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Wilwood 14.25" Front Brake Conversion


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I finally finished the Wilwood big brake conversion on my '14 Sierra. I'll walk thru it in case someone wants to do this.

 

Wilwood offers a 14.25" kit as well as a 16" kit. The 16" kit requires 20" wheels. They are approximately the same price and have the same piston area. I chose the 14.25" kit since I have 18" wheels and decided I didn't want to go thru changing wheels and tires at this time. Also, I'm running 33" diameter tires which I figured didn't need quite that much braking power. If I had 35" or larger tires on 20" wheels, I would have gone for the 16" kit.

 

So, I called directly to Wilwood to find out more about the kits before ordering and was told there was a newer caliper with internal cross over hydraulic lines. The older ones were external lines from one side of the calipers to the other to power the pistons on both sides. There are 3 pistons per side on each of the Wilwood calipers for a total of 6 pistons per caliper. I asked if the new caliper was available for this application. The answer was 'yes'. So, I figure if I order from a discount supplier, I'll get the old calipers.

 

I bit the bullet and order directly from Wilwood on the phone.

 

The kit came and sat around for a week or two until I had time to tackle it. I figured I'd allow time for some problems. And there was a problem.

The caliper brackets had studs about 5/8" too long. I called and provided pictures of all different things and angles. The studs were so long that the grip area, which is unthreaded, would not allow the calipers to be tightened down. It took them 2 days to call me back and tell me " the studs are too long". :wtf: I said it first. :lol: So the guy said the new brackets would be ordered by them from their supplier and new studs of the right length would be in them. The problem was that they were a month or more out before they could make that happen. The guy said their engineers wanted me to install a bunch of washers under the nuts to clamp the calipers down. I told him the studs would hit the wheels. I said I'd take care of the immediate installation issue and cut them down and chase the threads down further. They said they'd send the new brackets upon their procuring them.

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So, I take the brackets to a friend's machine shop and we chop them down and chase the threads down the shanks further. All is well. I shared the final fit pix with Wilwood along with the dimensions of the studs, so the next guy doesn't have to go thru this.

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Backing up a bit...the bracket fit requires that you file or grind some of the casting line and draft angle of the knuckle (spindle casting) where these two bolts attach the bracket. It's because casting variability that the edge that is not machined on the knuckle has to be "cleared" to allow the holes to line up on the bracket with the knuckle. It's hidden behind the bracket in this picture.

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Onward.

The OEM brakes look like this. The difference between a factory brake and the Wilwood brakes, is that the factory brake caliper has 2 pistons pushing from one side. The caliper is a "floating" design. That's a nice way to say they slide when one side pushes and the caliper has a few arms on the opposite side of the pistons that pull against the pads on the opposite side of the pistons. Not a great design, but it's cheap to make and it works. High quality brake calipers like the Wilwoods have pistons on both sides that act on the pads equally. In this application, there are 6 pistons in each caliper. Oh, I forgot to note that the factory brake disc is 13" vs. the Wilwood 14.25"

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Wilwood doesn't give you a brake line clamp bracket or any way to tie down the line. You're on your own.

The OEM brake line has a bracket that supports the line at mid point to keep it away from stuff. That bracket also supports the Anti-Skid wire at mid point. Unfortunately, the bracket is swaged onto the OEM brake line. It's a pretty heavy bracket and the rolled portion around the OEM line is a tight curl. zoomDSC_2606Large_zps736b66d1.jpg

My solution was to take and uncurl the OEM bracket from around the OEM line and open it enough to get the old line out and the new line in. I also thought it would be good to have a piece of hose around the new line. I used a piece of 5/16" I.D. vacuum line cut to about 4" long, then split it to get it over the Wilwood brake line. Once I had the calipers mocked up on the truck, I installed the brake lines and identified where the line should be clamped in the factory bracket. Once I squeezed it on the line, I wouldn't be able to slide the line in the bracket. I checked the fit and then took the line and bracket and squeezed it in a vice to clamp it on the line securely, but without damaging it or restricting the flow.

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The line routing looked like this when finished.

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The final installation with the wheel on...please excuse the dirty wheels. I flushed the brake system with Wilwood high temp fluid, replacing the OEM fluid, while bleeding the brakes, as they recommended.

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Once Wilwood gets the new brackets, I'd say this is a 3-4 hour mod, depending on how fast you work and how familiar you are with brake systems. The kit is essentially "bolt-on" except for the grinding to clear the knuckle for the caliper bracket and the issue with the brake line support bracket. Those two things added a few hours to the installation, mainly because of the bracket for the line that required a trip to the auto parts store for some vacuum line and figuring out what to do. The grinding was probably only an hour or less to get done.

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Nice write-up and helpful pics! Should be helpful if you tow a un-braked trailer.... I'm assuming no impact to ABS as the sensor is usually in the hub assembly... right?

 

What kind of pads did you go with? I used Wagner SevereDuty on my last truck to help stop a trailer from my prior boat.... but seeing you went with Wilwood, you probably got some fancier ones :-)

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Nice write-up and helpful pics! Should be helpful if you tow a un-braked trailer.... I'm assuming no impact to ABS as the sensor is usually in the hub assembly... right?

 

What kind of pads did you go with? I used Wagner SevereDuty on my last truck to help stop a trailer from my prior boat.... but seeing you went with Wilwood, you probably got some fancier ones :-)

 

I went with a Wilwood 6617 pad that came with the kit. Supposed to be a street pad with good wear and some kind of relatively low dust. I'll believe the 'low dust' part when I see it. ABS is untouched as it is in the hub as you surmised.

 

After only a handful of miles driving and bedding the brakes with some high speed stops, my impression is that the braking inspires confidence now. With the 33" tires, the OEM braking was somewhat less than comforting. This is a whole different braking system now. I haven't had it above 65 mph yet since the bedding process calls for 65 and I haven't been anywhere with it today other than to bed the brakes in an industrial park. But so far, I'm very very pleased with the performance!

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I took my truck on a short trip of 100 miles each way today. Up from L.A. to Victorville and back. On the return trip, I put the brakes thru a trial. The El Cajon Pass was crowded and slinky at high speeds. The downhill section on the way back tested the brakes pretty well. At 75 mph on the downhill sections, I never felt the brakes were inadequate like I had before.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Another test of them today. I entered the long Beach pch traffic circle today in the middle lane of three. Some bozo in the left lane entered just after me in an audi. I stayed in the middle lane to go halfway around. He passes me on the left and dives across all three lanes to get out a quarter the way around. If I hadn't stabbed those big wilwoods, I'd have pushed the fools car up on the oncoming traffic.

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  • 7 months later...

Sorry for the necro-thread reply - Would you mind telling me what your kit costs? I'm just looking for ballpark numbers... I just got a 2015 Sierra and this is one of the first things I wanted to do.. I was hoping there might be a Camaro caliper swap mod.. or something similar, but I have yet to see anything like that.

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Sorry for the necro-thread reply - Would you mind telling me what your kit costs? I'm just looking for ballpark numbers... I just got a 2015 Sierra and this is one of the first things I wanted to do.. I was hoping there might be a Camaro caliper swap mod.. or something similar, but I have yet to see anything like that.

 

front kit can be had for about 2k. Something i would love to do now but don't have the dough.

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Yeah, I was able to find the kit after I posted... it's a shame there's not something out there to just upgrade the calipers. I don't really care about the 2pc rotors (even though they are really nice) I was hoping to find something around $800-$1200 that would just help it to stop a little better.. I don't tow anything or have any "real use" application.. I just like good brakes when I need them :)

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  • 2 years later...

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