7. The new brakes come with...
7. The new brakes come with a backing plate that is preassembled and ready to be bolted on.
8. The grease retainer was...
8. The grease retainer was replaced and we bolted the new backing plate into place and then torqued the bolts down.
9. After reshaping the hard...
9. After reshaping the hard line, we were able to connect it to the new wheel cylinder.
10. Before we could button...
10. Before we could button up the rear brakes, the wheel studs had to be pressed out of the old drums and repressed into the wheel hub.
11. Next, the hub was rejoined...
11. Next, the hub was rejoined to the axleshaft.
12. With the rear brakes swapped...
12. With the rear brakes swapped out, we adjusted the linings and installed the new drums.
13. Once the wheels and tires...
13. Once the wheels and tires were back on, we lowered the Colonel and torqued down the axle nuts.
14. The front drum installation...
14. The front drum installation is similar to the rear installation, including the studs needing to be removed and pressed into the hub.
15. Here you can see the new...
15. Here you can see the new front brake hoses that come preinstalled by R&P 4WD.
16. Lastly, we installed a...
16. Lastly, we installed a new master cylinder from 4WD Hardware and flushed the system with fresh brake fluid before bleeding it.
We love our new 11-inch brakes. What a difference! The Colonel can now be held with one foot on an incline and there is much less effort in regular driving to get the old Jeep stopped. We now see why this was such a popular conversion back in the day. We had a lot of fun swapping out the brakes, something that could be done in a weekend if you are taking your time. Emergency braking is now more secure and we can actually lock up the rears if we really try hard. Pedal feel is even decent and driving the Willys on Hell's Revenge in Moab went from a frightening proposition to an enjoyable one.