explorer 8.8 in an a-body: experience needed

arveeotto said

I am by no means an expert, and I am not trying to fan the flames, but could both of you (ab7fh & supershafts) be right? If the brakes are designed to go xxxxmiles on an a-body and the same on an xploder, thats assuming that they are both rated the same, the exloder weighes probably 20-25% more than an a-body. That being said, would the rear brakes not last 20-25% longer on an abody? They would not have to do the same amount of work on a lighter vehicle either, may not work as hard as they were intended on the originally designed for vehicle, but if they did, might cause rear lockup on a lighter vehicle. I dont honestly know if this is the case or not, but would love to hear others thoughts on this. This is the reason I went to a drum brake 8.8, being that they are both 10" drums I figured that it would be an easier swap with existing brake hydraulics on the car.
Rick

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No flaming and im not upset, i apparently am failing to explain something here that he can understand that in a 60/40 or 70/30 system if you aren't changing rear pads 30% to 40% after you changed the front there is a braking problem...

He has a explorer that he added discs to and now has changed front pads twice on that vehicle and still not the rear, so in his situation he doesn't have more brake area vs weight equaling less wear and more braking force.


As for your question on the brakes not wearing because the A body is a lighter weight vehicle than what the caliper and pad area were designed for at the explorers weight that is a great question.

If the brakes are working correctly and the pads slack are taken up against the rotor than by the area of the piston and pad there should be an increase in braking at the rear than the front. A explorer is nearly 4100 lbs, a dart is 3200+, so the wear would be less, still not 2 plus times than the front, however if it was working properly as per design it would be working more than it should and wear slightly more than it should.

So knowing that the dart should have to much braking and need a different prop valve, not having early locking problems is saying that the slack isn't being taken up and the reason that isn't happening is because a good part of pedal travel is taking up the slack because it is retracting.