Front Brake Calipers

[Mo Murphy]

I have pre '86 hubs on my 90. I'm going to buy new front calipers, could I buy 110 calipers instead of the 90 items ? The reason I ask is that 110 items are nearly 30 quid an item cheaper !

IIRC 110 calipers have larger pistons, I assume that this will improve braking performance ?

Cheers

Mo

[jbs]

Mo, I think you'll find that they should fit, I have 300 tdi 24 spline axles on my 90 and I've got vented callipers and disks on the front end of mine they bolt straight on, there was normal callipers/solid disks on there before-not sure about the calliper bolt size though as I know some of the disco/90 rear ones are a different diameter which maybe the case for the front's too

Obviously an adult will be along to correct me-or agree with me

HTH

John

[Maverik]

I've been thinking the same thing... not come to a conclusion yet as had to put it on the back burner.

Some interesting reading in this post.

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=56568&st=0&p=499597&fromsearch=1entry499597

Mav

[Mo Murphy]

Thanks Gents,

Yup, I've got a couple of posts in that thread Maverik

Thing is that I'm ready to buy now and I need to find out if they will fit to avoid a costly mistake

I've thought about going down the vented route but I don't suppose it's really necessary. So I just want to find out if I can simply replace my 90 items with 110 calipers of the same year.

Mo

[Maverik]

Thanks Gents,

Yup, I've got a couple of posts in that thread Maverik

Thing is that I'm ready to buy now and I need to find out if they will fit to avoid a costly mistake

I've thought about going down the vented route but I don't suppose it's really necessary. So I just want to find out if I can simply replace my 90 items with 110 calipers of the same year.

Mo

Hehe A pepetual problem I feel I keep hitting - cross compatability of parts - I wish there was a document showing all the parts that have cross compatibility across land rover vehicles. Let me know when you take the plunge

[Aragorn]

For any given year the swivel housings are the same between 90's and 110's

Microcat shows two main types, upto 94, and 94 onwards, however i suspect there may be some very early parts (perhaps with imperial caliper bolts?) that arent listed. I would suggest finding a parts book for your year of 90 to be sure, or alternatively, fit a later axle with the more common parts!

Remember that fitting larger calipers, especially with such a big change as going from 41 to 46mm across 8 pistons, can have quite an effect on how the brakes feel. Your pedal will most likely become very "long" as the smaller master cylinder will require more stroke to flow enough fluid to fill the bigger pistons. Early 90's had different master cylinders to 110's, until some time around 1990 when they upgraded everything to 46mm pistons and used the same master cylinder on all models.

[Retroanaconda]

They rationalised the 90/110 brakes in 1991 I think?

So prior to that it may be different calipers/discs between a 90 and a 110. I'd check the parts catalogues, the part numbers should reveal any differences.

[Mo Murphy]

I'm using a 2005 type servo and master cylinder.

I'll go for it and be damned, if the hubs are common then the hole pitch will be the same and the bolt thread SHOULD be the same.

Do vented discs make much of a difference ?

much obliged chaps

Mo

[Aragorn]

Vented disks wont make any difference in straight forward braking performance, if the pistons were the same size it'd have felt exactly the same.

The difference comes after the third or fourth heavy application (say giving it death down a B-Road, or towing something heavy) the vented disks not only have a larger thermal mass, but the venting gets more air flowing thru the disk to cool it down faster. This means the brakes will continue working for much longer, when the standard brakes would have overheated and faded.

[Mo Murphy]

I see, thanks for that Aragorn

Mo