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SuperATV's Rear Disc Conversion

45K views 129 replies 20 participants last post by  Cjay 
#1 ·
This is part number: RDBK-H.

Fits:
TRX300 2x4 1988-2000
TRX300 4x4 1988-2000
TRX350 RANCHER 2x4 2000-2006
TRX350 RANCHER 4x4 2000-2006
TRX400AT RANCHER 400 2004-2007
TRX420 RANCHER 4x2 2007-NEWER (with Solid Rear AXLE, not IRS MODELS)
TRX420 RANCHER 4x4 2007-NEWER (with Solid Rear AXLE, not IRS MODELS)
TRX400 FOREMAN 4x4 1995-2003
TRX500 RUBICON 2001- NEWER
TRX500 FOREMAN 500 2005-NEWER

So we start it off, everything was packaged nicely.


Full color instructions....nice touch:


Disc looks sturdy:
 
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#73 ·
Rugby. How does your foot cable seem to you?? Does it have a big bend? Mine does. It works fine but with such a bend in such a thick cable I know the cable will rub a notch inside the sheathing eventually. My cable doesn't wanna bend down as the instruction pics show either... I'm sure that don't matter though...
 

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#74 ·
Rugby. How does your foot cable seem to you?? Does it have a big bend? Mine does. It works fine but with such a bend in such a thick cable I know the cable will rub a notch inside the sheathing eventually. My cable doesn't wanna bend down as the instruction pics show either... I'm sure that don't matter though...
that is pretty common for them to bend like that..i see it all the time. spec when someone uses after market brake cables..i have something like that on my '89 trx350D foreman right now, cept the problem I have is the cable is way longer than what it should be ?..but it's an after market..i expected that to be this way..lol.
 
#77 ·
I've got a parts list with confirmed fitment for the hydraulic conversion. I've got everything mounted except my line. I found a fitted line that's the exact length. Will post pics and part numbers once installation is complete.
 
#78 ·
Glad to hear it!

I got most of my install done today, but I ran into a snag with the calliper. I feel like I just forgot something stupid, but the piston does not move when I turn the arm. I'm not sure if the piston is just sticking, and I need to use a bit more force, or if I'm supposed to fill it with fluid. All I can say is that I know nothing about mechanical callipers, I'm going to call the tech line tomorrow morning.

Heres a few pictures I promised. I see what you mean about the foot brake line; the angle is a bit sharper then I would like, but I think it will work fine. I had to add two washers with the axel spacer to get the castle nut snug, but it doesn't look like I'm going to have to do any shimming to the calliper (I had a picture but I can't find it now, but everything seems to be sitting perfectly).

I also stopped by my local bike shop, and the closest pads I could find were Polaris, SBS part number 800. I don't mean to take business away from SuperATV, but I figure some people are like me and like to be able to buy wear items locally (I have a bad habit of not ordering parts until the old ones are gone beyond usability).
 

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#79 ·
The long bolt that goes through the actuating lever pushes on the piston. I was playin with it before I installed it and couldn't figure out wtf like you ...
I hope I can explain the set up - once your all assembled as per instruction pics you back the lever off a bit from closed and set the long bolt in until it touches piston in caliper. Then your locknut. Now when lever gets pulled forward from your cables the bolt gets driven in pushing the caliper.
 
#82 · (Edited)
Yep, the center bolt is what push the piston and actuates. It requires a little trial and error to get it right. As a note, I screwed my stop nut all the way down the bolt and the bolt went near all the way in the caliper before it was set properly. Then there was only about 2 threads to rotate the locknut to get it tight. Hope this helps. Great info on the replacement pads, that was gonna be my next hurdle to figure out.

Edit: just found out the fitted brake line is on back order from the manufacturer. I have an alternative of cutting one to fit (more on that later) but would prefer the fitted as it will be plug and play and cost will be about the same. I've got some well placed emails trying to find a vender who has this line in stock and can ship today.....more to come.
 
#84 ·
Your pull bracket must be positioned correctly too. Everything has to be in sync for it to work right. Took me a few tries to get it right!
 
#86 ·
Heres a few pictures, let me know if you need any more!

I've got the footbrake working perfectly, I need to mess around with the hand brake to get it feeling just the way I want.

I found the easiest way to set it up was to set the arm when I wanted it first (Making sure it doesn't hit the end of it's range), then pull the brake and observe how far the arm moves. Then I screwed in the centre screw until the piston locked the wheel, then backed it off the amount that the arm moved. It took a little messing around, but for the first time ever I have a working foot brake!
 

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#87 ·
Update, located the hydraulic brake line from a vendor, should have it in a couple of days. Total invested in the hydraulic conversion is $80 but we may be able to trim that down some once I run final numbers.
 
#88 ·
I think I know why I needed a larger spacer at caliper bracket. I'll just run it by yous. You'd have to be real familiar with the rear of a rancher for this one ...
Have you ever tightened the rear right hub nut before the left? It will pull the axle slightly to the right leaving you with more thread than the left. That's because( I'm pretty dang sure) there's a spacer on the left side of axle ( it's removable and when I first got the bike it wasn't even there!). So you seat that spacer by tightening the left side first. Then the right side can't move.
Am I right?? If so that's why I have a bigger gap at caliper mounting bracket. I need to remove both hub nuts and start from the left and see how things sit.
This make sense ?? Anyone agree?
 
#93 ·
Pics??????
 
#95 ·
After all my rambling searching for an understanding of why the 16mm spacer wasn't big enough I have the answer ( sorry bout all the posts)!

I took pics and sent em to superatv.
They think it's a bracket issue and the bends were not accurate on the press.
New bracket on the way!
I've used superatv before. Great company fast and good service.
BUT I'd love to see how they or whoever fabbed the brackets does a quality control check. Maybe it's Bubbles from the trailer part boys:)
 
#96 ·
I got my kit installed late this morning. Overall, I'm happy with it though I struggled a little getting the caliper bolts through the black spacers and then threaded into the caliper holes. The spacers kept wanting to fall out but I eventually got 'em going.

My only concern is my brake light. Initially, it wanted to stay on all the time because the black lever arm on the caliper does not have a "helper" return spring like the OEM lever arm has. Right now, I have things adjusted such that I have good pedal force and the light goes out but long term, I'm not so sure.

And yes, I definitely had a hard time figuring out how deeply to thread in the brass bolt into the caliper that holds the lever arm in place. Posts 77-ish through about 82 really helped out there as the instructions were useless about this topic.

Yes - definitely had to remove a little of the powder coating on the black arm. And yes - definitely needed another washer under the castle nut to take up additional thread slack.

All in all, it is not neck snapping, skid mark stopping power here that is provided. But it is an improvement over the drum brake where I had no stopping power at all.

Rick
 
#97 ·
Great, thanks for the info and extra opinion. Seems the small issues with the kit are universal so far. Hey Shreveport/bossier here too.
 
#98 ·
Ditto b52... It needs more stopping power. I can picture my self going down a mountain trail and need more back brakes. MAYBEE with more adjusting ( already done a bit) they'll perform better. When I upgrade I expect it to be an actual upgrade. I'm going to convert it to hydrolic. See how that goes. If it sucks I may go back to drum. That'd suck
 
#99 ·
I ordered a conversion kit for my '01 Rubi a few weeks ago and just installed it. Everything went together with no issues beyond what has been mentioned. I am happy that I have a bit of braking from the rear, but likely will have to change it to hydraulic to improve this.

Questions:
1. I had a concern about my aluminum stock wheel clearance, but they went on OK and I have a 1/4 inch clearance between the caliper and the rim at the closest point. Is this too tight? I really don't want to change the rims.
2. I am confused about the posts regarding changing over to hydraulic. It seems some people are changing the caliper? Can the SuperAtv supplied caliper not be used in the conversion to hydraulic?
Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks

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#100 ·
In retrospect, I don't feel initially that this was a big improvement over a good working drum brake. The advantage is supposed to be less adjustment with a disc setup, and resistant to being wet. Once the drums get wet they are done, and we ride wet a lot here so that was my main motivation. For an all dry type riding, I don't know if I'd make this upgrade.
 
#101 ·
I changed the caliper because super ATV sent me a brand new one, so it was clean and in perfect condition. But yes, they all can be converted.
 
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