Disc Brakes On an '02?

ManicMechanicJoe · **Posted:** Fri Nov 25, 2005 4:55 am

My Liberty has about 50,000 miles on it and the brakes are shot. It is an '02 without ABS. Is it possible to "bolt" on a set of discs on the rear to get rid of those ugly, lousy brake drums? If so, what year did rear discs come out? What should I look for when purchasing the parts? I can't be the only guy that wants to do this... I bet Jeepin Al has a solution for me...

Myke · **Posted:** Fri Nov 25, 2005 5:38 pm

I would like to do the same.

grumppee · **Posted:** Fri Nov 25, 2005 6:17 pm

Upgrade your front rotors and pads.

Powerslot Rotor Front Left 8743PSL
Powerslot Rotor Front Right 8743PSR
Hawk Performance Pads HB373F689

This will help makeup for the rear drums, or as I like to call them, the rear "dumb" brakes.

jelohead · **Posted:** Fri Nov 25, 2005 9:27 pm

before i got my 05, i did quite a bit of shoppin around, i believe rear discs came out on the 03 models, am i correct guys?

FreedomKJ · **Posted:** Fri Nov 25, 2005 10:35 pm

jelohead wrote:

before i got my 05, i did quite a bit of shoppin around, i believe rear discs came out on the 03 models, am i correct guys?

Yes.

Unless you are very good at fabrication (and willing to trust your life to it) the only way to change to discs would be to swap for an entire axle from an '03 or later.

There may be a kit out there to add discs to the 8.25" from an XJ or ZJ, but I've not seen one.

sleeve84028 · **Posted:** Fri Nov 25, 2005 11:28 pm

I could have sworn that I saw a swap kit at Mopar.com I'll look for it and try to post it up again. You would only need to get the following for the swap:

1) New park brake cables
2) Caliper mounting brackets
3) Brake lines / Fittings
4) Calipers / Rotors / Pads and caliper bolts
5) Might need new perportioning valve to readjust the pressure

There might be some small stuff that I missed, but that is all.... I don't think it would be hard at all to do the swap and have been considering it for a while now. I did it on my mustang without a problem.

allyrand · **Posted:** Sat Nov 26, 2005 12:34 am

here ya go...piece of cake

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/va4x4xj/XJ/zj-rear-disc.html

LimitedLurker · **Joined:** Fri Jul 08, 2005 7:18 pm **Posts:** 114

Crawltech used to have a kit for the 8.25. They are now PSC motor sports and I don't know if they still carry the kit.

Myke · **Posted:** Sat Nov 26, 2005 1:12 pm

allyrand wrote:

here ya go...piece of cake

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/va4x4xj/XJ/zj-rear-disc.html

Doesn't seem to hard, although I wouldn't trust something like this to myself.

winkelhawk · **Posted:** Sat Nov 26, 2005 1:59 pm

I started to look in to the swap. You will need to also swap the master cylinder and proportioning valve also. It looked like the factory parts would run somewhere around $600. I think I might try and find a a rear in the junk yard to swap. The price is in line with rear disk kits. I think that might be a project for the summer.

Myke · **Posted:** Sat Nov 26, 2005 2:34 pm

winkelhawk wrote:

I think that might be a project for the summer.

It's Nov. LOL

ManicMechanicJoe · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2005 12:20 am

Well i do trust my life to my mechanical skills, its seems pretty straight forward and I have had 2 years of technical school in the field. I will definetly pursue it in more depth.

kickit_in4wheel · **Posted:** Tue Nov 29, 2005 4:09 pm

I too am interested in this. I love my 2002, but I was a little dissapointed to learn that Jeep switched to disc in the back in 03, and there isn't a retrofit kit. I have been waiting for the entire axle to show up in a junkyard near home, and I'll figure it out from there. If anyone has any more info on this swap/conversion, please post it.

Rick

ManicMechanicJoe · **Posted:** Mon Dec 05, 2005 8:08 am

I just got a job in a full on machine shop building stern drives for boats, with the techincal school knowledge i picked up and a lot of local junkyards-I WILL attempt to pull this off within a month of two.

the1jferg · **Posted:** Mon Dec 05, 2005 10:04 am

Pull the axles, install the backplates, put on the disc, it ain't hard. You don't need to swap master cyl and p-valve. it ain't ABS anyway.

Yall makin it too hard.

I bet it don't make that much of a stopping diff anyway except in reverse. :wink:

uvalax236 · **Posted:** Mon Dec 05, 2005 11:18 am

the1jferg wrote:

I bet it don't make that much of a stopping diff anyway except in reverse. :wink:

No it prob wont make that huge of a differenc, however...

It will make a HUGE difference in cleaning the brakes from mud.

Jeepin Al · **Posted:** Mon Dec 05, 2005 1:40 pm

Nope, I have no solution for this one. I called SS brakes, the guys who do the conversions for hot rods, and they did not offer a kit yet. I will have to look around some more. Didn't think about the 8.25 on Cherokees however!

FYI, I am a fairly good shade tree mechanic, if I do say so myself. If I have done one, I have done a 100 drum brake jobs over the years on all soughts of cars and trucks. Well I changed the rear brakes on the Liberty around 10K ago. Did everything I thought was correct in replacing the brakes. Well, I heard this very faint grinding noise from the rear the other day. I pulled the drum, and the lower spring was cut in half and rubbing on the drum. My new brake shoes were just about worn out. It seems that the adjuster somehow cut through the spring and the brake shoes just rode on the drum ever so slightly :shock:

(not enough to make noise, but with that Flowmaster Hushpower, you really can't hear anything anyway!). Interesting, anyone else out there have this happen. There is only one real way to reinstall the spring, and I guess I put it in wrong way :oops:

, or if it was the correct position, we have a bit of a problem here.

Let me know!

Al

the1jferg · **Posted:** Mon Dec 05, 2005 4:07 pm

You have been given the very simple solution many times, you have no desire. :lol:

Jeepin Al · **Posted:** Mon Dec 05, 2005 7:49 pm

It's not that simple when you have to go and collect all the parts! It's much simpler just to open up a box and start wrenching!!!

:lol:

Al, the lazy guy!

the1jferg · **Posted:** Mon Dec 05, 2005 10:31 pm

I guess you got a point there.

Disc Brakes On an '02?

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