djlarroc
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Denver, CO
thanks Frank. have to agree with you.
what wj calipers have only one piston? there's two types, both have dual pistons, as far as i know.
you don't have to convince me, i have a wj swap. lolI suggested the brake upgrade based on my experiences. By the time I upgraded to 31"s, the XJ had already been armored and weighed quite a bit more than a stock XJ. The bumpers and winch added a lot of weight too.
My XJ is a DD and at freeway speeds, the decreased braking became obvious. I added ZJ discs but wasn't impressed since most the braking is on the front end.
When the 33"s when on, I couldn't come close to locking the front brakes up at freeway speeds, even though it had premium rotors, pads and rebuilt calipers.
Being happy with the existing steering, I opted for the Vanco 48-mm, dual piston caliper kit, with Black Magic pads...wow, what a difference! The the calipers are off a Ford SportTrac, a much heavier vehicle.
Besides improved high speed braking, the bigger brakes add a lot security on long, steep downgrade, both paved and dirt. The West has big mountains and many downgrades with 7000' descents, a huge challenge for the stock brakes. I appreciate the extra braking power and consider them one of the best upgrades.
Since the vanco brakes are no longer in production, WJ is your best option for braking.
Vanco's website doesn't indicate this and I not heard Blaine (the creator of the kit and half owner of Savvy Jeep parts) mention anything to that effect on the TJ site, over on JF. Savvy presently shows them on their website to be available.
http://shop.savvyoffroad.com/produc...9C1B5.qscstrfrnt04?productId=76&categoryId=15
The kits are more often found on TJs since their owners are, for the most part, seem to spend more on their Jeeps than the average XJ owner.
Vanco's site has never listed the various forms of the kit
http://www.vancopbs.com/category_s/121.htm
Blaine is a personal friend. They are out of production currently due to lack of returned core knuckles. They are simply not getting enough dana30 knuckles to keep producing the kits.
He is working on a solution but I have not heard a timetable yet.
You can still get calipers, pads, and rotors though.
Last I heard, they were going to have new knuckles cast. It's a worthwhile mod, when available.
Blaine is a heck of a designer, one of the more knowledgeable Jeep guys I had the pleasure of talking with. If I owned a TJ, and had a stack of money, it would be well equipped with Savvy parts. Wish he was interested more in XJ parts.
So for the time being, WJ brakes, with the Teeves calipers, is the front disc upgrade to do.
He told me he is looking into getting knuckles cast, but there is no timetable yet. I keep trying to get him to work on my rig... I want him to design an XJ trans/engine skid.
What the heck is an engo winch? BTW that winch is 325 shipped from Amazon....
Edit: Just found it on truckaddons.com for 280 shippped.....
ouchy ^^^
price of shopping around
Coming from someone that actually builds winches day in, day out..
Your chinese purchase, Is insulting.
Thanks.