Full (of it??) Floater Disc Conversion (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
Aug 19, 2007
Threads
13
Messages
126
Location
Washington State
And the saga continues... I am mid-stride in a front and rear disc conversion, and I have hit a snag. I am adding FJ60 knuckles and associated h/w to the front, and am doin' the Eldorado disc rear. I did some searching and found that Front Range Off-road Fabrication (FROF) sells a full floater/rear disc conversion kit. It perplexes me that I can only find one report (by FROF) on the "walking axle", and question FROF's claim (sorry FROF bubbas, just curious). I have otherwise never even stumbled upon a subnote in the most random and remote rear disc conversion swap tech article (GM or otherwise). I am curious what you GM rear disc guys have to say specifically. I wonder also:

Is the disc setup any more maintenance with semi vs. full float, or are the pads wearing similarly? (Dudes who had both...)

Isn't the semi disc setup just as good at retaining the axle as the c-clip?

*I understand that the axle would slide out in a semi with drums, but it can't in the semi w/discs, though you must replace the axle there on the spot (or darn near)*

There may or may not be a thread out there that covers it. But if not, let's get some posts here to solve the mystery! (Or atleast link the thread.)

Thanks
In the words of a great man, "Relax. Don't worry. :beer:"
DSCFLTRWEB.jpg
 
Last edited:
Okay. Am I missing something or has every opinionated poster here suddenly not have anything to say? You guys got me confused...
 
Last edited:
If you are running GM discs on your rear SF axle and break a axle shaft the caliper will keep the axle from walking out of the housing. I broke an axle while wheeling and drove all the way back to camp. Not a good idea as I ruined a diff doing this and had to swap a diff and axle back at camp.
 
I know about after it breaks, but what about while it's still in one piece. They claim the axle can walk in and out "3/8-1/2 in wobble in the tire" due to the floating caliper piston. I can see this as a problem on wear and tear of the pads, but not much else.?!
 
Last edited:
I know about after it breaks, but what about while it's still in one piece. They claim the axle can walk in and out "1/8-1/4 in" due to the floating caliper piston. I can see this as a problem on wear and tear of the pads, but not much else.?!

What about the c-clip that usually retains the axle?
 
I know about after it breaks, but what about while it's still in one piece. They claim the axle can walk in and out "1/8-1/4 in" due to the floating caliper piston. I can see this as a problem on wear and tear of the pads, but not much else.?!

So you want to run a set of RDB's instead of the C clip??


Not a good idea at all.

Teh brakes are designed to clamp, they are not a large bearing..
 
They do not mention weather or not the c-clip is still in their Tacoma (the one with the documented problem). Heres the url: http://frontrangeoffroadfab.com/nfoscomm/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=27&products_id=94&osCsid=842c48a1b3f991ff96885b8734c5c324
Were it still there, the axle would "walk" even less with the disc set up because there are now two factors limiting the lateral movement of the axleshaft.

Mystery solved. You are looking at a kit for minitruck axles. A very different animal than your LC axle. They don't use c-clips at all.
 
So you want to run a set of RDB's instead of the C clip??


Not a good idea at all.

Teh brakes are designed to clamp, they are not a large bearing..

No, no, no...
I am saying that FROF says a SF drum/disc rear has a potential ".120 walk out" and I question why they claim this. It would suggest that they have issues with their inner bearing and are claiming only that FF runners don't have that issue. But then I read this post on another forum:
4x4Wire.com's TrailTalk Forums: Yota rear disc options??

Look for post #260925 specifically.
 
Mystery solved. You are looking at a kit for minitruck axles. A very different animal than your LC axle. They don't use c-clips at all.

That sir is why it says Rookie under my name. Ding ding ding ding. WINNER!!!

So then the rear on '79 and up 40's is different from mini's?
 
That sir is why it says Rookie under my name. Ding ding ding ding. WINNER!!!

So then the rear on '79 and up 40's is different from mini's?




Mini trucks do not use c-clips to retain the axle into the housing....



The Mini trucks use the backing plate to retain the axle shaft and bearing assembly into the axle housing.



The Land Cruiser semi-float rear axle is a c-clip design....year does not matter.



:beer:
 
So when did toyota go to the centered diff.? And assuming the proper diff location, could I use the axles from a 40 on a mini axle and solve the problem?
 
So when did toyota go to the centered diff.?


In what vehicle?




And assuming the proper diff location, could I use the axles from a 40 on a mini axle and solve the problem?


What problem?



The Land Cruiser axles are not designed to have a bearing pressed on them like the Mini truck axles are.


If you need a centered rear axle, you can purchase a housing already welded together from one of the vendors out here that does that, or, read through the thread in the Frequently Asked Questions list about the work and parts required to build a centered rear Land Cruiser axle, using mini truck axle shafts, bearings and brake parts.


:beer:
 
So how do they hold the axle in?

The mini truck and all of the SF axles (tacoma/4runner etc..) all have the rear axle held in place by the axle being pressed into the rear axle bearing. Then a simple snap ring is put into a groove on the inside of the axle behind the bearing to keep it in place. There is some play in this setup.

If we break an axle it is only a matter of time until the snap ring fails and the entire wheel falls off. FF does not have this problem. The other advantage to the FF is that the bearings are serviceable where the SF is not. The FROF kit for the SF axles basically turns the rear axle into a non steering version of a front axle.

Hope that helps.


And on a side note I am in the process of converting the drums on my 4runner to disc. I am going to use the Sky kit and eldorado calipers because I want an ebrake. Otherwise my only other option was ruff stuff specialties bracket to put front 4runner calipers out back. Which is becoming pretty common.
 
The mini truck and all of the SF axles (tacoma/4runner etc..) all have the rear axle held in place by the axle being pressed into the rear axle bearing. Then a simple snap ring is put into a groove on the inside of the axle behind the bearing to keep it in place. There is some play in this setup.



The snap rings only keep the bearing located on the axle shaft....


The backing plate retains the axle and bearing assembly into the axle housing.
 
And on a side note I am in the process of converting the drums on my 4runner to disc. I am going to use the Sky kit and eldorado calipers because I want an ebrake. Otherwise my only other option was ruff stuff specialties bracket to put front 4runner calipers out back. Which is becoming pretty common.

Did you consider running full floater? What is this "Sky kit" you speak of? Does anyone make a full floater conversion that will fit i.e. Eldo calipers? Or is it all SUPRA/4Runner stuff right now?
 
Did you consider running full floater? What is this "Sky kit" you speak of? Does anyone make a full floater conversion that will fit i.e. Eldo calipers? Or is it all SUPRA/4Runner stuff right now?

FROR is the only company to make a full floater conversion (that I know of) for the SF axle. I almost bought their kit but I could not get my self to give up ABS just yet.

The sky and ruffstuff kits are just brackets to allow you to add calipers. Sky uses the GM style calipers and Ruff stuff uses the tacoma/4runner front calipers.

I WISH, someone would make a kit to use the supra ones beacause they are cheaper than the GM calipers.

Sky kit
diskbrakesinstalledpic..jpg
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom