Looking for biggest discs to fit under 15” - looking for safe after serious brake failure

[Malicious]

Hi All,

Had a bit of a scare yesterday when I had a serious brake failure. It looks like I lost a bolt from the caliper, the other side sheared off at the mount point from taking the load. The caliper then carved up the inside of the rim before jamming and locking the wheel.

I was lucky that it happened on the off ramp and not while doing 65 down the highway.

Needless to say I’m looking for a new brake kit, big but fits under 15” torque thrust. Ideally has a thick mounting bracket.

Love to get some advice / feedback from on what’s available.

Couple of pics from yesterday,

 

[1967coronet440]

You’ll need to measure the caliper clearances on your wheels to determine what size rotor can be used. Sounds like one of the nuts backed off?

 

[dukeboy_318]

Hi All,

Had a bit of a scare yesterday when I had a serious brake failure. It looks like I lost a bolt from the caliper, the other side sheared off at the mount point from taking the load. The caliper then carved up the inside of the rim before jamming and locking the wheel.

I was lucky that it happened on the off ramp and not while doing 65 down the highway.

Needless to say I’m looking for a new brake kit, big but fits under 15” torque thrust. Ideally has a thick mounting bracket.

Love to get some advice / feedback from on what’s available.

Couple of pics from yesterday,

View attachment 584563 View attachment 584564 View attachment 584569

I'd call wilwood and ask why their bracket failed

 

[69a100]

Note to self, Use loc-tite next time! Glad there was no more damage then that.

 

[67belvedere/225]

looks like the problem was ether low grade bolts , and or over torqued , and they stretched
always use grade 8 bolts and locktite , it s not the brakes that were defective it was ether the installation or hardware
I had a client come to the shop with a 2014 Subaru and the caliber bolt bracket sheared off and same sort of thing happen
so get this they only replaced one side ! he only told me after they did when I was doing his brakes I had to change the bolts on the other side they were defective and they snapped coming off,

 

[moes]

I used the good old Mopar 1973 E body pin type disc brakes for my conversion from drum to discs. I have 15 inch wheels too, so there is no problem there

 

[davek]

glad your ok and the car. good luck and let us know what you end up getting.

 

[Malicious]

Bolts were grade 8, it is possible that they were over torqued. **** part is I checked all the suspension bolts before leaving on the road trip. Didn’t check the brake bolts, which was clearly f’ing stupid.

Live an learn I guess.

 

[Malicious]

I used the good old Mopar 1973 E body pin type disc brakes for my conversion from drum to discs. I have 15 inch wheels too, so there is no problem there

Thanks, I was looking for increased braking force at the same time though. I figure if I am going to replace it’s time to upgrade as well.

 

[67belvedere/225]

wilwood are usually good brakes why won't you stick with them ? they weren't stoping the car properly?
there light so handling is better .

 

[moes]

If you can find the larger Mopar caliper brakets, you can you the bigger 11.75 rotors (they will fit under a 15 inch wheel) too and everthing else is the same stuff used on the Mopar 10.75 rotor setup it's just the rotors are bigger

 

[67belvedere/225]

I scrapped a dodge diplomat and took the entire braking system and put it on my belvedere. I took a Mazda 3 brake booster and made it fit
I used the 8 .25 diff with the big 11 inch drum brakes , man does it stop

 

[Malicious]

If you can find the larger caliper brakets, you can you the bigger 11.75 rotors (they will fit under a 15 inch wheel) too and everthing else is the same stuff used on the 10.75 rotor setup just the rotors are bigger

I don’t mind the wilwoods, but I’d like more braking, these did ok, but not amazing.

I was looking at the wilwood site a while back at this exact option, I think I even contacted Will wood but they told me this was wrong?

So if I got the brackets from the larger ket and the larger rotors, everything else would be reusable?

I would replace that caliper anyway. I would certainly look at it as an option. I don’t want to ‘cheap out’ on brakes, certainly not after this, but if I can get better clamping without having to buy a full new kit, then I’d be an idiot not to look at it.

 

[moes]

you will have to contact Willwwod to see if they have a bigger bracket for calipers for your kit to use a larger 11.75 rotor. I'm sure everything else should be the same and you car reuse your other parts. The good thing with Mopars 1973 calipers is the 2.75 inch piston in the caliper. If I remember right Willwood uses 2 smaller pistons in their caliper (unless yours has the 4 pistons in them) and the 2 pistons size does not add up close to the 2.75 inch in the Mopar calipers. The larger area of the Mopar piston will help with the clamping pressure to help stop the car much easier, giving you better brakes.

Here is something to think About.
The 2.75 inch Mopar piston has a piston area of 5.94 square inches compared to a 2 - 1.50 inch pistons with a piston area total of 3.53. You can see the difference of the piston area size, the two piston caliper only generates 60 percent of the braking power of the 2.75 caliper. That is a loss of 40 percent and will affect the stopping power big time!!!!!

 

[Sweet5ltr]

Hi All,

Had a bit of a scare yesterday when I had a serious brake failure. It looks like I lost a bolt from the caliper, the other side sheared off at the mount point from taking the load. The caliper then carved up the inside of the rim before jamming and locking the wheel.

I was lucky that it happened on the off ramp and not while doing 65 down the highway.

Needless to say I’m looking for a new brake kit, big but fits under 15” torque thrust. Ideally has a thick mounting bracket.

Love to get some advice / feedback from on what’s available.

Couple of pics from yesterday,

View attachment 584563 View attachment 584564 View attachment 584569

This could have ended very badly, happy you and your car made it home safely.

I think everyone is in agreement here, upgrade to 11.75" rotors.

The only kit that would potentially perform better with 15" wheels, would be Doctor Diff's 11.75" Viper kit (+$400 for eBay sourced calipers);
http://www.doctordiff.com/viper-caliper-mounting-brackets-for-mopar-drum-knuckles.html

On the other hand, I would be more inclined to use his 13" Cobra kit, 13" front & 11.7" rear if you want a serious upgrade, and just wait until you're in the market for a wheel / tire change. They are a matching set. Wilwoods aren't exactly performance minded, more for the cruise - show circuit.

You can purchase torque thrusts for 94-04 Mustangs (Bullet style) if you would like a less-expensive alternative to merge into 17" wheels. LMR.com is a good source. I went with 94-04/05+ Mustang 18" wheels, w-a-y too expensive to buy custom.

I run his Stage-4 kit with 'Brembo' calipers, "They are some sort of Ferrari reproduction (made by Baer's supplier)." - Cass. They use 05+ Viper pads, so pad selection is plentiful, I run Hawk HPS front & rear.

If you don't want to spend that kind of money, just stick with what you have, run good bolts with thread locker. Talk with Wilwood about pad options, better pads (than generic street pads) will make a world of difference. Rotor size won't make a dramatic difference in all honesty, other than for continues anti-fade / heat dissipation during heavy traffic.

This is a good time to install a proportioning valve if you haven't done so.

 

[PST]

Personally I would stick with what you have. As some how the one bolt clearly backed out but unfortunately we will never know exactly why. But thankfully you and your car a safe with little damage.

One thing I didn't see is what is the current size of the rotors that are on your car now? Also what size master are you running. If you say the braking isn't so great it may be more than just the disc brakes it maybe in the size of the master

Thanks
James

 

[Sweet5ltr]

Personally I would stick with what you have. As some how the one bolt clearly backed out but unfortunately we will never know exactly why. But thankfully you and your car a safe with little damage.

One thing I didn't see is what is the current size of the rotors that are on your car now? Also what size master are you running. If you say the braking isn't so great it may be more than just the disc brakes it maybe in the size of the master

Thanks
James

Yes, the correct master cylinder can make a world of difference!

It's an art selecting the correct bore size. Someone like Cass (Doctor Diff) is someone who I would trust concerning this topic, not many other individuals that specialize in Mopar braking systems.

 

[PST]

A mopar braking system is no different than any other. Anyway this a wilwood system. You just need to have the right size master cylinder for the conversion.

 

[Malicious]

So I have the wilwood 140-11020 11” 4 pot kit, wilwood adjustable bias, factory booster and disc brake master cylinder.

I can get a replacement caliper. I’m looking into if I can get a replacement bracket from wilwood.

Surprisingly the rim looks ok, lots of Ali flaked heat fused on from the caliper grinding away. But other than that looks like a polish will clean it up.

I need to double cheak my measurements but I think I can fit the 140-10740 6 pot brake kit.

Anyone ran that on here?

 

[67belvedere/225]

I'm running the dodge diplomat '82 master , prop valve and the disc and 11 inch rear brakes I took a booster from amazda 3 and fit it in it stops on a dime
nothing like good brakes