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Ford vs Chevy D60 brakes

Mikel

Well-known member
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May 20, 2020
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In the kingpin Dana 60 front axle realm, are the Ford dual piston brakes better than the chevy/dodge ones?
Thanks.
 
total newb said:
Funny. Cause everyone told me not to bother when i asked 10 years ago.
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not to bother what? stock vs stock ford is better, is it worth spending a bunch of money to put ford calipers on chevy knuckles? no, but if you have both laying around for the same price yes ford is better, at least the calipers are
 
Fords break more. Or was it brake better, can't remember.

:lmao:
 
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The Ford rotors are smaller than the Chevy's and even with both pistons areas added up, are a good bit smaller than the GM/Dodge single piston calipers. The GM/Dodge kingpin brakes are a good bit more powerful for sure.
 
77K5 said:
The Ford rotors are smaller than the Chevy's and even with both pistons areas added up, are a good bit smaller than the GM/Dodge single piston calipers. The GM/Dodge kingpin brakes are a good bit more powerful for sure.
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This is true. I didn't believe you, so I looked up the parts on Rock Auto. Makes you wonder why Ford bothered with the dual piston calipers.

Ford Rotors are 12.56" OD X 1.255" Thick Versus Chevy Rotors that are 12.9" OD X 1.535" Thick, and the Ford calipers are dual 2.2" pistons (7.60 in[SUP]2[/SUP]) vs. the Chevy single 3.4" piston (9.08 in[SUP]2[/SUP])

As others have said, the Ford king pin knuckles are the weakest of all, but that said none of the factory king pin knuckles are particularly stout.
 
I took of my Ford dual piston for the K20 brakes and it stop far better. In fact I've got them on all four corners now, here is that setup clearing a 15" wheel even. Lugnut 4x4 setup.
Bronco brakes.jpg - Click image for larger version Name: Bronco brakes.jpg Views: 0 Size: 317.9 KB ID: 189993
 
'84 Bronco II said:
This is true. I didn't believe you, so I looked up the parts on Rock Auto. Makes you wonder why Ford bothered with the dual piston calipers.

Ford Rotors are 12.56" OD X 1.255" Thick Versus Chevy Rotors that are 12.9" OD X 1.535" Thick, and the Ford calipers are dual 2.2" pistons (7.60 in[SUP]2[/SUP]) vs. the Chevy single 3.4" piston (9.08 in[SUP]2[/SUP])

As others have said, the Ford king pin knuckles are the weakest of all, but that said none of the factory king pin knuckles are particularly stout.
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2.2” piston diameter = 1.1” radius
1.1” radius = 3.801 square inches.
3.801 + 3.801 = 7.602.



3.4” piston diameter = 1.7” radius
1.7” radius = 9.079 square inches

Math checks out on my internet calculator for area of a circle.
 
Something tells me that there are more 1 ton 4wd chevys running around than 1 ton 4wd ford trucks.

So as far as parts availability more in the used market and possibly the availability when you need a part and you are in the middle of BFE there are better chances of your finding a part be a it a seal or bearing or set of pads.

That is the major reason I used 1 ton chevy dana 60 brackets and rotors, calipers on my 14 bolt disc brake conversion.
 
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PAE said:
Something tells me that there are more 1 ton 4wd chevys running around than 1 ton 4wd ford trucks.

So as far as parts availability more in the used market and possibly the availability when you need a part and you are in the middle of BFE there are better chances of your finding a part be a it a seal or bearing or set of pads.

That is the major reason I used 1 ton chevy dana 60 brackets and rotors, calipers on my 14 bolt disc brake conversion.
Click to expand...

You can walk into any parts store in America and I would bet 9/10 times the chevy parts will be on the shelf.

Dual piston will offer better clamp load because the pad is being depressed over a greater area. But more crap to go wrong, more seals, more custom blah blah.

If it ain’t broken don’t fix it...
 
Where I live nothing before 1990 or so is available in the parts stores unless it cross references to some application where it was used well into the 90s. You're not finding either on the shelf. But they can get it from the hub for you by 2pm if you let them know by 11am or so. That's not really helpful if your shit needs fixed on the road though.

Personally I'd run a modern four piston fixed caliper long before I spent a cent on old shit. Pistons and bellows seals basically never cause problems. What almost always causes problems is the sliding mechanism.
 
When rebuilding my 78-79 Ford D60 about 1-2 yrs ago, I tried to find calipers at the local Advance, O'rielly's etc, and none of them had both the LHS and RHS calipers in stock. That was the deciding factor for me. Trying to find a brake caliper that has been out of production for 41 years now. I ended up switching to Chevy brakes and bought a kit from Lugnut4x4. The Chevy calipers can be picked up at any local auto parts store if I ever need one when I am in a bind.
 
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