Long story short to begin with: I upgraded the brakes on my FZJ 80, by installing a larger-diameter rotor and mounting the stock caliper on a different bracket. I threw away the dust shields, and run 17" wheels.
The stock brakes on my 80 have always been adequate, but I figured I could make them more adequater.
Started with some larger rotors (13.3" vs stock 12.25")
The center bore of the rotors is larger than the wheel hub on the 80. So I 3D printed these little spacers. Time will tell if things get too hot for the plastic to survive or not--but since the rotor is clamped by the wheel, it will only matter when the wheel gets taken off.
This is where they sit:
The original rotor bolts on in back of the hub. This new one will slip-fit on the outside, but the O.D. of the hub is too large. So, turn it down. (you can also see an initial mockup bracket bolted in place, which got modified quite a bit by the final version) Also, the rotor indexes nicely on the O.D. of the wheel hub, so my little 3D printed spacer is probably completely unnecessary.
The new position of the caliper requires the bending of this tab that holds the ABS line.
I also had to grind a bit on one of the caliper mount tabs. Original first, then the post-grinding version:
And all assembled! Sorry for the crappy pic.
Here are the before/after brake distance numbers I tested. Both tests, I did one ~45MPH "panic stop" first with no measuring....that's mostly because on my first attempt, I didn't leave enough room to get the slow 80 up to 50mph indicated. So that one was thrown out, but serves to heat everything up a bit. I'll call that Stop #0. Then 4 subsequent stops from 50-0, marking the stop spot with chalk. (beginning braking when I passed a flagpole)
Before: Stock 80 brakes, with 100 series pads. 50MPH indicated starting speed:
Stop 1: 102'
2: 114'
3: 123'
4: 123'
Stops 0 and 1 both dug in nice and hard, ABS chattering away, tires barking, stopped as fast as that truck will stop. Stop #2 ABS still engaged a little, but not nearly as much--and the brakes started smelling pretty strong. #3 and 4, no ABS at all, no tire barking, lots of burning-brake smell, and you can see in the stop distance it was doing all it could do. I would say I was well into "faded brakes" territory.
After: 4Runner rotors, stock 80 calipers, with new Toyota 80 pads. Bedded in pads/rotors, then drove for a week to make sure they were all set. 50MPH indicated starting speed:
Stop 1: 112'
2: 96'
3: 116'
4: 101'
I don't think I was as accurate on my initial speed, nor my "beginning stop" point on these--and just a couple MPH difference, and/or a few feet distance at the start really affect the measurements. BUT, the main takeaway is that ALL stops from 0 thru 4 had the ABS activating and tires barking, with just a little brake smell on the last one or two. I imagine if I would have kept doing test-brake runs I would have gotten into "fade" area, but for my purposes I'm completely happy.
In my setup, the extra ~.25" of rotor thickness took up all the hub-centric pilot of the hub, and also made my lug studs too short. I'm OK with running lug-centric, and some Extended Thread lug nuts made up for the too-short studs. (the ET nuts have an extra little pilot sticking out through the tapered seat)
This may not be the best way of getting bigger brakes (probably isn't), but it was cheap and effective. Only cost me a pair of rotors and some time, and gained me some stopping performance and future maintenance ease since the rotor is now slip-fit.
The stock brakes on my 80 have always been adequate, but I figured I could make them more adequater.
Started with some larger rotors (13.3" vs stock 12.25")
The center bore of the rotors is larger than the wheel hub on the 80. So I 3D printed these little spacers. Time will tell if things get too hot for the plastic to survive or not--but since the rotor is clamped by the wheel, it will only matter when the wheel gets taken off.
This is where they sit:
The original rotor bolts on in back of the hub. This new one will slip-fit on the outside, but the O.D. of the hub is too large. So, turn it down. (you can also see an initial mockup bracket bolted in place, which got modified quite a bit by the final version) Also, the rotor indexes nicely on the O.D. of the wheel hub, so my little 3D printed spacer is probably completely unnecessary.
The new position of the caliper requires the bending of this tab that holds the ABS line.
I also had to grind a bit on one of the caliper mount tabs. Original first, then the post-grinding version:
And all assembled! Sorry for the crappy pic.
Here are the before/after brake distance numbers I tested. Both tests, I did one ~45MPH "panic stop" first with no measuring....that's mostly because on my first attempt, I didn't leave enough room to get the slow 80 up to 50mph indicated.
So that one was thrown out, but serves to heat everything up a bit. I'll call that Stop #0. Then 4 subsequent stops from 50-0, marking the stop spot with chalk. (beginning braking when I passed a flagpole)Before: Stock 80 brakes, with 100 series pads. 50MPH indicated starting speed:
Stop 1: 102'
2: 114'
3: 123'
4: 123'
Stops 0 and 1 both dug in nice and hard, ABS chattering away, tires barking, stopped as fast as that truck will stop. Stop #2 ABS still engaged a little, but not nearly as much--and the brakes started smelling pretty strong. #3 and 4, no ABS at all, no tire barking, lots of burning-brake smell, and you can see in the stop distance it was doing all it could do. I would say I was well into "faded brakes" territory.
After: 4Runner rotors, stock 80 calipers, with new Toyota 80 pads. Bedded in pads/rotors, then drove for a week to make sure they were all set. 50MPH indicated starting speed:
Stop 1: 112'
2: 96'
3: 116'
4: 101'
I don't think I was as accurate on my initial speed, nor my "beginning stop" point on these--and just a couple MPH difference, and/or a few feet distance at the start really affect the measurements. BUT, the main takeaway is that ALL stops from 0 thru 4 had the ABS activating and tires barking, with just a little brake smell on the last one or two. I imagine if I would have kept doing test-brake runs I would have gotten into "fade" area, but for my purposes I'm completely happy.
In my setup, the extra ~.25" of rotor thickness took up all the hub-centric pilot of the hub, and also made my lug studs too short. I'm OK with running lug-centric, and some Extended Thread lug nuts made up for the too-short studs. (the ET nuts have an extra little pilot sticking out through the tapered seat)
This may not be the best way of getting bigger brakes (probably isn't), but it was cheap and effective. Only cost me a pair of rotors and some time, and gained me some stopping performance and future maintenance ease since the rotor is now slip-fit.
