Geo Tracker/Suzuki Sidekick Disc Brake Solution For Early CJ5's

Disc calipers need more fluid than rear drums so the larger reservoir goes to disc.

 

I did four wheel disc conversion. Is a portioning needed?

 

Yes, if your brakes are the same size all around, you'll want an adjustable valve for the rears to prevent them from locking up before the fronts.

 

ah....makes sense. thank you. hopefully i can get this situated by sunday!

 

Please follow this link for a brief discussion of the reasons why you need a safety valve plumbed into the system!
Geo Disks With Stock Single Master Cyl

 

Just finished my conversion, and WOW. cant say enough good about this. It stops now like a modern car! A+ rating for this DIY project.

Some point of note for me:
1. I had to buy a hub puller.
2. I had to clearance some material from inside the caliper. The OD of the rotors touched the calipers slightly.
3. I had to buy an expensive, odd sized drill bit to drill out my stud holes in the rotor
4. I installed a new dual reservoir master cylinder. that means i had to fab up a new mount for it, and yes, a new push rod to go along with that. luckily i have some 4" angle scrap on hand.
5. I purchased a proportioning valve for the back brakes that had the tail light hookup incorporated directly into it
6. I bought metric bolts to 3/16" line, this way I eliminated one more conversion nut/possible brakeline failure point
7. I replaced every last brake line with new hard line or flex line as needed

Overall it went smooth. If I focused more, and had all the tools and parts on hand, I'd say an easy 4 day job of taking your time and doing it right. It's a night and day difference once complete.

now, do i do this to my '70cj with the dana 27, or do i regear the dana 30 that has disks on it already?

 

Dana 30 so we know how they compare side by side.

 

Very cool. I swapped a drum 25 to NT30 with disks and that was night and day. I do like my NT30 swap. It's one of the mods I'd definitely do again. Even if you keep the Ross, you'll get crossover steering.

I have a disk NT30 if you need one and am planning on going to Aniwa this year.

 

I just purchased all the parts to do the Tracker swap on my 74 D30 front axle. Looks like I have a fun weekend ahead of me. I'll try it first without any mods at the MC.

 

I'm excited to see how this works with a stock single MC. It'd be a neat upgrade for a road driven resto setup (which I'm debating on my green 1970).

 

My 74 has a dual MC

 

I've been running the Tracker discs on the front of my 3B for about 7 months with the stock master cylinder. You will have to remove the residual pressure valve. Else your front brakes will drag to much. It's easy. Remove the piston from the master and push the valve out from the discharge end of the assembly. I removed the rubber disc and put the rest of it back in.

I bought the 2 and 10lb valves to install but never got around to it. Brakes have worked fine.

 

I have been re-reading many of the disc brake conversion posts. Question is this the only conversion that make taking the rotors off easy? And keep the original 15inch rims? This past year we have been having a bit of flooding and the other vehicles have taken a hit in the brakes. I realllllly come to like the remove calipers and through away rotor and pads!! This year...Twice on the wrangler and bmw and once to the f150 that came late to the party. I think the Geo is the way to go or also like the only simple “no machining” alternative?? Yes? Btw this would be on our 67’ Jeepster currently 10inch drums all around as was pointed out many years ago wimpy axles 27 front and 30 rear... lol

This has been great reading, the knowledge base here is outstanding!!

thank you,
Tony

 

I couldn't keep my stock wheels with this conversion. Perhaps there is a stock wheel that won't rub on the calipers or maybe a slight spacer

 

I think my wheels are from a late 70s CJ5, but my 15" wheels do not rub on my 79 disks, which I think are a much larger setup than the Geo stuff.

 

My '58 came with the 16" by 4.5" width and they do clear but barely. Over 1,000 miles with no issues. In my write up post 10 there is a pic of the clearance.

 

16" wheels clear just fine. Some later and aftermarket 15" wheels work. Stock Jeepster wheels, unfortunately, will not.

 

At one point I was thinking about doing this on Wilbur, my 55 wagon, which all wagons came with 15". I tried them and no they won't clear.

 

I started working on my conversion today, pulled the hubs off the spindles of my dana 30 swap. Found that the axle bearings are caked solid with old grease and the seals are hardened. Oh well, one step forward two steps back. I'm excited to try out this disk swap!

 

It's a pretty nice upgrade, that's for sure