Rear Brake calipers

With the refurbished driveshafts now installed back into the chassis I can turn my attention to fitting the rear brake calipers.

I have elected to run with discs all round the vehicle so although the sierra donor was drum braked on the rear, converting to discs is a straightforward option.


You will need to order some rear caliper mounting brackets from GBS which fit to between the hub carrier and rear uprights. These in turn support the brake calipers via x2 M10 bolts (approx 40mm)

Brake calipers....this was a frustrating delay more through my own lack of knowledge on Sierra calipers and general guidance out on the web.

What you will need are Sierra Cosworth 4x4 brake calipers NOT Sierra Cosworth brake calipers - spot the subtle difference...yep "4x4" it does make a difference believe it or not. The standard rear discs are 22mm thick, these are too thick for the standard sierra cosworth calipers, which I discovered much to my annoyance when I came to fit! grrgghh

So what was initially a two week lead time on the calipers turned into a four week lead time by the time I had returned the incorrect ones and the supplier had sourced the correct set.

I must mention at this point the service provided by Biggred - they provided an excellent service, the quality of parts I got from them were first class and are well worth checking out both on their ebay shop and company website.

So once received, its a simple case of fitting the disc onto the hubs which in turn is secured with a wheel nut. Marry the caliper to the mounting brackets (you will have to file the carriers and remove the powder coat as the disc will foul in the caliper otherwise)

Once that is done, you can connect the brake cable to the caliper, via simple hook and eye connection and screw in the brake line, job done!

Front suspension initial fit

So, earlier posts highlighted the build and fitment of the front wishbones followed by hub cleanup and prep. Now the hubs have had a good coating of black hammerite paint they have come up quite well - I'm pleased with the finish which will be more than adequate considering how exposed they will be to the elements on the road.

I've still got the front hub nuts to replace but felt it better to do that job whilst the hubs are in situ to give me some support and leverage in releasing them. Realising how tight they were on the rear hubs, the solution I have works (using the ball joint splitter) but it does need alot of brute force and WD40.

So time to see how it all comes together.

The front hub is held in place by top and bottom ball joints. the top however has the cycle wing stays attached which will need some of the powder coating removed to fit into the top of the hub. that in turn is gripped by an M10 x 70mm bolt and nyloc nut.

fitting the upper ball joint through the cycle wing is a fiddle, you need a short socket extension bar plus a lot of patience to locate the nut onto the thread - or I am not doing it right and there is a more obvious way which has not registered with me!

So initial fit all good, just waiting on front shocks to be ordered.

I fitted some IVA cover over the top ball joint thread nut whilst further IVA trim / nut covers need to be applied to the exposed nuts and steering rack extensions.