Rear disc brake conversion question(s)

[mrblaine]

Since we haven't been able to get parts going on a year now, I'm going to follow one of my older ideas through to fruition and build my own rear disc brake conversion so I am not dependent upon others to supply me with parts I can't get.

How many of ya'll know what the dust shield and little rubber boot on the actuator lever do?

Or put another way, if you saw a rear disc conversion without them, would that bother you enough not to buy them?

For those that don't know the above function answer, the dust shield is fairly useless. It won't keep mud, muddy water or water out of the brake shoes.

The dust boot is basically an anti-rattle device because it can't seal well enough and it is out of the way in a recess enough that it can't really do much more than that.

 

[Longwhitejeep]

It wouldn't sway me without the dust shield if I was shopping for a rear disc conversion. Coming from the Toyota world they typically don't use shields either. I believe a lot of kits out there for the 1 ton axles don't have them either. Not suggesting any of those kits are great but they do seem to sell plenty and the lack of a shield doesn't seem to sway the decision from what I have seen fwiw.

 

[Mike_H]

Since we haven't been able to get parts going on a year now, I'm going to follow one of my older ideas through to fruition and build my own rear disc brake conversion so I am not dependent upon others to supply me with parts I can't get.

How many of ya'll know what the dust shield and little rubber boot on the actuator lever do?

Or put another way, if you saw a rear disc conversion without them, would that bother you enough not to buy them?

For those that don't know the above function answer, the dust shield is fairly useless. It won't keep mud, muddy water or water out of the brake shoes.

The dust boot is basically an anti-rattle device because it can't seal well enough and it is out of the way in a recess enough that it can't really do much more than that.

Plus, it tears with some regularity. I've replaced mine once, and found that after about a year it looked the same as the old one. It will not be getting replaced again.

 

[DrDmoney]

Caliper E-brake?

 

[TurboTJ]

The brake shoes are held against the dust shield with spring clips. Do you have an alternate mounting method in mind?

 

[Blackjack]

Caliper E-brake?

If you are thinking integral caliper I doubt Blaine would go that route. While they might be better for those of use that have to deal with mud the calipers are finicky and do not always hold as well as the in rotor brake.

 

[MichaelGH]

The brake shoes are held against the dust shield with spring clips. Do you have an alternate mounting method in mind?

That’s exactly where my mind went. I currently have GC rear calipers and disks on my differential without the e-brake shoes installed because the backing/dust plates were wrecked. I am solely relying on the automatic transmission to hold the Jeep in place. Which for me is perfectly fine for now…

I do have a new in box set of rear disks I got from BMB last April but don’t want to break the seal on those until I get my new differential sorted…

 

[someguysjeep]

got a pic of what your describing?

to me the "dust shield" is up front and the rear has a "backing plate" that holds the E brake parts. so maybe i'm not seeing the right pieces in my head here.

 

[Mike_H]

The brake shoes are held against the dust shield with spring clips. Do you have an alternate mounting method in mind?

I think he's referring to the little plastic cover that goes over the adjusting nut slot in the backing plate.

 

[Irun]

For me, I wouldn't care if they were gone. You can only see them from the back side and I've had more than a couple occasion where rocks have been wedged up in them making a horrible screeching sound. The ones I just recently cleaned up were bent, slightly rusted, and, from my perspective, should have been replaced. However, I was shocked when I discovered they want $235 for the pair!

https://www.partsgeek.com/fd75vk6-jeep-wrangler-brake-dust-shield.html

 

[mrblaine]

Caliper E-brake?

I would never do a manual/cable driven caliper parking brake.

 

[machoheadgames]

It would feel abnormal at first to be missing the shield but it wouldn’t bother me.

As for the boot on the actuator lever, those are finicky anyways. I have run two sets of disc brakes: BMB conversion on my 35, and factory 2006 Dana 44. The stuff on the 35 was installed in 2017 and those boots are torn already. I believe those backer plate assemblies were from crown, so I’m not really surprised. The original 2006 stuff was still in good shape when I got it so I ran with those. But if the boot tears on one of those then I’m not concerned either.

I’ll be interested to see what you come up with. I’m sure as always it will be top notch. I’m surprised to hear no shield though, as I believe some of the hardware anchors into the shield? Or maybe I’m thinking of my truck’s parking brake, which is similar design to a JK. I’ve worked on so many axles/brakes lately my mind is a blur. At least one of them for sure has the hardware anchoring into the shield.

 

[mrblaine]

The brake shoes are held against the dust shield with spring clips. Do you have an alternate mounting method in mind?

Not at all. The dust shield is "riveted" to the actual backing plate. Rivet is in quotes because it is just a fastener to roughly keep the two parts together until you get the bolts in the holes.

The backing plate is cast iron with a sheet metal dust shield that has some function other than keeping mud out of the shoes. This is a SoCal plate that someone played in the mud with. You can see the mud line. The 4 arrows show the little bosses that the shoes rest against to line them up with the anchor lug. (also where you are supposed to apply brake lube when you do maintenance)
It has an adjuster hole with plug.
It traps the rubber lever "seal" at the top.
It has a little locating tab bent towards the shoes to keep the levers sort of behaving.
Lastly is it a shim of sorts that moves the shoes outward to space them off the backing plate to line up with the lug.

 

[mrblaine]

If you are thinking integral caliper I doubt Blaine would go that route. While they might be better for those of use that have to deal with mud the calipers are finicky and do not always hold as well as the in rotor brake.

We've worked on a bunch of the integral versions, we have yet to get one that actually could be made to work.

 

[mrblaine]

got a pic of what your describing?

to me the "dust shield" is up front and the rear has a "backing plate" that holds the E brake parts. so maybe i'm not seeing the right pieces in my head here.

All 3 iterations of that backing plate, ZJ, TJ, and Ford Explorer have a dust shield attached to the backing plate. When all the parts are in place, it is often referred to as a loaded backing plate.

 

[mrblaine]

It would feel abnormal at first to be missing the shield but it wouldn’t bother me.

As for the boot on the actuator lever, those are finicky anyways. I have run two sets of disc brakes: BMB conversion on my 35, and factory 2006 Dana 44. The stuff on the 35 was installed in 2017 and those boots are torn already. I believe those backer plate assemblies were from crown, so I’m not really surprised.

Do a price comparison and you'll figure out quickly they are not Crown. They are actually Stoptech which is a part of Centric who we are dealers for.

The original 2006 stuff was still in good shape when I got it so I ran with those. But if the boot tears on one of those then I’m not concerned either.

I’ll be interested to see what you come up with. I’m sure as always it will be top notch. I’m surprised to hear no shield though, as I believe some of the hardware anchors into the shield? Or maybe I’m thinking of my truck’s parking brake, which is similar design to a JK. I’ve worked on so many axles/brakes lately my mind is a blur. At least one of them for sure has the hardware anchoring into the shield.

The retainer pins do poke through the dust shield but that isn't a function that can't be easily duplicated in a solid round backing plate.

 

[machoheadgames]

Do a price comparison and you'll figure out quickly they are not Crown. They are actually Stoptech which is a part of Centric who we are dealers for.

Makes sense. I was looking for new replacements because my 06 stuff was nasty. The only thing I could that looked identical was Crown’s picture. Now, I suppose crown and you could both be getting them from StopTech.

StopTech did not show up in my search as even producing or selling those assemblies at all, so I didn’t consider them as where my BMB stuff could have come from.

 

[mrblaine]

Makes sense. I was looking for new replacements because my 06 stuff was nasty. The only thing I could that looked identical was Crown’s picture. Now, I suppose crown and you could both be getting them from StopTech.

StopTech did not show up in my search as even producing or selling those assemblies at all, so I didn’t consider them as where my BMB stuff could have come from.

The parts look identical unless you are very familiar. The vast majority of the ones we sold had slots to bolt them up to the housing end so they fit the Dana 44 and Ford 8.8.

I don't know where Crown is getting theirs, it is not Stoptech.

 

[machoheadgames]

The parts look identical unless you are very familiar. The vast majority of the ones we sold had slots to bolt them up to the housing end so they fit the Dana 44 and Ford 8.8.

I don't know where Crown is getting theirs, it is not Stoptech.

To clarify, what made them look identical to me was the dual sets of springs on the shoes rather than the TJ springs. I didn’t see that anywhere else but Crown.

 

[williambmac]

For me, I don't care about the rubber boot. I would definitely be interested in new backing plates though.