Thread: Best front disc brake setup

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What's the best front disc brake setup for a 32 highboy ? I like the look of socal setup with drums over disc brakes , but way to much money.

I'm not a disc brake guy normally, but I do like Wilwoods. For the money they are made well and for the weight of a Deuce I think you would want the 4 or 6 puck model. But Wilwood is great on the phone and can advise you for sure.

Probably some of our Deuce guys on here and others might have different opinions, so we'll see what folks who really know suggest.

Don

I've got 9000 miles on my High Boy with 4 puck Wilwoods on the front and stock 8" Ford rear drums. It stops good, no complaints even with "big and little" tires. You just need a proportioning valve in line.

I also have the Wilwood setup on my 32 3W coupe. It works GREAT
I have a 9 inch Ford rear with 11X2.5 drums in the rear. I have a djustable proportional valve ( Wilwood also ) and the 2 lb and 10 lb residual valves.

I like it
When someone looks under the front fender ... the chrome backing plate looks a LOT like a regular backing plate that has been chromed.

You can see more on the 32 3W in this journal

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/jour...ge=5&reverse=1

I have previously and am currently running Wilwood discs

Rears:



Fronts:

If you are on a budget and cannot afford Wilwood brakes, there is a much less expensive alternative. I used this kit on my '29 Ford roadster twenty years ago. It is available from Speedway. I had the brackets chrome plated.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Speedw...2-BC,7677.html

Originally Posted by 32highboy54

What's the best front disc brake setup for a 32 highboy ? I like the look of socal setup with drums over disc brakes , but way to much money.

Best? As far as what. Brand, cost, looks, working, fixed, floating, floating rotor, for street, racing, cornering/handling?

What type use is it going to get?

Pat

street, racing, cornering/handling, loading on and off a trailer ( or is that a trailer brake???)

Originally Posted by jerry clayton

street, racing, cornering/handling, loading on and off a trailer ( or is that a trailer brake???)

Only someone that doesn't know, would ask such thing!

Are you saying you don't know the difference?

Pat

Originally Posted by rumrumm

If you are on a budget and cannot afford Wilwood brakes, there is a much less expensive alternative. I used this kit on my '29 Ford roadster twenty years ago. It is available from Speedway. I had the brackets chrome plated.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Speedw...2-BC,7677.html

One IMPORTANT thing that rumrumm did not mention is ...
Parts for that conversion are WAY more available ... if your car has a brake problem hundreds of miles away from home.

I have a spare set of Wilwood pads, bearings and races for mine ... that travel with me.
But IF I had a rotor failure, a wheel bearing that killed the rotor or any other SERIOUS brake issue ( caliper failure ) ... I will have a LOT more difficult time finding the parts when out in Bum Rap Arizona on the way to or from a rod run.



I took this photo ... on the way back home to the Carolinas on my last trip to Los Angeles for the LA Roadster show.

I have always carried a set of bearings and a seal with what ever street rod I've had, but really doubt that a set of pads or rotor would fail unless a caliper failed, then you really are screwed to the wall. I am considering a loaded caliper as part of my travel kit for this car.

Originally Posted by IC2

I have always carried a set of bearings and a seal with what ever street rod I've had, but really doubt that a set of pads or rotor would fail unless a caliper failed,
then you really are screwed to the wall. I am considering a loaded caliper as part of my travel kit for this car.

I had a fellow ( who had Wilwood brakes on his 32 roadster ) tell me he had a pair of Wilwood pads go bad in less than 2,000 miles. He was having trouble finding a set even at the show. Wilwood was not there. He was at the LA Roadster event ... and I was there in my roadster. The 3W was not yet on the road ... ( 2007 ).

I now have less than 2,000 miles on the 3W ... but as a precautionary measure I got a set ... before I ever put it on the highway.

You must keep in mind that 2000 miles is a lot on a set of race brakes--they have so many compounds for specific uses that the wrong choice is going to be extremely short lived--like maybe even a couple HUNDRED miles

It is very hard to beat OEM stuff as the brakes are one system that probily have more engineering work than anything outside the exhaust smell

Wilwood supplies enough different pad compounds that you have your choice of what kind of life expectancy you want.

When I did the back brake install, I tried to find out what compound I had to do a best match for the fronts and even Wilwood couldn't tell me for sure without actually seeing them. They, at least at that time, didn't manufacture their own pads but subbed them out to several different companies. My backs are Hawk, but the color is wrong for that number.

The reason that sometimes disc brakes from a larger American car aren't ok is weight and rotating mass. Those brakes are designed for a 3-4,000 pound car and weigh probably twice as much as an aftermarket set like Wilwoods. Not so critical on the original car but on a rod that weighs a lot less and probably has a beam type axle setup heavier brakes can cause some ill handling issues.......like deathwobble.

We were told by Mickey from Total Performance that we were not going to like the GTO disc brakes we installed on my Kids T bucket, but we had them and they were chromed () so we used them. He was right, the car handled very badly and after switching to Wilwoods it was so much better.

Stock brakes aren't very pretty either IMO, especially in a fenderless car.


Don