chatter. But as soon as I went back to pinion brakes I noticed it again immediately so I want to say that ti wasn't there when I had wheel brakes but can't say for sure. Sorry. :\

If you're trying to build something light with rockwells wheel brakes are not the way to go. The only stuff that fits rockwells due to the huge closed knuckle is either huge 1-ton+ stuff or tiny Wilwood stuff that is meant to stop tiny 2000lbs race cars.

I'm not worried about weight too much. Just changed to aluminum hubs and wheels from steel so adding a few pounds back on is fine. I haven't seen them yet, so I'm not sure if the aluminum hubs have the smaller holes drilled in the back side where the rotor would mount.

Which alum hubs??

Seams like you could have a flange made to weld onto the hub. Make the flange to fit a bolt on rotor. Wilwood or something??

Run GM 14 bolt hubs on the rockwells. Have the spindles turned down to accept the 14 bolt bearings and bearing locations. Then you can run wheel mounted brake set-ups with your typical one ton stuff or Wilwood stuff and save a bunch of weight at the same time.

HOWEVER, my personal opinion is to run the pinion brakes due to the mechanical gear advantage of the pinion ratio helping the brakes out. Also pinion mounted brakes will be lighter than 4 wheel mounted set-ups.

Re: Re: Re: Rockwell disk brakes

xjpaddler said:

Which alum hubs??

Seams like you could have a flange made to weld onto the hub. Make the flange to fit a bolt on rotor. Wilwood or something??

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You can do something like this. Weld a flange on to run a bigger wilwood setup.



Something similar to this but bigger rotor and better caliper

It seems that type setup is what most are using from my research. I'm going to do something to eliminate the front pinion brake at least. They stop the rig great but the driveshaft rattle has to go.

xjpaddler said:

Which alum hubs??

Seams like you could have a flange made to weld onto the hub. Make the flange to fit a bolt on rotor. Wilwood or something??

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This is what they look like. They may be drilled to run narrow or wide. Labronn still has the buggy so I haven't seen them yet.

Re: Re: Re: Rockwell disk brakes

paradisepwoffrd said:

You can do something like this. Weld a flange on to run a bigger wilwood setup.

Something similar to this but bigger rotor and better caliper

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Will this setup not work?

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Rockwell disk brakes

Jhouser said:

Will this setup not work?

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Alot of ppl have had issues with those calipers flexing on buggies. You could use a toyota caliper that is very similar or step up to a bigger/nicer wilwood. If you have the room I would also increase to a 14" rotor vs the 12

Have you seen this set up, pics start at post #70.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/international-harvester/1039974-scout-ii-build-rockwells-cummins-12v-46-claws-3.html

I'm not sure if he's still selling the brackets, but I bought a set a while back.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Rockwell disk brakes

paradisepwoffrd said:

Alot of ppl have had issues with those calipers flexing on buggies. You could use a toyota caliper that is very similar or step up to a bigger/nicer wilwood. If you have the room I would also increase to a 14" rotor vs the 12

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They may not flex. The ones that flexed were a long time ago on Dibble's rig. Wilwood has come out with several new affordable lines since then that are a lot more rigid. Some of their new forged stuff is pretty solid. The caliper I sell with my pinion brake kit was recommended to me by their engineering department. Before I would sell it I measured flex on it and compared it to the standard Toyota caliper. I don't recall the overall measurements but I do recall that the Wilwood caliper only flexed .002" more than the Toyota. That was with a 350 lbs man sitting in the driver's seat standing on the brake pedal with both feet and pushing with all of his might.

Now the caliper I sell uses significantly fewer spacers than the one pictured there because the rotor is thinner on my pinion brakes than the one in that pic. Every spacer you add adds more flex. I question the need for such a thick rotor on buggies anyway but that's just info to digest.

It still doesn't change the fact that even the biggest brake pads that Wilwood uses with any of their affordable 4-piston calipers is tiny compared to anything any of us have ever used as wheel brakes. Pad size has a lot to do with brake performance. To get a good sized pad in a Wilwood caliper you have to go to the expensive $700+/caliper 6-pistons. That's why I say that Wilwood has yet to make something aimed at the 4x4 crowd. (Probably also why they don't focus any marketing at us.)

When I first did wheel brakes on my old buggy, I ran this caliper and had tons of flex issues. You could visibly see the caliper flexing.
http://www.wilwood.com/Calipers/CaliperProd.aspx?itemno=120-6818

Currently I am running the wilwood 6 piston billet calipers with 14" rotors and I am pretty happy with them. I am running a stock jeep TJ master/booster/pedal assy and my stopping power is close to a stock jeep on 35" tires, but I have 47's..This hat and rotor can be adapted to the stock rockwell wheel hub easily as well

Any Update on this?

Jhouser said:

Any Update on this?

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^ what he said

Just got the buggy back last week. Haven't got a chance to tear into it yet.