Full Float Ford 9" Build

It will have to be different mounting bracket. The GM system is one big bracket that bolts to the spindle and captures the caliper along with having mounts for the slide pins.

The ford brakes have the caliper with a bracket that has the slide pins. Then that bracket will hase two mounting bolts. I will have to make a bracket from the axle housing (most likely will bolt to the spindle) that will provide the two mounting points for the factory bracket.

Stealing ideas from here (although mine will likely be a little different):
Electric Emergency Brake ( EEBrake ) Rear Bracket Kit, 41-75+ Jeep

Thanks to TomTom for sending me that link! I think this could be a pretty fun upgrade to the project.

 

I received my ford fusion caliper. I am pretty excited about this direction. I had to try it out so i wired it up to a power supply set at 12.6vdc it clamped down and stalled at 4.65 amps. I am trying to decide how complicated I want to make the control. On one extreme I could probably just manually control it with switches. But I don't want to burn up the motor, so I should probably incorporate some kind of current limiting circuit, I am by no means a sparky, so I am looking into solutions. If anyone has an idea, I would love to hear it.

A quick eyeball of the alignment and it looks like the bracket to mount the caliper should be easy.

If I mount the rotor behind the hub like the original design with these hubs, I will have to drill out the holes on the rotor. They are the correct pattern but must use smaller studs.

 

I was looking for a quick and easy solution, but most of the current limiting switches seem to be set at 5 amps for the lowest setting. I would want it to be automatic and it would have to allow current to flow in both directions or it wouldn't unclamp.

 

Is there a timed-based switch, rather than a amperage-based switch? Like a 5-second relay?

 

Here’s an adjustable fuel priming box. $55.00.
I’m sure you could wire it in to a 2-way switch/relay setup.
Fuel Pump Priming Timer Module

 

You can do all sorts of those. Programmable to whatever you like, but as the clamping pressure increases it pulls more amps. To be able to adjust the amps means you control the braking effort.. electronic cutting brakes become an option.. Mosfet chips used in an assembly with a rheostat/potentiometer? Switchable for polarity? Tim ..Howard ??

 

Thanks for all of the discussion on this. My main desire is to have a solid parking brake and independent control for steering brakes for better front digs! I will likely just wire up some simple switches/relays to manually control them initially. I will monitor voltage and current while manually controlling and get a feel for how they perform. I would like to work out a control system that would automatically control clamping force. I believe that some versions of EPB (electric parking brake) use a force sensor but I believe this version only uses current control. There are some tricks that have to be worked out with current in rush on motor startup and there probably should be a time component but I am just getting started looking into that.

I don't know how I feel about losing my handbrake lever, that means no more bitchen handbrake induced drifts

 

that's too bad.

 

I know right! Sounds lame. The electric brakes are cool but kind of slow acting for drifting.

 

Out with the old



In with the new (first mock up) lots of bracket to make and weld in.

 

What happened to the yoke?

 

I was gonna ask the same thing.

 

Yeah so I had been wondering how I broke that last trip out. We were tearing around Superstition Mountain outside of Mesa AZ. When I would get on the gas I would here knocking. Then I really hit the gas and Bam! It busted. Turns out the top bolt of my traction bar had broken and fallen out. I think the springs were wrapping so bad it bound up the yoke until it broke.

 

Yikes, that's a reminder to have look when you hear funny noises.

 

I should have know since I had broken a yoke like that before, a long time ago before I had a traction bar. It is one of the dangers of running really soft springs. I am going to improve the design of the traction bar (hopefully). It has a two hard mounts at the axle with 1/2" bolts. This is the second one I have broken. I might put a rubber bushing in, or go with bigger hardware.

 

Some progress today. Made the spring plates:



I put the axle up and lining it up took way longer than it should have. This housing has a flat spot on the top of the tube which would probably be helpful if you were mounting it in standard orientation. However I am running with the pinion 20 degrees up. So the spring perch didn't fit well, everytime I adjusted the pinion angle I would have to pull the perch out and grind to fit. But it all came together in the end:


Started cutting tabs for the shock mounts and looked at the traction bar, still working that one out.

 

Shock tabs done:

 

Are there going to be any issues withe the pinion bearings getting oil with the pinion pointing up like that? Im interested to see how you wire up the fusion calipers, i just ordered the metcslf brackets for my jeep.

 

I did worry about oiling the pinion bearings when I first set up the AMC20 at that angle years ago. It held up to 10 years of abuse. I hope the 9 inch does as well. The ring gear will sling a lot oil up towards the bearings. I might look at the oiling path and see if any improvements can be made. But even if the bearings only last 10000 miles, that might be enough for me.

Tom and I were talking about the wiring and he sent me a solution he had used for a different project. Very simple double pole, double throw switch with a thermal circuit breaker for safety. I will probably add a master power switch so they aren't switched accidentally while driving at speed.

I want to mess around with some automated solutions for fun. But that can wait a while. I am curious to see how they work.

I am going to make my own brackets, you are doing it the smart way! I could probably make his work, i think the bolt pattern is the same.