IF you had your druthers....

[tomslik]

building the caliper brackets/lowering plates for the rambler and,well, i've got room on the frond side AND the rear side of the spindle.
i'm leaning toward the rear BUT, what say you?
and why?

looks are NOT important, function is!

[Dave]

put em on the front and you will look like a dufuss that dont know they go on the rear..
Love
Dave

[tomslik]

put em on the front and you will look like a dufuss that dont know they go on the rear..
Love
Dave

why do you sat that?
1st gen camaro.f'bird/nova calipers were frt mounted...
reason i'm thinking rear is weight transfer BUT i'm not sure it'll be an issue with unsprung weight....

[Dave]

Ha ha .. Just to get a response.. brakes really dont care how they are mounted. Look at em close.. Specially disk brakes.. They squeeze on the rotor inserting braking force to slow and stop the car. Do they care where they are mounted? Nope..  Drum brakes emit outward forces slowing and stopping the vehicle but the only limitation on mounting is for bleeding.. But for eye appeal id go rear.. You could if you wanted bleed drum brakes with stainless flex lines the rotate em after bleeding for whatever eye candy appeal you want ........... They all work the same no matter where they are mounted.. they are afixed to the axle and the difference in weight for sprung and unsprung is minuscule  ,... If there is a sprung unsprung difference here id really like to see it only because they are bolted to the spindles front or rear and it doesnt make sense to me..
Dave  

[UGLY OLDS]

I would say "rear" ....I would think that the rotating force that gets absorbed by the caliper should be directed INTO the mass of the spindle ...Not away from it... :?  But then ...I drive an Oldsmobile...Shows what I know.....    

Bob...

[enjenjo]

It doesn't make a difference. As far as looking better, with fenders, who can tell.

I have a semi talented buddy, who converted his AMX to discs, mounted in the front. I mentioned that from the factory, they  were mounted to the rear, so he changed them, but it made no difference in braking.

[kb426]

Either purely ascetics or convenience. Functionality has no effect on placement. If the placement of brake lines is easier, you have a reason. I put them on dragsters in both locations. On the rear, they're easier to bleed. On the front, the brake lines may be shorter. Personal choice.

[jaybee]

Another possible consideration might be that if you have a rear steer vehicle a rear mounted caliper has to share space with the steering arm.

[PeterR]

Something I had on file.

Examining the free body forces for a spindle with caliper mounted in front and behind the stub axle shows that the forces fed into the vehicle are exactly the same for both cases.   The caliper can even be above or below, and the outcome is still the same.

The only difference is the load fed into the wheel bearings.   For the front mount, the caliper reaction force is in the same direction as the force due to the vehicle weight, so they add.   For the rear mount the caliper reaction force acts in the opposite direction so is subtracted from the vehicle weight force.

The caliper reaction force is around double the retarding force.   This means when the braking is 0.5g, the caliper force is close to equal the wheel load.   At this degree of braking the bearing load for the front mount is about double the static load.   For the rear mount the vertical component of the bearing loading passes through zero, then reverses direction with increased brake pressure.   If the bearings are loose or in poor condition severe chatter can occur as the load goes through the reversal phase.   The configuration that produces the least change in bearing loading is a bottom mount, as the caliper reaction force acts in opposition to the retarding couple force and is proportional to it, however for obvious reasons this is not a practical layout.

So it is possible to offer a valid reason for mounting the calipers in just about any position, but none are of sufficient merit to be the final decision maker, and in most cases the caliper position will be determined by space issues such as the location of the steering arms, or interference with some other component.

[zzford]

Yeah, what he said.^

[tomslik]

< (i believe this is as close to the deer in the headlight look as we got)

[C9]

Is there a left and a right caliper?

If so, is the position of the bleeder screw affected?

The bleeder screw needs to be at the high point.

[Bob Paulin]

Is there a left and a right caliper?

If so, is the position of the bleeder screw affected?

The bleeder screw needs to be at the high point.

Careful, now!

Placing the bleeder screw at 12 o'clock on many calipers will actually place the port inside the cylinder at 10 (or 2) o'clock.

What is MOST important is placing the bleeder port inside the cylinder at 12 o'clock - not necessarily the bleeder screw.

You can usually look at the way a bleeder screw is mounted, and visualize the passage that is drilled into the cylinder.

B.P.

[Jbird]

I like them in the rear because....that's where I like them. Unless they're on the rear then I like them in the front because that's where I like them in the rear. J bird

[UGLY OLDS]

Hey  :!:  What give's  :?:  :?: How come I can't vote again  :?:  :?:  I'm from Chicago...We learn at an early age to vote often....