Back in the day, drum brakes were the only option for the ’40s and ’50s pickups. It was not until the ’60s when GM and Ford offered the option for disc brakes. When I worked as a mechanic, I replaced tons of front and rear leaky wheel cylinders only to fail prematurely and seep, causing loss of brake fluid. When loosing fluid through a leaky drum wheel cylinder, a single reservoir master cylinder would loose brake pressure and eventually fail, not to mention, cracking the brake drum shoes due to over tightening the adjuster and or overheating.
This leads me to disc brakes and, as you already know, disc brakes offer the driver a better brake feel in the pedal and get rid of the annoying front drum brake adjustment. What you may not know is that disc brakes such as Wilwood Disc Brakes has been working on and perfecting disc brakes since 1977. So, why are disc brakes preferred over drum brakes? Well, for the most part, disc brakes have repeatable performance that drums simply cant duplicate, this means that if you get yourself in a need to stop situation, drum brakes may or may not stop with the same predictable manner as a good set of disc brakes. Disc brakes also have a major advantage over drum brakes due to the open-air design of the braking parts. With a disc-brake setup, hydraulic fluid is used to apply pressure on the calipers piston that is machined to fit inside the caliper. As the brake pedal is applied, the calipers piston, or on better brakes such as Wilwood four- or six-piston calipers, will apply pressure on the brake pads. The pads then apply pressure and causes a resistance or heat to the rotor causing it to slow down the rate that the rotor is turning, thus stopping the wheel and vehicle. The direct air around the vehicle’s braking components then reduces the heat from the braking process. Drum brakes don’t have the ability to cool as quickly because they are housed inside the drum and air does not pass through as freely as disc brakes, thus causing brake fade or complete loss in braking on the older style drum brakes. These facts were first discovered by racers that were using disc brakes on race cars and could apply their brakes later than those running drum brakes and were still be able to stop faster without over heating braking components. Eventually, the design would make it into just about every production motorized vehicle on the road today.
Skipping forward to modern day technologies in braking, Wilwood Disc Brakes offer the ability to cool the brake rotor more efficiently than the standard brake rotor. They do this by casting the rotor out of specially designed iron and designing the internal vanes to pump cold air from the center of the wheel to take heat away from the rotor. Wilwood also offers drilled and slotted rotors that help prevent pad glaze and disperse gasses and heat generated during the pad to rotor interface. Plus, Wilwood is now coating rotors with a black electro coating they call E-coating, this coating will burn off the rotor to pad surface but remain in the cracks and crevices to help prevent rust. CT
I started off with the Wilwood...
I started off with the Wilwood forged billet aluminum solid rotor offset hubs that are drilled for Ford 5x4.5 or Chevy 5x4.75 car lug patterns. For my application I was going to use the 4x4.75 Chevy car lug pattern.
To figure out what lug pattern...
To figure out what lug pattern you have measure from the farthest point on the stud (left) to the center of the opposite stud (right). This measurement gives me 5 lugs on 4.75 pattern or better known as 5x4.75. The same holds true for measuring 5x4.5 lug patterns.
Next, I used general automotive...
Next, I used general automotive grease on the inner and outer needle bearings and place in the hub. A bearing seal is then installed on the big bearing side. I have found the best way to install the seal is to use a small piece of wood (2x4) and a hammer, but make sure to place a piece of wood on the opposite side of the hub to prevent damage to the hub surface, etc.
The bearing to hub seal is...
The bearing to hub seal is installed to protect dirt and water from entering the bearings and causing damage.
The Wilwood 2-inch drop spindles...
The Wilwood 2-inch drop spindles were installed onto the Wilwood aluminum hub assembly. You can use other spindles with Wilwood brake kits but it is recommended to check with Wilwood for parts interchangeability per your application. The Wilwood ProSpindle provides a lower stance without having to sacrifice for a shorter coilover or shock.
Next, the greased outer bearing,...
Next, the greased outer bearing, nut, locking cam and cotter pin were installed followed by the cool aluminum Wilwood bearing cap.
The cool thing besides how...
The cool thing besides how the brakes look is that the parts are clean when you pull them out of the box. The parts are so clean that I assembled the rotors and hubs in my living room. Notice how the hat sits flush on top of the rotor.
Using the special bolts that...
Using the special bolts that have holes drilled in the heads I bolted the rotor to the hats. I also applied blue loc-tite to the bolts before installing them. Torque these bolts down to specs in a star pattern.
Now for the tricky part. If...
Now for the tricky part. If you never used safely wire to hold two bolts together it is not all that difficult. I used these Snap-on safety wire twisters to help wire the rotor bolts together with 0.032 stainless steel safety wire.