EBC brake pads and Apex brake lines

Well, I am not bitching about my brakes anymore. I just replaced the front pads with some EBC Green stuff, 6000 series brake pads. Between that and the Apex Stainless steel brake lines, the truck stops on a dime. I can't wait till the rear pads show up. Should be next week sometime. The EBC pads come with some type of break in coating. Feels like ROUGH sand paper. You can feel em grind on the rotors, now all the little grooves that were in my rotors are pretty much gone, and I only drove about a mile.

Brake upgrades to date:
Front and rear Apex stainless steel lines
EBC green stuff 6000 pads (front for now, rear on the way)
Magnum cross drilled rotors.

Problem with just having the front, it tends to dive, even with the front ranchos at 9 and the rears at 5. I will update once I replace the rears to see if the diving reduces.

I give two thumbs up for the EBCs and the Apex lines. The apex lines are like 70 bucks shipped, and if you email em, they will custom make you a set, they have blue red black and clear. I got the red, and plus 2" in length ,same price. They are pretty nice, although they put the sliding portion of the line that clips in, backwards. no biggie, I just ziptied it in, but they said they would replace them for free, I just wasn't willing to wait.

Alright, just finished putting the rear pads on, replacing the blown brake line, and troubleshooting rear brakes. I made a rookie mistake, wife came home, and I asked her to help me bleed the front while I was in the process of doing rear pads, had the drivers rear caliper off, had her press pedal to make sure the piston moved. No problemo. Proceeded to the passenger front and set up for bleeding. I never put the rear caliper on. I was putting brake fluid in the reservoir as she was pumping the brakes. Fluid kept going down? Then I noticed fluid all over the ground. Damn, blew the piston out of the caliper. That thing is a PITA to get back in, so ended up having to bleed two lines. Long story short, the truck stops much better, I am not sure what glazed pads look or feel like, but I think that might have been the problem. I can almost get her to slide from 30 mph, the tires just start to break loose. Awesome, nice to have the truck back after 9 days of no VX. The Tonka toy, or as my kids call it, the robot car is back in business!! Next mod to the VX,superflexy IFS, low pro front bump stops, ball joint flip with spacer.
That I can do over the 3 day weekend if the IFS kit comes in time:) If not, look for update on the Trooper RS thread, lift, ranchos, CB, stereo, ...and a slew of other things.

Sounds like you are running out of things to do so, if you can get the Navy to fly you out here for some "training" I am sure I can find a thing or four that needs done on mine!:bwgy:

Glad you got the brakes worked out!

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Originally Posted by Triathlete

Sounds like you are running out of things to do so, if you can get the Navy to fly you out here for some "training" I am sure I can find a thing or four that needs done on mine!:bwgy:

Glad you got the brakes worked out!

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All this while teaching, taking two college classes, 29000 gamer score on xbox360...and I read a book or so a month. Getting ready to finish book 11 of the Wheel of Time series, a sad day when I am done:(

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Originally Posted by Marlin

All this while teaching, taking two college classes, 29000 gamer score on xbox360...and I read a book or so a month. Getting ready to finish book 11 of the Wheel of Time series, a sad day when I am done:(

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Small thread jack but...WHEEL OF TIME ROCKS....

We now resume our regularly scheduled thread...:yesb::yesgray::yesy::yeso:

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Originally Posted by Mile High VX

Small thread jack but...WHEEL OF TIME ROCKS....

We now resume our regularly scheduled thread...:yesb::yesgray::yesy::yeso:

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Well, it is my thread, so as far as the WOT, I read between 80-100 pages an hour, so I try to wait until a series has a dozen books before I start. Jean Aul, clan of the cave bear series was good, Dragons of Pern, Sword of Truth, Elves of Shanarra, Planet Earth Decalogy, all good series of books. Deployments= lots of reading.

Careful to ween yourself off of whatever you're on well before your next piss test. ;)

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Originally Posted by vt_maverick

Careful to ween yourself off of whatever you're on well before your next piss test. ;)

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Nope, I am in bed by 11 and up at 530ish. No drugs, except of the fermented grapes type, for this guy. Its all about time management, if the kids are taking a nap, thats me time!!! I used to play video games at 4am before the kids got up. Then the VX came along...now I try to get the boys involved with the truck, my oldest loves to "help" me on it. Maybe I should bring him to Moab and he can do oil changes on the stoop or at the campground, a few more years and he can be my DD. (He's 5, but I started driving the stake truck on the farm when I was 6 or 7)

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Originally Posted by Marlin

Well, it is my thread, so as far as the WOT, I read between 80-100 pages an hour, so I try to wait until a series has a dozen books before I start. Jean Aul, clan of the cave bear series was good, Dragons of Pern, Sword of Truth, Elves of Shanarra, Planet Earth Decalogy, all good series of books. Deployments= lots of reading.

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I like your choice in books.

Have you read the Piers Anthony Xanth collection? His trilogy grew to 15 or 20 books before I stopped reading them.

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Originally Posted by tom4bren

I like your choice in books.

Have you read the Piers Anthony Xanth collection? His trilogy grew to 15 or 20 books before I stopped reading them.

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One of the greatest authors ever...I have the entire set on a book shelf. I have hundreds of books, I am starting the Shannarra series again.

Update on the brakes, rear pads installed, everything is great! Drives and stops like a normal vehicle now.

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Originally Posted by Marlin

Drives and stops like a normal vehicle now.

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We assume you are talking in relative terms here!!!

Marlinstein VX
Trooper about to go under the knife
Poor man's RV/car trailer/tent/POD on wheels

Dude, you REALLY need to steal Eric's siggy.

I'm in the process of replacing all brake pads and rotors front and rear. I'm using the UBC pads front and rear and Concept 1 drilled/slotted rotors. I'm gonna paint the hub centers yellow to match the calipers so I'm kinda excited. I can't wait to get it finished to see the difference. My proton has always performed well brake-wise but I think this will make a respectable improvement. Should be done in a week or so.

If it makes as dramatic an improvement as my upgrades did...you better get a 5 point harness and hold on.

Sounds sweet, can't wait to see pics!

Thanks for the tips on these brake upgrades. I've been looking into this. Here's what I was considering.......

Apex SS brake lines from Ebay
Brembo drilled and slotted rotors from Brakeworld.com
Disc Italia Hyper Ceramic Pads from Brakeworld.com

Can anyone recommend some calipers and a good place to buy? Also, what else should I consider for my braking system. What Fluids, etc.?

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Originally Posted by H3_VX

Thanks for the tips on these brake upgrades. I've been looking into this. Here's what I was considering.......

Apex SS brake lines from Ebay
Brembo drilled and slotted rotors from Brakeworld.com
Disc Italia Hyper Ceramic Pads from Brakeworld.com

Can anyone recommend some calipers and a good place to buy? Also, what else should I consider for my braking system. What Fluids, etc.?

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I would stay away from slotted rotors, we don't drive race cars and you will needlessly destroy pads.

The Apex lines are fine, just make sure you look at the orientation of the front clip fitting and tell them which way it needs to face. IIRC, their fitting is opposite of our OEM and thus needs to be backwards. They are pretty cool, they made me 2inches longer all the way around, for extra flex piece of mind.

I would also highly recommend the EBC Green stuff vice ceramics. Ceramics don't seem to do well in our trucks for some reason. I think our single piston calipers don't have the balls to create enough pressure for the ceramics.
AFIK, there are no direct fit kits for caliper upgrades. I would just get Autozone rebuilds if you really want new ones.

As for fluid,its all the same, make sure you get the DOT3 or whatever the cap says.

For the rotors, I would consider the magnums on ebay. Quite a few of us have them, and they offer cross drilled only.

I have had good luck with my SP Performance drilled and slotted rotors with stock pads and calipers and braided stainless steel lines from Independent 4x4. When I changed out the stock pads and rotors at 70k+ miles the front pads had, probably, 70% life left on them and the rear had a little less. The stock pads are notorious for lasting a very long time. I'm at 112k right now, and haven't checked the pads since I put them in, but I don't think that the drilled and slotted rotors are wearing the pads excessively. The VX is a heavy little booger, but I can't push the thing hard enough to tax those rotors. I got them because they look cool, IMHO, not because I was going to race the VX.

I got the 5 piece stainless steel (kevlar reinforced) lines from Independent4x also. I notice the improved braking power.
https://www.independent4x.com/mercha...roducts_id=295

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Originally Posted by Marlin

EBC green stuff 6000 pads (front for now, rear on the way)

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Is there something I'm missing......

Amazon says these wont fit my VX and Orielly auto online says they come with rotors.......

Can you help me out with a model number and where to buy front and back?

Thanks!

Eight years ago I put on braided brake lines from the well known low cost supplier. In the course of a routine brake fluid exchange, this year, one of the hoses burst for no good reason. This was done on the dealer's lift rack by my regular mechanic.
Lucky for me. Needless to say I replaced all 5 hoses instantly with stock hoses.
I make no claims or accusations, but these are the facts and this is a serious matter.
Draw any conclusions you may.
Respectfully offered, Roy

Update. Found the right link on Amazon. Bought.

thanks!

FYI....
Fronts:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CGVQCS

Rears:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CGTLL6

Hopefully I am assuming correctly that by purchasing a quantity of 1 each, I will have pads for all 4 wheels.

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Originally Posted by Marlin

Well, it is my thread, so as far as the WOT, I read between 80-100 pages an hour, so I try to wait until a series has a dozen books before I start. Jean Aul, clan of the cave bear series was good, Dragons of Pern, Sword of Truth, Elves of Shanarra, Planet Earth Decalogy, all good series of books. Deployments= lots of reading.

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Dragonriders of Pern. Great series