Warmonger brake info/install thread

[KingpinSVT]

Please post issues advice here pertaining to the new warmonger brake kit. Here is what I have so far:

One thing I noticed on some of the bolt studs is that they are a bit thicker on the shank/head. When I test fitted the stud in the hub and then tried to install the bracket there was a bit of interference on the UPPER stud ONLY. This is easily solved by first installing the studs and brackets, then grinding the backside of the upper bolt stud so that the caliper mounting bracket clears when it is finally bolted in place.

If anyone has any specific issues pm me. Otherwise if you have any problems that you solve yourself with a simple solution then just post what it was and how you solved it.

I began mock up of one of the front brackets today. There is definitely interference with the upper stud and the caliper bracket (on mine at least). The stud head sticks out a visible amount past the mounting edge of the spacer. This is the only issue I have not yet addressed, as its time for some Gator football. Everthing else looks good, Im just going to break out the angle grinder tomorrow and knock a bit off the head of the stud until there is clearance.

The only other issue I ran into was intermittant rubbing of the caliper bracket and the rotor. I have cleaned up the inside of the caliper bracket, so that should no longer be an issue plus I still have to fix the stud issue before I can say the rotor is finished. With the caliper bracket alignment moving this way or that (because of the stud), I cant say its fixed one way or another anyway. I didnt remember what you posted about the stud until I was about to finish up for the day anyway.

However, so far so good. No surprises, you seem to have covered any possible issues pretty well ahead of time so I knew what to look for.

I have not yet started on the rear, so I have no advice to offer there yet.

This is somewhat in order of how you will encounter them:

First, my workspace:


Here is where I made room for the upper spacer on the spindle.


I also flatspotted the spacer a bit so that too much material wouldnt be removed from either the spindle or the spacer, just a little from both.




I then ran into problems with the caliper bracket hitting the upper stud (I have already hit it with the grinder in this pic).


Here you can see after being ground down it allows the caliper bracket to sit flush on the spacers without touching the stud. It doesnt look like it, but with backlighting there is a gap (although tiny) between the stud head and the caliper bracket.


I then ran into some problems with the rotor touching the inside of the caliper bracket. I removed the casting ridges as well as a bit more material for clearance. It doesnt take much. Also, as War has said, the spacers have a bit of play so you can wiggle the caliper bracket out a bit to create additional clearance.

Here is a pic after I cleaned up the inside.


You can see the touched up areas here.



When you look at yours, all the inside edges were round and as you can see mine are now squared off. In my case, this made the difference.


Hope that clears things up a bit.


EDIT: I finished the fronts. FWIW, my passenger side caliper bracket didnt have any interference problems with the rotor. I still cleaned it up, but I did not remove much material at all. So you may or may not run into the problem. Im thinking not catching the stud interference on the caliper bracket probably had something to do with it, because I addressed that first (ground it down) before mounting everything else up.

Now on to the rears!



Please, for your safety, wear a mask while grinding, especially on your new rear rotors if they are used. Even if they are new, its still not good to breath in all those metal filings. If they are used rotors, you will have tons of brake dust and rust buildup that flies everywhere when you are grinding the rotors and brackets (I dont think it would concern these vehicles, but your brake dust could potentially contain asbestos [sp?]). I wore a mask most of the time (always when cutting through rust and dust buildup), and judging by my boogers I still got a hefty load of nasty dust. If I get lung cancer, Im blaming it on this.

[Kremithefrog]

I didn't need a mask for the front but I am just using a dremel. Of course be careful which way your holding and grinding things, you don't want a spark in your eye. Latex gloves might be a good idea.

So... is the rotor supposed to look like this after braking? Like the top half has worn the new rotor more than the bottom half. Crappy nightime cell phone pic:

[KingpinSVT]

I wore goggles, gloves, and a mask. Ive got interviews and such during the week, I cant have nasty fingernails! Even with the sparks going one way or another, the dust goes everywhere. The fronts werent too bad, youll see once you get to the rear and really have to cut through some crap.

As for your bedding issues, Im not sure. I cannot remember from the last time I changed my brakes. My guess is that its probably not normal, but Im not sure . I would suggest going to the old forums and seeing if you can find somone with the same problem.

Did you re-grease your caliper pins and the like so that everything is sliding freely?

[warmonger]

I didn't need a mask for the front but I am just using a dremel. Of course be careful which way your holding and grinding things, you don't want a spark in your eye. Latex gloves might be a good idea.

So... is the rotor supposed to look like this after braking? Like the top half has worn the new rotor more than the bottom half. Crappy nightime cell phone pic:

It may be that something isn't aligned right on your brakes.
Are BOTH sides like that?
Did you grind enough off the back of that top stud? The brake bracketry will flex a bit and if it interferes with anything it will not have even pad wear.

There should have been more than enough adjustment room to clear the caliper body from the intermediate bracket.
You will need to take more pictures and email them to me so I can examine what is going on.

[Kremithefrog]

Both sides are like that. I'll look at it more after work.

[BlackE1]

I think that the rear brakes will look like that due to the larger rotors. While the pad size did not increase. The reason that your rear braking will be increased even with the same size pads is the the force the pad apply to the rotor is futher out on the rotor making a larger moment.

[RandyCSVT]

I am going to be taking a weekend off to do this, but I want to make sure I have the right power tool. I want to do this with as few tools as possible. I thought about buying another dremel ( I gave mine to my dad), but not if it will take me forever. I think a good drill, 1/2 inch bit, drum sander bit, and grinding bit will do it all. Anybody have any good Drill recommendations? I bought a cordless drill before but it wasn't strong enough and died on me when I tried to cut through any metal. I can shop at sears, lowes, and homedepot. Good bit recommendations would be appreciated too.

I know warmonger recommended a few different tools, but I can only afford one multipurpose tool at the moment.

[Kremithefrog]

I think that the rear brakes will look like that due to the larger rotors. While the pad size did not increase. The reason that your rear braking will be increased even with the same size pads is the the force the pad apply to the rotor is futher out on the rotor making a larger moment.

That's the front. And yes there will be some area left untouched by the pad, but (I know the pic sucks) that's not what it is. The swept area top half looks like it's getting more pressure than bottom half. I'm about to go look at it.

Randy, I used an old drill and just the cheapest bit I saw at lowes (which was still around $10). Just keep it spinning fast and go very slowly.

[BlackE1]

oh i am sorry i must have missed where it said front.

[KingpinSVT]

I think if you were limited to one tool I would get a dremel. Can reach in tighter spots than a drill, plus you have more overall versatility. I think a high speed rotory tool will serve you much better in doing some of the grinding, such as the rear rotors.

You dont have a drill already?