New Front Brakes installed

[R/T_Fire]

The 3rd gen spindles are the same as the 4th gen spindles BUT the SRT10 spindles are different altogether, there is no crossover between the two since even the lower balljoint location is slightly different due to a different caster angle. The spindles can be bolted to the control arms then the calipers will bolt to the spindles but you will also need new hubs. Unless you have a wrecked donor truck you will be shelling out the same amount of money buying new parts to do the swap as you would have spent on the SSBC kit.

This topic comes up every time brake upgrades are discussed and the reason you can only find 2 examples of people actually doing this swap is because it's cost prohibitive without a donor truck. I just priced out the new parts required on Rockauto and it came to $1200 so it would a bit of a cost savings but not much considering a set of SSBCs on AutoAnything start at $1200

Are the SSBC 14" or 15" rotors? I thought the Baer was the only 15" set up on the market, that's why I compared to that kit not the SSBC. IF the SSBC are also 15" then there is no point and I will go back to my previous statement of its more work than its worth, especially if a 15" kit can be had through SSBC for 1200-1900 which is the pricing I've seen for the kits

 

[charonblk07]

Are the SSBC 14" or 15" rotors? I thought the Baer was the only 15" set up on the market, that's why I compared to that kit not the SSBC. IF the SSBC are also 15" then there is no point and I will go back to my previous statement of its more work than its worth, especially if a 15" kit can be had through SSBC for 1200-1900 which is the pricing I've seen for the kits

The SSBC kit is only a 14" rotor but with either the 3- or 4-piston calipers they are a MUCH greater improvement over stock. They aren't the same as a Baer or Rotora kit but are a very viable upgrade. I had the tri-power kit on my '07 and the 4-piston on my '09 originally so I know what they're both like. The stock 2 piston calipers heat up quicker and don't have as hard a bite compared to either of the SSBC kits.

 

[R/T_Fire]

Yeah, the SSBC would be a more budget minded upgrade to a slightly larger rotor and much improved caliper.

Once thing I notice while messing with all this was how hot the brake fluid would get, Not sure if that is a normal thing or not. But most likely I will be upgrading to the SSBC kit later. But there is no argument that the stock calipers suck!!!!!

Unless I win the lotto, cause then I'll be running the baers

 

[charonblk07]

Buy yourself a temp gun and check your caliper and rotor temps during a run, you will be amazed at how hot they get and you will now understand why I bleed my brakes twice a year and have switched to the highest temp fluid I can find.

 

[BlownGP]

The 3rd gen spindles are the same as the 4th gen spindles BUT the SRT10 spindles are different altogether, there is no crossover between the two since even the lower balljoint location is slightly different due to a different caster angle. The spindles can be bolted to the control arms then the calipers will bolt to the spindles but you will also need new hubs. Unless you have a wrecked donor truck you will be shelling out the same amount of money buying new parts to do the swap as you would have spent on the SSBC kit.

This topic comes up every time brake upgrades are discussed and the reason you can only find 2 examples of people actually doing this swap is because it's cost prohibitive without a donor truck. I just priced out the new parts required on Rockauto and it came to $1200 so it would a bit of a cost savings but not much considering a set of SSBCs on AutoAnything start at $1200

SSBCs are only $1200?

That's not too bad really. More than I want to spend on brakes for a daily driver though..

I came across a old thread about how the SRT10 spindles will need to new hubs and it change your wheel offset. Since they will be pushed out more.

Sounds like it's not even worth it. Would probaby be cheaper to fab some brackets up.

Once thing I noitced is the SRT10 rotors are 40lbs each!!! Holy un-sprung weight batman. Do they make two-piece SRT10 rotors?

 

[Dubstep Shep]

Rotora offered me their front and rear kits for about 4k. They had a set on the shelf and really, really wanted to get rid of them.

 

[Dubstep Shep]

Buy yourself a temp gun and check your caliper and rotor temps during a run, you will be amazed at how hot they get and you will now understand why I bleed my brakes twice a year and have switched to the highest temp fluid I can find.

A better way to do it is get temp strips and put them on your caliper. They'll change to a different color based on the max temp seen, so you don't have to hop out immediately after hard braking with a temp gun.

 

[charonblk07]

A better way to do it is get temp strips and put them on your caliper. They'll change to a different color based on the max temp seen, so you don't have to hop out immediately after hard braking with a temp gun.

Absolutely agree and I've used them when I was autocrossing my old truck but I already carry a temp gun to check manifold heat soak and to check wheel bearing temps when I tow; the comment was driven more towards how high the calipers and fluid can get vs wanting to know the exact temp.

 

[BlownGP]

Rotora offered me their front and rear kits for about 4k. They had a set on the shelf and really, really wanted to get rid of them.

That's not bad, that dude UNBROKEN who had the silver ram with like 20K on mods put some on this truck. Looked sick. I think he paid like 7-8K

16" front rotor with 8 piston calipers and 15" rear rotor with 4 piston calipers

 

[BlownGP]

 

[CMil527]

Rotora offered me their front and rear kits for about 4k. They had a set on the shelf and really, really wanted to get rid of them.

Order up!!!

 

[R/T_Fire]

I want those wheels.... and I'll take the brakes too... something tells me that combo is about 10-12k worth of parts

 

[Dubstep Shep]

The brakes are 8k retail, so it was basically half. It was a good deal, no denying that, but I don't want to spend 4k on my truck right now, much less on brakes.

 

[R/T_Fire]

The brakes are 8k retail, so it was basically half. It was a good deal, no denying that, but I don't want to spend 4k on my truck right now, much less on brakes.

So buy them and turn around and sell them for 6k.... bam 2k profit for the vette

only hard part if finding someone crazy enough to spend 6k on them lol

 

[Dubstep Shep]

So buy them and turn around and sell them for 6k.... bam 2k profit for the vette

only hard part if finding someone crazy enough to spend 6k on them lol

The fact that Rotora couldn't sell them at 4k tells me several things:

1) Those brakes are overpriced. I could have told you that though. Literally some of the nicest brakes in the world that are used on the C6R racing corvette that has destroyed a lot of really expensive race cars are less than the MSRP on the Rotoras. Seriously. These are the brakes I'm talking about. I'll be buying them for the vette eventually.

http://www.essexparts.com/shop/complete-brake-systems/competition-brake-systems/essex-competition-brake-system-endurance-c6-corvette-bundle.html

There's also a lot of really good info about brakes on that page.

2) No one buys big brakes for these trucks. That makes sense though.


I still think the best routes would either be to use the SRT-10 truck front suspension off of one that was totalled or to get a custom front spindle made that would fit the SRT-8 Jeep brakes. The custom spindle also has the advantage of being able to lower the truck without any changes to the spring or shock.

 

[R/T_Fire]

I was halfway kidding, they are way over priced and so are the Baer units at 4k. that is crazy amount of $$ for brakes.

I haven't looked into the jeep SRT8 units and how they go together. but it seems more work than most are willing to do to their daily driver.
Cant wait to have my jeep and shop and I can play around with mods like this

 

[charonblk07]

There's always the hydroboost upgrade. <$400 for 3x the clamping force and good enough that I sold the 4-piston SSBC kit I had.

 

[Dubstep Shep]

There's always the hydroboost upgrade. <$400 for 3x the clamping force and good enough that I sold the 4-piston SSBC kit I had.

I'm just not a fan of the kit, but you know that.

Increasing clamping force isn't improving braking performance if you already have enough force to lock your wheels up. I've hit ABS in the truck a few times at highway speeds and I didn't have to push the petal all that hard.

 

[R/T_Fire]

There's always the hydroboost upgrade. <$400 for 3x the clamping force and good enough that I sold the 4-piston SSBC kit I had.

I just educated myself as to what this conversion is, and I'm always a fan of having a system not relay on another system to work, in its own principle I would rather have a non-vacuum assisted brake system..

What is involved in making this conversion if I am understanding it right, what booster is used and what other parts are needed and what effect does it have on the ABS system?

I swear every time you and BlownGP post something I have to add it to the list of modifications I want or need to do!!!!!

And Dubstep, to be honest I hate ABS and wish it wasn't on there cause every single vehicle I have gotten it to kick in it slows my stopping and extends the distance beyond if I was in a full lock up, so Id be fine with it going away anyway.... I like the feed back from the pedal and loose that with abs system. don't get me wrong they serve their purpose and have a place I just don't like them on a performance based vehicle. Or atleast a little truck pretending to be a performance based with none performance systems that do not support it.

 

[charonblk07]

I just educated myself as to what this conversion is, and I'm always a fan of having a system not relay on another system to work, in its own principle I would rather have a non-vacuum assisted brake system..

What is involved in making this conversion if I am understanding it right, what booster is used and what other parts are needed and what effect does it have on the ABS system?

I swear every time you and BlownGP post something I have to add it to the list of modifications I want or need to do!!!!!

Have a read through the how-to I did, should explain everything you need to do it. Because you have an '11 you still have a engine driven power steering pump which is what you need for the conversion, the '13+ guys are out of luck.

This mod doesn't affect the ABS at all as that functions independently as long as you have the fluid level sensor plugged in. Since I disable ABS and traction control anytime I'm going for a real drive it doesn't affect me either way but I did it because I was running low on vacuum with the blower and the new cam I'm installing will make it even worse. A local guy I know did the conversion on his '03 massively turbo'd hemi years ago and was able to make a set of stock pads and rotors stop the truck very effectively which was kind of my inspiration to do this myself.