Early Xj Hand Brake In Mj

[64 Cheyenne]

Well here it is, an early XJ hand brake in my 87 MJ with 8.8.

I'm not going to do an exact play by play because considerable ingenuity and fabrication skills were needed and used to do this, if you understand the basics of what I've done and had this addiction for a while you will be able to follow along easy enough.

First I'm gonna talk about what I did then show the pics then answer questions after.

 

We'll start with the 8.8, I trimmed the backing plates because I don't like the possibility of rocks and debris getting caught between them and the disks. You can't just remove them because the ebrake shoes mount to them. And yes I did have issues with the caliper bolt hitting the spring, common issue with 8.8 swap, do the swap and you'll know what I'm talking about. Easy to deal with, not a deal breaker.

 

I switched the backing plates and caliper mounts left to right, and right to left so the ebrake cables would exit the rear of the caliper mount.

True to Jeep form one thing leads to another, the Ebrake cables wouldn't make it to the bracket under the bed without stretching them,

so I moved the bracket under the bed back about six inches. I had to weld a piece of metal on the bracket for the single rear bolt to mount up.

 

Initially, I tried to do the swap like Alexia and Onyx did, found out that conversion with the late hand brake only works with the 97up console. So, back to the early hand brake. It is pretty important that when the console is mounted, it and the placement of the ebrake

are aligned well or weird stuff will happen like the e brake lever will be "off"  or "not straight". You can see in the pics the familial relationship that the MJ has with XJ as evidenced by the flat spot that the hand lever mounts to.

 

I needed a way to mount a cable to the end of the rod that exits the bottom of the hand lever. Another problem, it has a metric thread.

I took a 5/16 die and ran it down the metric threads so that I can get a 5/16 brake clevis threaded onto the end of the rod. I used a lot of red lock tight on it,should stay put as this is not where I will adjust the brake from. If I have problems, I will weld the clevis to the rod, and I still might.

 

Now the cable, I thought about looping the cable but this would have had to be done under the truck outside. Didn't like that idea, so I had to find a way to a shorter cable. I did use the stock cable,but shortened it by carefully cutting a slit in the end of the ferrule so I could get the end off. Then I measured the cable, cut it, forced the ferrule back on and will secure it better with a hose clamp.

 

For the front cable bracket, I was going to sacrifice the stock foot brake for the part that holds the cable end like Alexia did. I couldn't do

that, they aren't making foot brake mechanisms any more so another way had to be found. I took the foot brake mechanism off of a 70s Chevy truck I'm junking. (I took the motor out of it for my S-10). I used that part to make the little bracket that the front of the cable attaches to. I welded it to a piece of L shaped metal  that I metal screwed to the bottom of the cab.

 

Then the front of the cable, ran it through the brake clevis, around a thimble and secured with a swedge clamp. The pics show it loose because I still need to tighten it for a final fit which will be done before shakedown run.

 

Couple of important things to note, the brake adjusters should be close to where they need to be so you don't lose most of your adjustment compensating for them. The hydraulic lines weren't intended to exit the caliper in the direction the way they are now. The  little tab that keeps the banjo from turning will need to be trimmed to allow for the new exit direction. Kind of a PIA to do, but I don't recommend cutting the tab totally off, it is a safety thing in case the banjo turns.

I think that is about it, one thing I was concerned about is the "throw" of the XJ lever, it's about 3/4" probably have to have the adjustment "just right" for it to work properly.

 

Enjoy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[92tanMJ]

So did you put the hand brake in or is it still the foot brake?

[64 Cheyenne]

Foot brake is gone, hand brake is hooked up between seats.

[92tanMJ]

Oh never mind, I don't know why some of the photos wherent showing up earlier. It makes a LOT more sense now. haha thanks man

[mikekaz1]

I have a bench seat. And hate foot brakes. I was thinking possibly going retro heavy truck style and doing a side of the seat mount hand e brake. Like between seat and door. Just a though. Who knows if logistics would allow it. But thought it might be cool

[Crash]

I have a bench seat. And hate foot brakes. I was thinking possibly going retro heavy truck style and doing a side of the seat mount hand e brake. Like between seat and door. Just a though. Who knows if logistics would allow it. But thought it might be cool

IF there is actually enough clearance, then as long as you can actually set up the cables correctly, then it could work. 

Also, the later model XJ brake lever is setup for offset mount. You might be able to make that work depending on how your stuff is setup in the center.