TJ Braking Solution?

Slangy

Slangy

Sgt. CulPepper
Location
Utah
Okay guys so now that I have all the added armor, bigger tires, bumpers, bigger engine and an automatic transmission I am having a hell of a time with my brakes. When I drop off of a ledge I do just that, I drop, there is no such thing as a slow roll anymore. I have the amazingly awesome Dana 30 up front with the small single piston calipers. In the rear I have a Dana 44 with drums, I have gone through the rear and adjusted the brakes to work the best I can get them. Now my problem is that I do not want to keep polishing my turd up front and drop another $850 to do the Vanco big brake kit. I know I could do the WJ swap but can't find a write-up that goes into detail on the steering. So I must ask everyone what they did to solve their braking issues.
Did you swap in a different front end, if so what did you install? Does the TJ 44 have dual piston calipers or do they have braking problems as well?
I am just looking to see how some of you have remedied the situation and see if there is another option I can take. Thanks in advance.
 
Upgrade your master cylinder. Factory part '96-'98 zj master. Direct swap, reasonably priced, works great. I have run this set up in two different jeeps for over 9 years.
 
pkrfctr said:
Upgrade your master cylinder. Factory part '96-'98 zj master. Direct swap, reasonably priced, works great. I have run this set up in two different jeeps for over 9 years.
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Do this in addition to the rear ZJ disc brake parts and you will feel a noticeable difference. You could also upgrade the front pads to some EBC as mentioned, but don't waste your money on slotted rotors as they have minimal benefit at 2-3mph.
 
The size of the brakes doesn't matter for slow speeds. The bottom line is that you need more brake pressure. Maybe the '96-'98 zj master mentioned above has a smaller bore so produces more pressure. I would research that option or find a similar smaller bore MC. Dual piston calipers may be worse if you are already lacking adequate pressure. I'm sure a hydro-boost kit would solve the problem.

The EBC pads may help some. They do seem to be "sticky". I have them on the front of my buggy but not the rear because the rear locks up with them. I have them on my tow rig. The problem in that application is that they fade real bad under heavy prolonged braking.
 
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flexyfool said:
The size of the brakes doesn't matter for slow speeds. The bottom line is that you need more brake pressure. Maybe the '96-'98 zj master mentioned above has a smaller bore so produces more pressure. I would research that option or find a similar smaller bore MC. Dual piston calipers may be worse if you are already lacking adequate pressure. I'm sure a hydro-boost kit would solve the problem.

The EBC pads may help some. They do seem to be "sticky". I have them on the front of my buggy but not the rear because the rear locks up with them. I have them on my tow rig. The problem in that application is that they fade real bad under heavy prolonged braking.
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The ZJ MC and rear disc upgrade is an easy and well documented setup.
 
Swap in a mc from a 2004 and newer dodge diesel. Like we did on Stan pruietts zombie killer! It fits great and bolts right up just have to make a new longer rod is all. It stops all six wheels beautifully!
 
Alright guys thanks for the advice. I will get researching all of these options and get my lazy ass to work out in the garage. I appreciate the help.
 
If you still have factory brakes a 1 ton dodge mc is not what you need. I would bet it makes your brakes worse. Get on pirate and read billavistas brake bible.
 
rockchucker said:
If you still have factory brakes a 1 ton dodge mc is not what you need. I would bet it makes your brakes worse. Get on pirate and read billavistas brake bible.
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If I add a new mc I will still have a small single piston caliper, so I am probably not going that direction only. I just need to figure a way around polishing that turd. All the things I have read are mainly vanco or a wj swap. I just want everyone's opinion and I can research them all and make decisions from there.
thanks guys
 
Thats why I said to read the brake bible. There is a ton of info in there and it will help you because you will better understand how the force from your foot ultimately ends up at your wheels. Here is a watered down version. Basically there are 2 points on your brakes where the force from your foot is multiplied. The first is at your brake pedal. There is no reason to change that. The second spot is the ratio between the diameter of your MC and the diameter of your caliper pistons. A much smaller MC bore will net a greater psi. The pressure is equal to force/area. So, an MC that has a smaller bore than your piston will effectively multiply the clamping power. However, at the same time, it now takes more volume of fluid to move the piston. Car manufactures obviously do a lot of R&D for braking systems to make them work well.

My cousin had a very similar problem to yours. He was driving through his brakes in 4 low. He made his own hydroboost setup using parts from an Astrovan I believe. He did not change the ratio of the MC diameter and the caliper pistons, but he did get more force from the hydroboost setup. This worked for him, but it is not a setup I would put on my own rig. It is noisy and there is not a pump or two of the pedal that has power assist after the Jeep is shut off. That may not seem like a big problem, but if you happen to kill your Jeep or it dies on an obstacle, it is hard to stop without power assist.

I don't know much about the WJ brake swap, but I'm imagining it works because the rotors are a larger diameter. This would also effectively increase your braking power without adding more clamping force (think cheater bar on a stuck bolt). Hopefully this makes sense a little bit and I haven't confused you worse. It is not the easiest to explain over text...My setup consists of a combination of all of the above. I have huge 1 ton brakes on all 4 corners of my Jeep. I tried it initially with the stock MC, but it could not displace enough fluid to even apply the brakes, so I ended up with a 1 ton dodge MC. My master cylinder has a larger bore and a longer stroke to supply more brake fluid. My calipers have a large surface area that has a good ratio with the MC, and my rotors are massive. My pedal feels very similar to what a stock Jeep pedal feels like, but the difference is I can lock up my 37's if I am doing 60.
 
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