DISC BRAKES – Australia
I have just upgraded my 1977 G60 to disc brakes using Justins’ brackets.
I’m not sure why it took 50 plus years for someone to come up with such a slick, simple and ingenious solution to put disc brakes on 60 series Patrols. However, Justin did. Well done Justin and I’m sure the next 50 years of Patrolees will thank you.
I’m writing this to make it even easier for others to convert to disc brakes – especially those in Australia as I will give all the part nos of locally available parts.
I stated this project in earnest about 3 months ago. I did purchase a set of Justins brackets (1+ years ago) and recently started sourcing what I needed. I initially went down the path of trying to find parts available in Australia. I didn’t like the idea of needing to import parts from the USA as I wanted spare parts to be readily available. So, I set about trying to find rotors and calipers locally. Rotors were easy enough to track down and as all rotors had diagrams showing sizes online. Manufacturers have catalogues showing sizes. Just a bit of legwork and I found the correct ones. Calipers were another thing. I spent many, many hours searching and contacting suppliers but ended up at dead ends. No diagrams were available and suppliers were of no help. So, in the end I bit the bullet and ordered the Calipers for Amazon USA.
All other parts I source in Australia.
This is what I used. Prices are in AUD.
Calipers. RH 18-4208 and LH 18-4209 from Amazon USA. $225 pair
Rotors: Protex Ultra Disc Brake Rotor 294.8mm DR12249 $120 pair
Banjo Bolts: 2 x M10x1.5 Bolt with 4 x 10mm Washers. Bolts about 34mm long $15 pair
Banjo Bolts.jpg
Hydraulic lines. Front Brake Caliper - for Nissan Patrol MQ MK 4.0P 2.8P 3.2D (80-88) $65 pair. Part No Protex H1816.
Brake Pads: RDA GP Max Brake Pad Set Front RDBS728A. $40 pair. It looks like RDA Pads RDBS728A will fit although I haven’t tried those.
Pads.jpg
I did buy hydraulic lines from the USA. However, those were about 500mm long. They seemed too long so I found Nissan Patrol MQ hydraulic lines which were about 350mm long. They seemed a much better fit. However, they are a little tight. Its difficult to take the calipers off due to the length restriction. I suspect a length of 400 would be perfect.
The rotors need the centre hole enlarged. I took the rotors along with an old hub from a parts G60 to a retired mechanic/machinist/engineer friend and had him enlarge the centres. His advice was that the rotors should fit as snuggly as possible to the hub. He cut the hole to 105.2mm. A perfect fit. I took them to my shed and tried them on the my Patrols hubs. No go. They weren’t large enough. I took both hubs and the rotors back and had them enlarged. One was increased by 1.2mm but the other needed 1.8mm. We settled on making them both 1.8mm larger. This made the width of the hole at 107mm. A 45 deg chamfer was made on the back side
Master Cylinder. The 1977 G60 has a dual MC and a power booster as standard. To make this work with disc brakes is all you need to do is remove the valve assembly from the front brakes component of the MC. Apparently, what this valve does is hold the fluid pressure in the brake line and the springs in the drums ‘push’ the fluid back when the brakes are released. With disc brakes there are no springs so removing the valve lets the fluid return.
Master Cylinder.png
MC Adjustment.jpg
MC Spring.jpg
All up costs are about $800-$1000 for parts and machining.
Installing the components is fairly easy. A couple of hours each side.
I decided to replace some of the hard brake lines. This process was time consuming especially in removing the old line nuts they are frozen and hard to remove. But its a worthwhile project.
Also be aware that the MQ lines have metric fittings (M10) so you need the correct fitting at the disc brake end. Luckily, I discovered this before I remade the hard lines. I was able to put imperial at one end and metric at the other. Not great for future maintenance but there is little other choice.
The disc brakes don’t have any dust covers. I was advised to put some on. I’ll try to fabricate some sometime.
In Australia we have the Australian Design Rules (ADR) that relate to automotive vehicles and parts. If you put on certain non-manufacturer parts you need to have a certified Automotive Engineer inspect and approve what you have done. I will have this done after a bit more experience with the brakes and report back.
Last weekend I went 4WDing/camping for a few days. We hit some pretty steep 4WD tracks.
The brakes were fine. I did expect when I pushed them hard, the nose of the G60 would dive and the front brakes lock up. That doesn’t happen. However, they do stop you.
I will investigate, when I have time (in a few months time!!), if I can make them a bit firmer by adjusting the pedal play or the booster play. It may be that I need a larger diameter MC – I think mine is 1” but the standard on the LWB G60 is a little bigger.
The disc brakes are fine as far as I am concerned and I would recommend them to any other G60 owners.
Thank you Justin!
