Hotzenplotz wrote: Can you please create a list of the components required for a conversion. You have listed the parts you fabricate, but in order to see the whole project I need to know part numbers for calipers, brake pads, disks, pipes, valves, and where to get them from.
The 400 / 500 US$ are per wheel, I guess ....
The Calipers, pads and proportioning valve are all from Wilwood. Best deal on these are from Ebay in my experience. The pads are not the normal ones supplied with these calipers but a thicker version (which is how it was done on the TD Pinzgauers as well). This is also the largest cost item for the conversion - about $400 per axle.
The disc/rotors are custom made based on a design I came up with. They have the same diameter and thickness as the TD Pinzgauers. That should help with getting an engineer to sign the design off. These are made by a racing brake company which happened to have the right "blank" casting and was willing to work with me for the low volume. I still need to get a price in various quantities from them. Past discussions suggested not that much price reduction was possible. I know they don't want to deal with lots of people calling them but they could create a part number for the design which would make ordering them easier. These are about $250 per axle (two discs) but might end up less.
The mounting brackets are also custom made and are water jet cut from high strength A572 steel. I would probably have them zinc plated rather than powdercoated but could also provide them "raw" to allow the installer to decide. I used a local company to have these made and higher volume would reduce the costs. These require quality control and inspection of each batch made - so they should be made in volume to reduce these costs and to ensure quality.
The plumbing is the real challenge - requires a number of adapters and custom lines - both hard and flex are used. This is where the 10 different vendors were involved. One idea is to not provide all of these parts and just give an example list and let the installer do it differently if desired - I am sure they are different ideas on how to do it... It also seems like this is where the liability might occur and leaving this to the installer would allow development of better, simpler, cheaper ways to connect them up - my approach is fine but is just one approach and I was just trying to get it done and not necessarily do it at the cheapest price.
The last item is a spacer or wheel adapter - this depends on what wheels are used - but I think standardizing the design on the Ford Transit wheels makes the most sense as they are easier to get than the 5 lug Sprinter wheels (which have not be used since 2006) and only require a spacer and not an adapter (same 5x160 bolt pattern). Other adapters can always be made up by various custom adapter companies. Having these made in batches of 20 to 50 at a time (5 to 10 trucks) will reduce the price significantly I am told. Currently they cost about $160 to $200 per axle when ordered one truck at a time.