Author Topic: Stupid question about front brake caliper location  (Read 2970 times)

Offline magoo426

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Stupid question about front brake caliper location
« on: December 07, 2015 - 06:41:23 PM »
Evening everyone. I was putting my new wilwood front disc brakes on my challenger and notice the  caliper mounts toward the front of the car. I thought the caliper ahould be mounted toward the rear. It appears to me if i have it wrong then i have the left and right spindles on the wrong sides, grrrrr. Can someone give me some direction or a photo of the correct way the caliper should be mounted?




Offline anlauto

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Re: Stupid question about front brake caliper location
« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2015 - 09:15:47 PM »
On a 1970-74 E Body the stock caliper mounts on the front. Since you're using aftermarket brakes I'm pretty certain you can decide either location. I know the Wilwood instructions aren't very clear on that. :screwy:
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Offline Chryco Psycho

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Re: Stupid question about front brake caliper location
« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2015 - 09:16:22 PM »
Normally in front is correct unless it is interfering with something

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Offline 70chall440

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Re: Stupid question about front brake caliper location
« Reply #3 on: December 08, 2015 - 12:34:10 AM »
Just make sure the bleeder valve it on the top regardless.
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Offline 1 Wild R/T

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Re: Stupid question about front brake caliper location
« Reply #4 on: December 08, 2015 - 02:10:25 AM »
And I'll explain it again.... One of the rules when installing brakes is the brake hose should cross the steering axis.... By doing this you cancel out length variation & over flexing of the hose....   The brake hose has to flex for suspension travel, And some for steering action but if you do it right the steering flex is greatly reduced....

Yes lots of people get away with mounting the calipers in the rear, but doing it the way the engineers intended is easy so why not do it right...
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Offline magoo426

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Re: Stupid question about front brake caliper location
« Reply #5 on: December 08, 2015 - 08:47:20 AM »
So the picture I have shown is the front passenger side caliper. By what everyone is saying then, this should be correct location for the passenger side caliper, correct?

The reason I ask is I was looking at a shop manul last night and i could have sworn they show the caliper in the back, inless the manual was showing the rear axle photo of the caliper.

Offline brads70

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Re: Stupid question about front brake caliper location
« Reply #6 on: December 08, 2015 - 09:27:07 AM »
It also depends on the caliper design. For example on my AMG Brembo calipers and my Viper Brembo's they have different sizes of caliper pistons (top and bottom )and they are designed to be mounted only one way. The Viper calipers need to be mounted towards the back because of the piston orientation.  If the Wilwood calipers you are using have both pistons the same size it does not really matter if you mount them front or rear. It's your call, just swap the spindles to suit your needs.  Just make sure the bleeder screws are pointing up.  :icon16:
« Last Edit: December 08, 2015 - 12:13:02 PM by brads70 »
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Offline anlauto

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Re: Stupid question about front brake caliper location
« Reply #7 on: December 08, 2015 - 10:33:03 AM »
The Wilwood calipers have multiple bleeder screws :2cents:
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Offline Skunkworks Challenger

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Re: Stupid question about front brake caliper location
« Reply #8 on: December 08, 2015 - 11:13:22 AM »
Quote
So the picture I have shown is the front passenger side caliper. By what everyone is saying then, this should be correct location for the passenger side caliper, correct?

The reason I ask is I was looking at a shop manual last night and i could have sworn they show the caliper in the back, unless the manual was showing the rear axle photo of the caliper.

It too saw that illustration in my shop manual and initially installed my spindles to match only to have to change them later to put the calipers in front.
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Offline magoo426

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Re: Stupid question about front brake caliper location
« Reply #9 on: December 09, 2015 - 05:10:30 PM »
Well I only took the passenger spindle off.  So based on everyone response I'll put it back together as it was and continue on with the brake line routing.

Thanks everyone.