1986 Bronco Break upgrade

Hi together,

Is there any possibility to "upgrade" the breaks of my 1986?

I were driving into holidays passing the San Bernadino pass. Driving it up was a pleasure with my 347 stroker. But driving down to the valley wasn't a pleasure at all, cause the front breaks lost their power cause of getting too hot.

Same thing on Corse, where we've spent the holidays...many hills to drive up and also getting them down...

I thought about changing the fluid from DOT 4 to silicone. I've also seen that there exists calipers with two pistons, but maybe not directly for my year of build...

Does somebody know which breaks are interchangeable? Or what other options o have?

I was a bit surprised that the breaks of an Off-road car with this weight are seem to be so "weak"...

Hi, René.

I just put a Hydroboost from Bronco graveyard on my 1985 Bronco. Set up as a direct bolt in without modifi action to brake pedal, etc.

Other people might have different options. I like the Hydroboost.

As I understand it, the booster is actually made by Bosch(?) and the fabrication adaptor plate and hardware that bolt directly to the older ford trucks is made by Hydratech.

I would call them if possible and see what their turnaround time is as it took me 10 months to get mine. It was also during the end of COVID, etc.

When I bought off Bronco graveyard, it was ~$900. The last I looked it was closer to $1300 now.







I don’t know what it would take to upgrade the rotors/caliper setup with these front axles.

William

Apologies.

Here is the hydratech link

http://hydratechbraking.com/

Hi!

Thanks for this. But will it solve my problem? I can't imagine that it will prevent the fluid from boiling...my problem was that I've used the breaks over a long distance by pressing them only to get slower and not fully stop the car. While doing this the system gets very hot. As far as I know, the problem is that when the fluid is boiling, there are small bubbles inside and you need to pump the pedal to get the system under pressure...

Easy answer is that I don’t know yet. I “feel” like my braking is more efficient and controlled.

My reference is only as options for better braking on these old rigs. I am sure some of the more seasoned people will reply. When I was doing my research for better, more efficient braking this was the best option without axle swaps, etc.

I know that I don’t need to brake as hard as I did prior to the swap. I am running 35x12.5R15 with a 6 inch lift.

Less pedal time to achieve the braking should help with heat build up????  I might be wrong.

William

Unless you get more surface area in the brakes, like larger discs and/or larger pads it isn’t likely that changing the type of boost from vacuum to hydraulic will give you more braking ability. It will change the feel, but not the overall braking ability.

Having said that, I don’t know what is in those kits. Do they come with larger front discs and/or pads?  Maybe they do but with my grandkids visiting I’ve not had time to check.

There are kits out there, but no idea if they are any good. A quick search threw these up:

https://fatfender.com/products/ford-73-79-f100-f150-bronco-14-front-big-brake-kit-4wd

https://www.littleshopmfg.com/ford-80-96-f150-bronco-rear-disc-brakes/

Gary Lewis wrote

Unless you get more surface area in the brakes, like larger discs and/or larger pads it isn’t likely that changing the type of boost from vacuum to hydraulic will give you more braking ability. It will change the feel, but not the overall braking ability.

Having said that, I don’t know what is in those kits. Do they come with larger front discs and/or pads?  Maybe they do but with my grandkids visiting I’ve not had time to check.

I know a little late sorry
I am with Gary on this only larger braking area to get rid of the heat will fix this.
I dont know if there are any kits to make this happen or not?

Now if you can get more air to the front brakes this will help.
If you plan on doing this run a lot you can run dryer duct to the wheels to blow air on the calipers.
Road racing cars use this set up.
Do you have a air dam under the front bumper? If so this can be block air flow under the truck and to the front wheels.

The only thing you have to keep in mind with the ducts is if it rains.
Water on the brakes is just as bad as them over heating and not working.

What transmission do you run?
Just like the signs say at the top of a long down hill for trucks "use lower gear"!
I drive a tanker trailer truck and there is one 5 mile climb up the mountin at 25 MPH  loaded.
Well what goes up must come down! I used the same gear I going up at, going back down and on the engine break all the way down, no brake pedal, at the same 25 MPH.

Thing is there are tight turns all the way up and down and no truck run off, just over the side that you will not live thru.
Lower gear and take your time is all I have for you.
Dave ----

Why are you thinking it's the fluid boiling?  You have to be doing a lot of repeated heavy stops to boil it.  If you're already running dot 4 you're not going to boil that in a bronco.  Dot 4 is a lot more prone to picking up moisture, if you aren't changing it yearly that's probably your problem.  It's far more likely you're overheating the pads and you haven't told us what you're running.  


I run dot 4 in the Q and have never boiled it even at the track.  I can't fathom jumping to fluid unless you're already running serious pads and rotors already.  

Did you even read Rene's opening post?
He's descending some of the steepest mountain passes in the Swiss alps in a fully laden '80's Bronco with a C6.

Miles and miles of downhill switchbacks...
You spend half an hour or more riding the brakes

There's a reason for signs that say 'Trucks use low gear'
Rene should be in (1) or (2) but definitely not (D)

Heat from the brakes will cause two scenarios
1. Brake fade, overheating of the friction surfaces. Driving in D1 or D2 will not get enough air to rotors or calipers to cool them down.
2. Brake pedal loss, caused from boiling fluid. This later scenario can be isolated by pumping the brake pedal and if pedal/brakes are better then there is water in the system. Have to ask Rene if he did pump them?
Either way after such a drive Rene should flush the brake fluid.