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clearancing k20 calipers on a 14 bolt swap-shaving near the banjo bolt

blondejoncherokee

NAXJA Member
NAXJA Member
Location
sacramento
so there is a nub sticking out by the banjo bolt. I need to grind it off, can I? Ive ground calipers before, but never in this location: its super tight between the leaves and the calipers,so tight I have to mount calipers upside down and bleed brakes with them off the mounts.

this is the nub, with my finger on it.



its crazy close, maybe a 1/4" ?????


with the calipers upside AND THAT little nub shaved, all would be well. I want to take that nub down all the way flush with the cylinder behind it. thats about 1/2" down. it seems like its just some random ribbing there for no reason.
 
*edited*

re-read the post... you know it is upside down.

Pop the piston out and see if the raised area isn't a fluid passage.
 
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haha good call. Didn't think about that.
I was also thinking about buying a third and cutting it in half to see how much I can clear out around the edges.
 
Just clock it above the leafs. I feel like you're dragging out a problem that doesn't really exist, its not that hard to fit them. If I could make mine for on a full C&C axle then there's no reason they won't fit the other versions.
 
I cant clock them above the leafs. tried that first. that was the obvious choice. gets into the U bolt plates. Where they are at now they avoid the U bolt plates just barely.
 
that might work. where it stands now there is not enough I could trim from the plates since I would have to fully remove the U bolts altogether and probably inboard the springs or something.
I am going to retry the clocking in front of the axle, haven't tried that since before the pinion angle was burned in.
it doesn't look like it it will work but who knows.
 
Just clock it above the leafs. I feel like you're dragging out a problem that doesn't really exist, its not that hard to fit them. If I could make mine for on a full C&C axle then there's no reason they won't fit the other versions.

Not sure how yours is different and have so much more room between the caliper and the leaf pack, but i had the same problem blondejoncherokee is having.

blondejoncherokee,

You realize as the pads wear the caliper is just going to get closer to the leafs right? Any clearance you have now will go away pretty quick.
 
Trim the ubolt plates a little and drill your own clocking holes then. I didn't have to touch my calipers at all.

you can clearly see in the pic above that the U bolts would have to be cut out altogether to clock it back any further. and the banjo bolt with the lines on actually hits the leaves.

fox what caliper bracket did you use? At this point redrilling holes wont make a difference, it clears as is, just need to grind that nub down and mount them upside down.

did you use different soft lines?

EDIT:

fox, from the pics in the other thread, you are running SRW hubs with the longer spaced out brackets. your brackets go towards the rotor by like 4 inches, mine go away from the rotor by an inch(yours go out 4inches, mine go in one inch)

so it seems you have a completely different setup. maybe you ran SRW hubs on a C&C axle housing is what it looks like.
 
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Not sure how yours is different and have so much more room between the caliper and the leaf pack, but i had the same problem blondejoncherokee is having.

blondejoncherokee,

You realize as the pads wear the caliper is just going to get closer to the leafs right? Any clearance you have now will go away pretty quick.


yes agreed 100%. thats why shaving off that 1/2" of a nub off the caliper( and mounting upside down, no way to mount them right side up) should have me dialed in. And its pretty easy to change pads once a year especially at 10$ a set for centric premiums on rock auto.

I think I am going to buy a caliper on my lunch and cut it in half to see where I can safely grind on that nub.

my gut feeling is I can grind that entire nub down flush with the back of the piston housing. which is like an additional 1/2" of clearance.


For reference, this is the clocking that works, the other clockings have no chance of working.

maybe fox ran a SRW with SRW hubs?
 
I have a full C&C axle, the narrowest 14b, with perches/leafs that sit slightly wider then stock.


from the pics you posted you must have SRW hubs.

you caliper brackets go 4" out away from the leaves, mine go 1" towards the leaves. If I had that sort of clearance I would be golden.
 
from the pics you posted you must have SRW hubs.

you caliper brackets go 4" out away from the leaves, mine go 1" towards the leaves. If I had that sort of clearance I would be golden.

Nope, all C&C stuff. My mounts kick out more because of the narrower mounting flanges. You probably have the wrong brackets
 
i Have the right brackets, because I have a SRW axle with the dually hubs. with the pads on the caliper is perfect over the rotor, no other possible way.

it has to be the difference between the SRW axle and the C&C axle is the bracket mounting flanges.




at this point Ill need to see my el dorado calipers because with the brake stuff there is no way to make it fit.

these look thin, but probably cost a fortune so they are probably out the running:

http://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/BrakeKitListFront.aspx?mincatdesc=D52+Front+Caliper+Kits



it seems like at this point, word to the wise, use C&C housing and you will have an easier time mounting calipers. when you look at the ruffstuff site and see the SRW to dually hubs you will start to understand why, compared to just buying the C&C brackets.
 
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If you are already willing to buy a third to cut up why not just clearance the one you have. If it comes out good, no need to buy another. If you FUBAR it, then buy the replacement and find another option to mount it.
 
I want to know how much room I have. I don't want to shave it, and not know that I only have 1/64" left and just have no clue thats all I have left.

At this point its worth the 16$ to know how far I can Safely grind down that nub.

for those of you with crazy budgets, wilwood can hook you up with some awesome calipers that will probably clear any setup but you will need to spend like 260$+ just on rear calipers only …

i have been looking at these guys: Wilwood Caliper GM III - D52 2.38" Piston, 1.25" Disc 120-5344but it seems you need custom brake lines and their hardened pins.
 
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so it seems like I am ok for now. using the stock k20 calipers ground down a bit to clear the leafs(that nub on the backside) and mounted upside down. bled them right side up off the mounts to get all the air out. haven't driven it yet still have some work to do but it should be ok. only thing is now with T bird front calipers(3"+ ) and the k20 rears (pretty much 3") I might need a bigger bore master. running the WJ booster and master right now.
 
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