Lower control arm hits Granada rotor on stock Mus II suspens

[river1]

try here

http://www.emersonbearing.com/e/bearing-cross-reference.htm

they even have a toll free number that might help

later jim

[Darkman]

I used their bearing detective and received a reply last night. They have a bearing with the correct ID and OD but it is a hair narrower. Pretty sure I can deal with that. This is the one to use the 12 1/8" Expedition rotor. I may pick one up and try it tonight.

[36vicky]

Darkman,

    Sorry.  I forgot to set the pictures to be shared on the Kodak site.  I fixed that now.  There are only four pictures.  I don't have a real close up shot of the lower control arm before and after grinding.  Wish I had that for you.  

    I'm following this with interest because I still have the dual piston calipers.  Sounds like you are making progress with the other rotors.  Good luck, Tom G.

[Darkman]

Here are the most recent developments.

The 11 1/4" 70 Mustang bolts up but still hits the lower control arm even after I did some delicate massaging of the tip of the lower control arm. The primary reason for this is the increased thickness of the rotor which is a plus but in this situation it becomes a negative due to the clearance issues. After consideration I will not use this rotor. Minimal gain and I never really did figure out how to gain the clearance needed. Possibly an inner bearing spacer that is used on the Mus II spindle when running the GM rotor would solve the problem but it may space the grease seal to far out.

The 12 1/8" Expedition rotor while it is the same height, it does not have the same bearing spacing and the inner bearing would require a special but available bearing. The outer bearing would have to be sunk and I have not been able to find a grease seal that would fit. I'm sure that the grease seal could be addressed by a press in adapter to the rear of the rotor. It probably would require machining to the rotor but if you have to sink the outer you could get it done all at the same time. The final straw here is the 5 x 135 mm bolt pattern. It would probably require a special rear axle to have a matching bolt pattern. A plus is that the rotor would give you the same track width as the Granada rotor. It also has a Big problem that it shares with the Thunderbird rotor and I will address in the next section. Due to the excessive adaptation needed I will not use this rotor.

The 11 3/4" 70-71 Thunderbird rotor is the top contender. It bolts up and uses the OEM bearings and seals. There is STILL some minor clearance issues but I believe they are resolvable. Tonight I need to check were the oils seal rides on the spindle. It looks a little close so I'll check it and report. It will require the outer bearing to be sunk apx. 1/4" and originally I was hesitant to do that but now this project has * me off and I realize that I will never drive this truck enough to wear out a rotor so I'm going to continue to concentrate on this rotor and treat it as a Money Pit. Now there is one big problem with it. It is apx 1.15" thick and the 99-01 Mustang caliper was designed for a one inch thick rotor. My solution to this is to mill whatever is required, probably .075, off of each pad. I now that that will make them not last as long but I believe I have addressed that.  I'll get three sets done at the same time and probably pass them on to whoever inherits this project after I leave this world. No I'm not dieing but let's face it I have been working on it for about five years and I still haven't painted the frame and I'm no spring chicken. I think that I can make a jig and do the pads with a router table after all it is just a high speed mill that is up side down and they do make carbide bits for them. I'll try it with an old pad first and see.

If y'all are following this let me hear your comments.