I need to come up with a braking solution.  I have a 98 TJ with a 6" lift riding on 35s mounted on 15x10 Eagle Alloys with 3-5/8ths back spacing and turned by 4.56 gears.  I've heard and seen all kinds of recomendations of what to do and when, but nobody talks about brakes to any great extent. 

My TJ rides and drives surprisingly well, but the first time I had to use the brakes (what brakes?) I got a rude awaking.  Now I knew braking would be affected, but I had no idea how much.  By switching from stock 30s to 35s I effectively increased the lever arm by 5 inches or roughly 15%.  However, judging by the feel, it feels like the braking distance is increased closer to 25%.

Perhaps I should have upgraded the brakes before I spent big bucks on a lift and meats?  This subject REALLY needs to be discussed more and given more thought by us off-roaders and given more print in the rags.

One easy upgrade would be cross drilled and or slotted rotors. Going with a larger size would be even better. If you donot have 4 wheel disk brake that would be first on my list. They come factory on ZJ's so you maybe able to get the parts cheap in a junk yard off of one.  

I dunno about that one, Paco.  Seems to me, slotted or drilled rotors are beneficial to repeated brake applications, such as road course or other "non-Jeep' type motoring.  the slotted.cross-drilled machining is to aid in the dissipation of heat, thereby reducing fade over the course of many applications.  The brake system works by converting kinetic energy into heat energy - making the rotors hot.  If the rotors can adequately cool between applications without the aid of slots or holes, you may actually see an increse in brake effectiveness by NOT taking away any of the "swept area" of the rotor/pad contact patch.  Right?  If you autocross or road-race your Jeep, that's a different story.

But, to really fix the situation, larger brakes are needed.  This means some degree of parts changing and research.  A band-aid would be to get more aggressive pads, and that should work for a lot of people.

I don't race my jeep.  It gets most of its miles on highway, but I do ride a few trails (that's why I got it) and it has seen more than a little mud.  I already tried a more aggressive pad, which is just bearly better.  I don't want to spend $2,000-$3,000 dollars on upgrades, but I want to get stopping distances back close to or better than what I got with the original 30" tires.  It does not make much sense to have a great trail rig if you get yourself killed trying to get to the trail.

The idea of swaping on some Grand Cherokee calipers and rotors sounds interesting, but being I have 15" wheels and Grands tend to have 16"-17" wheels, I'm not sure that is wise.  Also, I have heard mixed comments about the effectiveness of switching out my rear drums for discs. 

I have heard that there are some companies that that make boosters for the master cylinder that will increase the clamping pressure, but I have not found a source or data to sell me on that idea.

It would be nice if somebody made some 2 or 4 piston calipers that would just bolt on.  Of course then I have to worry about bias between front and rear.

I am not too sure if you are asking a q or giving an a, all I can say is the best braking combination out there is rear drum and front disc.  This is the combo on my Jeep, a '77 CJ5 with a V8, so I know a little about them.  Both drum and disc systems have pros and cons and that is why it is a good idea to have a combo of the two rather than a full set of one all around.  Drum have a tendency to gather moisture, especially when driving through a puddled road or a saturated trail.  Since the brakes rely on fluid pressure to stop the wheel from spinning, this can be a problem.
 The same can be said about disc except there is no real place for moisture to accumulate and so it is normally evaporated through  normal braking.  Disc does have the problem of overheating due to prolonged braking or rapid breaking. This being especially true if you 'ride the brake', or if you have big tires to slow down like your 35s. I do know that if you allow the discs to overheat they become so hot they actually begin to warp.  
 Well there you have it. I personally have 33s and still utilize drum/disc.  I drove a Jeep truck that had drums throughout and the response time can be slow or inconsistant or down right screwed up if you allow enough moisture to build up.  Best of luck to you Jeeper!
 

do you have a brake booster? ask around hot rod or 4x4 shops, there are TONS of aftermarket brakeboosters that are universal. I even know of one that runs off of power steering. if space is an issue, your whole master brake cylinder (and booster) can be relocated. hot rod guys have been doing it for years, mostly under the drivers seat.  

No I don't have a booster.  After doing some research I'm almost sold on doing a rear disc conversion and adding a booster.  That's more than I really want to spend, but it's still cheaper then getting rid of my new 15" wheels to go with 17's so that I can fit larger rotors.   

If you have a Dana 35 rear, your cheapest option is to swap out the rear axle. Seriously. You're running 35's, right? That axle is gonna give out sooner or later. Whatever money you put into it now will just be wasted later. I think the Ford 8.8 from an explorer is supposed to be a a pretty easy swap, and its available with disk brakes that will fit in your 15" wheels. Kill 2 birds with one stone. I know someone who works in Norfolk that has done that swap, he might have some pointers for you. I know most of the shops in VA beach suck. I just moved from there. The 8.8 isn't the strongest thing in the world but my buddy ran 37's on his, and he beat on it pretty good without any problems.  

So on your V8 jeep what brake set up are you running??  I have a 78 witha V8 and run 35's.  I would like to run 37's but I have no brakes.  I am running chevy 1/2 ton underneath with drum in the rear and disc up front.  I cant see that there is enough room for a booster between the hood and the steering???  I would appreciatte any info that anybody has on this subject.  If there is an aftermarket solution links or info would help
Thanks  

My grand cherokee has factory 15" wheels, so If you can get a used rear disk setup cheap enough, It mite be something to look into. Also I find that for me anyways working on disk brakes are easyer to work on.  

The absolute EASIEST thing to do is a bolt on rear disc brake conversion. Then you aren't hunting in junk yards or peicing things together. The kits are economical and help out a ton.  

CJ,

Well my TJ already has the factory D44 with TracLok and 4.56 gears.   

joe,

Seems like you have a point.  So you've done this conversion before with good results?  Was brake bias an issue during hard braking?  Too much rear brake bias can cause the rear to lock causing lose of control.

Yeah your right. my buddy put a conversion on his YJ it stops killer i don't know what brand. anyways i believe he had to adjust the proportin to be front biased because of the added power in the rear. I'll have to ask for sure though. 

I guess its like nascar if they have it set in the rear too much when they go into a corner they'll lock up the brakes and spin.

My tj rides better than his but he does have way better brakes, but i like the skinny pedal best so i'd rather spend the dough on other goodies. Either way 4 disc brakes are better than 2.

Thanks Joe.  Sounds like you know what you're talking about.  Now if I just had $500.....