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Master cylinder question for explorer 8.8 swap


ish474

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Is it nesesary to change the master cylinder when you do the 8.8 explorer swap? I'm sure it's covered somewhere else but I didn't find a clear answer.
 


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Don't think so.............

Is it nesesary to change the master cylinder when you do the 8.8 explorer swap? I'm sure it's covered somewhere else but I didn't find a clear answer.
==============================================
I changed nothin on my 94 when I swapped in the 92 Explorer axle 3 yrs ago or when I put in the 98 Explorer disc braked axle last year............no problems here!
 

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if it is disk brake you will want to put the disk master on but you can get away with it for a spell.
 

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My BII has the stock master, seems to be fine ('99 Ex 8.8)
 

AKBroncoII

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The brake bias is different from a disk/drum master to a disk/disk master. I wouldn't run a disk/drum master with disk braked rear.
 

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as long as your truck doesn't have ABS, then the master cylinder will be fine.....
 

ish474

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Thanls for all the help. I'm going to go with the ranger master cylinder for now but I will upgrade later. I'm going to run bigger front brakes also but for now I need to make this thing drive under it's own power.
 

bdavis

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I have a '93 Supercab with the 4.0 and rear ABS. If I swap in the Explorer disk brake rear, how big of a pain is it to swap in the disk brake master cylinder?
 

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You wont need too.
 

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The master cylinders are the same (in relation to the same year vehicle) as long as your ranger had ABS. ex. Since you have a 93, yours will be the same as a 93 explorer.

Where the problem lies is that ford used a different master on the newer vehicles (95-97 and again in 98) so if your swapping in an exploder 8.8 with disks (95 up), the masters would be different. While you can use the existing master, I myself would look into upgrading to the newer master. You should be able to swap them out. Im unaware of any mounting differences other than maybe tubing nut size, etc.

The other difference is the proportioning valve is different and can be swapped over, but most people dont mess with it, and with the amount of people running the exploder 8.8, I havent heard of any problems due to this.
 

2004xlmiller

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gonna bump an old thread here.. i did a mustang disc brake swap on my ranger, so not an expo 8.8. my truck does have ABS, and the pedal gets a little soft and doesnt respond the way it should when braking. an expo master should work and fix this, but what years are best to look for? direct swap nothing else needs to be changed?
 

kryptonitecb

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I would take a guess and say abs will not work right without the proper master cylinder but then I don't have abs either. Most guys takes it out as it interferes with offroading and other aspects of truck upgrades.

Any master cylinder from a 4 wheel disk explorer will fix the soft pedal issue.

Sent from the road while ignoring traffic
 

2004xlmiller

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if thats the case after i swap in the expo master (tonight) ill just pull the fuse for the ABS.
 

kryptonitecb

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Do some searching cause I'm not to sure about my answer.

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Watch out opening the system above the ABS module. Air can get trapped in it and doesn't bleed out normally. If you want to delete the ABS plumb around the module. You need to keep the ECU intact and functioning because the speedo signal runs through it.
 

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