315mm Front brake upgrade

Toasty

Looking for that thing i just had in my hand...
So with 37's armor and a winch I felt that I could use a little more stopping power and definitely more brake cooling so when the time finally came to rebuild the brakes on the 1999 Montero I went for an upgrade. Now this will apply to all Gen 2 Montero's 1992-2000 and is just as easily done on a Gen 1, the Sport and Mighty Max will be the same as well but one could swap junkyard knuckle assemblies as a whole. I bought junkyard parts to make sure I'd have everything needed just in case. I'll point out the differences so nobody buys any stuff they don't need.

Parts needed; Montero Sport W/16" wheel 315mm front rotors, caliper bracket and backing plate (dust shield) or the Montero dust shield could be trimmed to fit and obviously a minimum 16" wheel for caliper clearance.

To start here are the differences in rotors, not only is the one on the left larger it has longer cooling fins. You can see the ABS tone rings are different here but they can be swapped easily USE THE STYLE THAT WAS ORIGINALLY EQUIPPED ON YOUR MONTERO. The hubs are identical between the Montero and Montero Sport, there is another tech thread I found after the fact that claims they are different but the oddball hub is the Sport 2wd which is what a parts store will sell you if you're working on a Sport.

fullsizeoutput_1c.jpg

Here are the backing plates, tin shears or a die grinder would trim the smaller one easily to fit the bigger rotor. I would suggest not to use a reciprocating saw on these. I had the bigger backing plate so I just used it.

fullsizeoutput_1a.jpg

The ABS sensor hole lines right up.

fullsizeoutput_18.jpg

Here are the differences in the knuckles between the Montero and the Sport, you can see the Sport has lower steering arms. This causes problems with alignment on a Montero and it puts the tie rod ends at a bad angle.

fullsizeoutput_17.jpg

Other than the larger diameter Rotor the other main ingredients are these caliper brackets, If you are ordering all new everything online you could easily get these by purchasing new calipers with brackets for a Montero Sport w/ 16" wheel. They could possibly be had separately but I couldn't find a part listing that specified the size.

fullsizeoutput_16.jpg

For my new parts I chose StopTech slotted rotors and Powerstop Z23 carbon fiber/cermaic pads, but you can use your favorite flavor of brake parts. Here is a part number to the basic Powerstop Rotor & Brake Pad Kit KOE3091 <I did not use this kit, I assembled my own.

fullsizeoutput_1b.jpg

Here is the difference between my stock rotors and the new ones, the new rotors have the big vanes just like the OEM 315mm rotors.

fullsizeoutput_15.jpg

All buttoned up and back together!

fullsizeoutput_19.jpg


****Notes****

Wheel bearing preload: torque the lock nut down to 119 ft-lbs, then back off to 0 ft-lbs, then re-torque to 18 ft-lbs. The lock ring should line up, if not roll it back to the nearest hole alignment.

96SR_axle_hub.jpg
 
Last edited:

01MontyLtd

New member
Nice write-up for Gen2 guys, I'm wondering if there are anyone out there with 3rd gen BBK or some type of brake upgrades from OEM.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Toasty

Looking for that thing i just had in my hand...
I'm sure I'll figure that out when my Gen 3 needs brakes, it seems there were a few different configurations.
 

Drew84

New member
I'm sure I'll figure that out when my Gen 3 needs brakes, it seems there were a few different configurations.

Hey Toasty, Andrew AKA (RacedinAnger)

Which wheel design is the 16" wheel? I can buy whole Montero sports in my area for parts for under $1k, sometimes even under $500. I need a visual clue for CL ad searching. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for trucks I can pull 4.9 gears out of for my 2.5 in the future. Nabbing the parts for a brake upgrade would be sweet too.

Great write up btw.
 

Toasty

Looking for that thing i just had in my hand...
mitsubishi-monterosport-wheels-65773-b.jpg


mitsubishi-monterosport-rims-65774-b.jpg


These two styles are 16" the others are 15"s
 

BEG

Adventurer
I had this upgrade planned out but never got to do it before I sold my Monteros. This is a stock setup on the NL Pajero GLS (not available in NA) which came with 16" wheels. Here's the part numbers I had collected from Rock Auto:

314MM OEM DISC BRAKE ROTOR, MB699716 (or your choice of aftermarket rotor that matches this application)
A1- CARDONE LEFT CALIPER BRACKET, 141656 (cross check application for OEM part number, if you want)
A-1 CARDONE RIGHT CALIPER BRACKET, 141657

According to my notes, there's also a matching rear disc upgrade from a Gen 3 that nets you a thicker, vented rotor and calipers with a larger diameter piston but I don't have all the details. Apparently it only requires swapping the rotors and calipers from a Gen 3. Parts are as follows:

GEN 3 REAR LEFT BRAKE CALIPER, MR510541
GEN 3 REAR RIGHT BRAKE CALIPER, MR510542
300MM GEN 3 BRAKE ROTOR, MR418067
 

RyanY

Adventurer
calipers with a larger diameter piston

A larger diameter piston in the caliper won't improve the braking in any way, and may actually increase the amount of pedal travel necessary to engage the rear brakes - not a useful caliper upgrade unless the new caliper is capable of holding a larger brake pad.

A larger diameter vented rotor would help with heat dissipation, but it would require a means of relocating the caliper so the brake pad was still properly positioned, like what Toasty has done above by using the caliper mounting bracket from the Sport.
 
Last edited:

BEG

Adventurer
A larger diameter piston in the caliper won't improve the braking in any way, and may actually increase the amount of pedal travel necessary to engage the rear brakes - not a useful caliper upgrade unless the new caliper is capable of holding a larger brake pad.

A larger diameter vented rotor would help with heat dissipation, but it would require a means of relocating the caliper so the brake pad was still properly positioned, like what Toasty has done above by using the caliper mounting bracket from the Sport.

If you're referring to the rear brake upgrade, I've not done it, only researched it. The benefit of the swap is not the rotor's diameter (it's actually smaller than the factory Gen 2 rotor) but it's mass and surface area. The caliper itself may not provide any benefits. You're 100% right about that as well as the possibility of pedal travel increasing (don't know enough of the system specs to really comment) but the caliper is matched to the rotor on the Gen 3 and it takes care of locating itself in the right place on the axle, from what I found. That's why it's part of the swap.

Toasty's mod is not so much a mod as working with what we've got here in North America to replicate a better OEM setup available in other markets (no disrespect to Toasty, he's a Pajenius). The GLS version of the NL Pajero came with this exact front brake setup from the factory.
 

Toasty

Looking for that thing i just had in my hand...
If you're referring to the rear brake upgrade, I've not done it, only researched it. The benefit of the swap is not the rotor's diameter (it's actually smaller than the factory Gen 2 rotor) but it's mass and surface area. The caliper itself may not provide any benefits. You're 100% right about that as well as the possibility of pedal travel increasing (don't know enough of the system specs to really comment) but the caliper is matched to the rotor on the Gen 3 and it takes care of locating itself in the right place on the axle, from what I found. That's why it's part of the swap.

Toasty's mod is not so much a mod as working with what we've got here in North America to replicate a better OEM setup available in other markets (no disrespect to Toasty, he's a Pajenius). The GLS version of the NL Pajero came with this exact front brake setup from the factory.


The NL also got a 5 speed automatic, sometimes they pop up on eBay but I think that's the JATCO trans and I might not be able to swap the cool transfer cases like the Aisin can.
 

RyanY

Adventurer
The benefit of the swap is not the rotor's diameter (it's actually smaller than the factory Gen 2 rotor) but it's mass and surface area.

I'm not quite sure I understand how this is possible unless the Gen 3 uses a larger brake pad. Physically speaking, a smaller diameter rotor can't have more surface area if the center rotor hat diameter remains the same, and the only way it's going to increase the mass is if it's considerably thicker (it would have to be SOMEWHAT thicker just to make up for the loss of mass due to the smaller diameter, and a LOT thicker to actually increase the mass).

The only ways to actually increase the braking force are by increasing the area of the brake pad, or by changing to a more aggressive brake pad material. Any modifications you do to the brake rotors (increasing the size, slotting, or drilling) are only assisting in the heat absorption and dissipation - they won't increase braking force, and slotting and drilling will actually reduce the braking force slightly due to the reduction of the rotor's surface area.
 

snare

Adventurer
if I recall correctly Toyota Sequoia SUVs have 16" wheels with the proper bore size to fit Montero's. Unsure about compatible offset/backspacing.
 

jeep-N-montero

Expedition Leader
if I recall correctly Toyota Sequoia SUVs have 16" wheels with the proper bore size to fit Montero's. Unsure about compatible offset/backspacing.

Sequoia has 106mm bore, Montero is 108mm, but not sure what that has to do with Montero brakes?
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,527
Messages
2,875,535
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top