Sport Trec Brake swap on 98+ 2wd ranger

mellow65 · Sep 3, 2014

I'm going to start by saying, yes I searched, it seems like a formality sometimes to just say that.

I'm wondering what it takes to swap the sport trac 12" brakes on a 98+ ranger?

So with my searching, I found the article about swapping the sport trac 12" rotors to the 97 and older rangers.
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/sport_trac_12-inch_rotor_swap.shtml
But no where can I find anything about the 98+.

This is what I have figured out, the bearings are all the same between the 97-, 98+ and sport trac, so the physical fitting of the rotor is not the issue, its the fitment of the calipers. With the 97- it's required to build a small bracket to move your calipers out to clear the new larger rotors.

But with the 98+, because the whole front suspension is very simalar between the ranger and the sport trac, does a bracket still need to be made?

Or does the sport trac caliper and bracket bolt on to the ranger hub, making this a bolt on swap?

Or last option, if the caliper and bracket from the sport trac does not bolt onto the ranger hub, can the whole sport trac hub/brake/caliper assembly be swapped in place of the ranger one? More or less asking if the ball joints all are the same, and the hub is the same size?

Thanks for the info

JoshT · Sep 3, 2014

It's Trac

You will need later model Ranger knuckles. You grab everything from a 2003+ Ranger to do the swap. It's called the Sport Trac swap, but those Rangers ran the same diameter rotor, same calipers and same brake pads. IIRC the steering knuckles and caliper brackets are different, so you'll need the Ranger parts.

EDIT: I stand corrected. Been a while since I looked into 2wd brake upgrades, and I don't own a SLA 2wd. I was mistakenly thinking that all 2003+ Rangers had the 12" rotors, it's just the 4wd trucks. So it depends on your truck. If your Ranger is a Torsion Bar 2wd then the knuckle swap from a Sport Track may work, but I won't guarantee it. I am still about 90% positive that if they can be swapped, you will need the sport trac steering knuckle to do it.

FYI it's only a 3/4 inch increase in diameter, which adds about 3/8" of mechanical advantage, so it might not even be worth the effort. That's your decision to make. Getting good pads and rotors, flushing and bleeding the system , and steel braided hoses will do as much or more for your braking than you will get from that 3/8".

mellow65 · Sep 3, 2014

Oops my bad, I changed what I could in original post.

So I was online looking at rotor sizes and what I was finding for a 2000 ranger they were listed as 10.4". So I'm confused about which rangers came with the 11.something brakes.

JoshT · Sep 3, 2014

You didn't need to change anything, that was just FYI.

Do you have coil springs or torsion bars in front? They made 2wd both ways and your stock brake size will bepend on it.

mellow65 · Sep 3, 2014

Well TECHNICALLY there is no truck yet. I'm planning out a project right now. But I was planning on getting the coil suspensioned ranger when I get one.

Not unless I can't do the larger brakes, then I'll have to rethink my plan.

stmitch · Sep 4, 2014

There were 2 disc brake sizes used on the 2wd trucks with SLA suspension. I think around 01 they went to 11.something inch brakes, or the larger size was at least offered as an option on those trucks.

That's the only "Bolt on" upgrade using Ford factory parts that I'm aware of. Everything else would require some custom pieces to use.

JoshT · Sep 4, 2014

At some point between '01 and '03 the coil spring front brakes grew about an inch. From ~10.25 to ~11.25 inches. To swap you would need the knuckles and all for the swap.

Since you wouldn't share your plans I dug through your post history to find out. For a rally truck you may want to use a Torsion bar truck and convert it to coil overs. A 2wd t-bar can be lowered to coil spring height no problem. The coil overs would be better off road, and the arms are same as 4wd so may be stronger. That may also open you up to the 12" swap.

mellow65 · Sep 4, 2014

JoshT said:
At some point between '01 and '03 the coil spring front brakes grew about an inch. From ~10.25 to ~11.25 inches. To swap you would need the knuckles and all for the swap.

Since you wouldn't share your plans I dug through your post history to find out. For a rally truck you may want to use a Torsion bar truck and convert it to coil overs. A 2wd t-bar can be lowered to coil spring height no problem. The coil overs would be better off road, and the arms are same as 4wd so may be stronger. That may also open you up to the 12" swap.

It's not that I was hiding it.

I have thought of the torsion stuff, but that would entail finding an Edge to start with or possibly a 3 door explorer, because I'm looking for the shorter wheelbased frame to put a extended cab on it.

And I'm assuming putting a coil over on a torsion suspension would be no different then putting a coil over on a sprung front end, my goal is to try to use as many stockish parts I could. Because no one can afford all that coil over bling bling stuff.

I just don't know how a torsion bar would really hold up doing rally. Any thing I have ever seen run rally or other kinds of off road racing have always used coils of some sorts, so there has to be something to that.

And I just figured out the explorer 3 door has a shorter wheelbase than the ranger, so really I may explore (pun intended :icon_thumby:

) that route further.

JoshT · Sep 4, 2014

Don't know about coil overs on coil sprung front end. I just know people do it on the torsion bar ones. I know it will be a little different due to the differences in parts and frame.

Shorter wheel base, but sit higher. The rear leaf springs are in line with and under the rear frame.

Want short, try an extended cab on a BII frame. That's short. There's nothing wrong with I-beams for rally. IIRC there are a few members on here that I-beam based rally trucks. One of them is an early extended cab, square body Ranger and I think it's sitting in a regular cab short bed frame. Can't remember who the member is off the top of my head. Maybe he can give you some better ideas since he's doing it. IIRC you can get the BII frames down to Ranger height by swapping the I-beam cross member and beams for ones from a 2wd Ranger.

mellow65 · Sep 4, 2014

JoshT said:
Don't know about coil overs on coil sprung front end. I just know people do it on the torsion bar ones. I know it will be a little different due to the differences in parts and frame.

Shorter wheel base, but sit higher. The rear leaf springs are in line with and under the rear frame.

Want short, try an extended cab on a BII frame. That's short. There's nothing wrong with I-beams for rally. IIRC there are a few members on here that I-beam based rally trucks. One of them is an early extended cab, square body Ranger and I think it's sitting in a regular cab short bed frame. Can't remember who the member is off the top of my head. Maybe he can give you some better ideas since he's doing it.

I'm going to guess it's Gary's ranger.

https://www.facebook.com/V8RallyRanger

It's not that i'm against the TIB, what I'm against is the steering. I raced a mid 90s Mighty Max and it had the steering box style, and I could never really complain about it, but I could never really compliment it either. It just felt like it was more wondering verses the rack and peanut cars I have raced. Yes I know it's comparing apple to oranges, but it's all I have. I was hoping to have some preciseness in the steering, even if it's going to be a truck.

Sport Trec Brake swap on 98+ 2wd ranger

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