Ah, but I have a 98 now. Must retain airbags to keep it streetable.

But if I bought an earlier one then that's absolutely what I'd do.

 

I still think putting your airbag wheel on an older column would be easier than adapting one from a different make and model. But that's pure speculation since I've never seen a column swap in an XJ

 

Do both sides of the caliper compress at the same rate?

 

Wrong thread probably.

 

Outer side is fixed. Single piston dude

 

then why do the caliper need to slide on the caliper bolts then?

 

Because one side is fixed and can't move on its own. The outer pad has no way of backing off of the rotor since there's no piston to retract.

 

His question is in the context of me using rotors that are 1/4" offset toward the wheel, relative to the stock position.

The only problem we could find is if both pads are forced to compress at the same rate. That would cause the inside pad to never make contact. However, if they can compress independently, it's a non-issue.

But in all the discussion of modifying the rotor, we had completely forgotten that only one side compresses.

So the issue Nieal is having with his rotors being too deep (due to the wrong hub) and chewing up his inside pads is that his outside pads may not be making contact?

 

Remote start is a monthly service?

 

Compressing independently is not the right way to think about it. The caliper is a solid unit with one fixed pad and one on a piston. When the piston extends, the entire caliper must be able to move in order for the squeeze to occur. Essentially it pushes the rotor against the outer pad, and the inner pad is "in the way". Theoretically you could have more wear on the inner pad but it shouldn't be really noticeable. Because of this It doesn't really matter where the caliper sits as long as there is enough room for it to slide around on the mounting pins. It's like a slip yoke drive shaft. You bottom out the shaft and nothing's happening. A 1/4" offset is kind of a lot, in my barely educated opinion. I remember maybe 3/8" total travel on my XJ's caliper pins.

 

That's about in line with what we discussed off the forum. In theory, it should work fine as long as the offset doesn't move the caliper off the pin

 

Off the pin would be funny. If there's still travel on the pins I don't see what difference it would make.

 

I guess we'll find out Saturday

 

If that fails, beat it with a hammer

 

I took the new '96 hubs off the now parts ZJ and put them on my XJ and the XJ hubs on the ZJ, the XJ I got proper replacement rotors and the ZJ I used the ZJs rotors. The ZJ rotors and new style XJ hubs rub ever so slightly somewhere either on the dust shields or somewhere else. It's still drive able maybe due to the rotors being worn a bit. I take her our for a spin every so often as a coworker has dibs on the engine and no noticeable braking problems. You might just be able to grind down the lip redneck style if it rubs.