Drum to Disk brake swap... Done!

[Joopin]

Finally finished my disk brake swap on my D44.
Just here to recomment it to all of you running a D44 in the back.
I had a bad outter seal so I spent some extra money and upgraded to ZJ disks off a 1996 ZJ.

I wish I had the time to do a write up for you guys but if anyone is thinking of doing it, it is well worth it!!!

Here is another guys writeup... I found it very useful. Of course if anyone has questions be sure to ask!

 

[JTR0569]

How long did it take? And if you don't mind me asking how much $?

 

[Joopin]

Well the length of time was really extended by the fact that all the parts I ordered were wrong. But hopefully the only thing that will extend your time is waiting for a machine shop to make the new holes in the disk backing plate and getting the new bearings pressed on by a mechanic. (unless you can do that yourself)
If you had everything ready it would probably only take 3-4 hours.... depending on how easy your brake lines come off!

I still have to go and get new hard brake lines and bend them so they run along the axle... right now they follow the ZJ axle which basically make 2 big hoops ready to snag anything on the trail.

Most of the cost was to get other people to do the machining of the custom spacer and altering the backing plate. Here in NJ the hourly rate is kinda high... but I talked them down to 150 cash for the 2 spacers and the altered backing plates.
New bearings and seals... around 100 bucks... to have them pressed on, depends who and where you live.
I splurged and tossed the old pads and rotors off the zj (even though they were still good) and I bought some drilled and slotted rotors with pads off ebay... for 80 bucks!

Oh and I didn't pay anything for the zj calipers or brake lines, got them off a friends jeep. So if you can find those for cheap or free, get em!!!
So you will probably spend anywhere from 200-300 bucks depending on your area and what you find in the junkyard. I spent closer to 400, but it's totally worth it. These huge meaty tires never stopped so fast!

 

[Rubiconrich]

Disc brakes rule!. I don't know why It took so long for Jeep to put them on a
Wrangler? Must have been the cost.

 

[jps4jeep]

Sweet! glad to hear you got it done.


Hey Rich, could be worse, chevy stopped putting rear disc brakes on and went back to drums to save production costs.