I just got my new Midwest Fab 9 inch rear end yesteday. I am currently puting the Ebrake stuff back on the new rear. I have the adjusting cylinder all put together and I have the brake pad ring put on the cylinder and up into place where its suppose to be. Is that clip that is held on with the screw the only thing that holds the brake pad ring up into position? Also how do you know exactly where the brake pad needs to go for sure? How tight do you make that little screw? Thanks in advance.

 

The bracket screw just holds the small metal bracket in place, and the screw should be good and tight. The ebrake pad slides down behind it. It takes some finesse to get both ends of the ebrake pad on the bottom while keeping the top behind the tab. Once it's in place, center the pad so it's an even distance from the sides and test fit the rotor over it.

Rob (Bad30th)

 

So once its all positioned and the screw is tight should the brake pad ring move at all? I had it adjusted last night and had the screw pretty tight and the ring still moves around. Also I have all the parts from when I took my old backing plates apart and I have two extra little screws just like the one that is used to hold that little clip on from each side. Where do these extra two screws go? I remember taking them out, I Just don't remember where they were.

 

The other two screws are probably from the ebrake arm assembly on the inside of the brake backing plate - two screws hold the plate for the ebrake arm and rubber grommet to the back of the brake backing plate, on either side of the rubber grommet.

The ebrake pads shouldn't move a LOT, but they won't move when the rotor is all the way around them... When you pull the lever the mechanism should push the two halves of the ebrake shoe apart. When assmebled, this will be forcing them against the inside of the rotor.

Here's a pic from my install :


Hope this helps.
Rob (Bad30th)

 

AH HA, yep, you are exactly correct. That is what they are from. My car only sees dry weather now anymore so I wasn't going to put that rubber boot back on. It is all torn and ripped so I was going to leave it off.

 

With the rear end I got adjustable LCA's and an adjustable panhard rod. My next question is how did you guys set everything up? What hole on the LCA mounting bracket did you put the LCA, how did you setup the LCA length and all that? What hole did you put the Torque Arm on up at the tunnel mount where the torque arm mounts to it? I got the rear end in the car with pretty much everything hooked up, it just needs to be adjusted. Thanks

 

The final adjustments to center the wheels in the wheelwell and set the pinion angle will determine which bolt holes everything winds up in. From what I've read and my experience, every car is different...

Center the wheels in the wheelwells with the adjustable LCAs (I have non-adj LCA's but they are in the 2nd from last hole), and center the rear with the panhard (I had to make my BMR adj panhard as short as it would go to center the rear left-to-right), and then set the pinion angle (-1 to -2 degrees seemed to work good for me).

Be sure to do the proper breakin on the rear too, (5) 15 min heat cycles with 2 hours of cooldown in between, no getting on it or highway speeds. The goal is to warm them up nice and slow and then let them cool. I broke mine in with cheap Coastal 80-90, and changed to Valvoline 80-90 non synth after the breakin.

Good luck,
Rob (Bad30th)

 

So then thats the only thing that matters is just centering everything? Other than the pinion angle of course which I know if is in correct will wear the pinion out faster than it should.

When you said that your LCA's are in the 2nd from the last hole you mean the 2nd hole up from the bottom of the bracket right? What about where the nose of the Torque arm mounts to the tunnel bracket? There are multiple holes there too, is there a way to tell which hole it needs to go to?

Also how did you measure the pinion angle? I read the sticky that is in the suspension forum but it isn't super clear.

 

Here's the link to my install writeup :

https://ls1tech.com/forums/gears-axl...9-install.html


LCA's :



Angle finder on pinion :



After taking this initial measurement I readjusted it to move the pinion angle more negative in relation to the driveshaft. I wound up with the nose of the TA in the lowest hole closest to the crossmember, but that may be because I had to lengthen the top heim of the torque arm a little. Which hole the nose of the TA winds up in is determined by which hole puts it closest to the correct pinion angle, with fine adjustments being made on the TA heims.

LOL all of a sudden I'm the "expert" here and I'm somewhat of a 9" noob but did my own install... Everyone else please feel free to chime in !

Rob (Bad30th)

 

Ok Rob you have been fantastic. I have one more question. I think I am done and I set the pinion angle and it is at -2.3 degrees. My question is where did you measure the housing angle at? Did you use the flat area on the bottom of the housing right there where the drain plug is at? This is the only smooth spot I could see to put the angle finder. I did the measurement and got -1.9 degrees for the housing itself and + .4 degrees for the driveshaft. If you do the math you get this.

-1.9 - (+.4) = - 2.3

Does this look correct?

 

I used a socket that fit into the indentation of the U-joint, the angle finder had a magnetic base so I "stuck" the socket to that (this method was used afterwards when I realized I needed to add a little more negative angle, I actually set my pinion angle using a level on my friggin iPhone. As for the tranny end, I was a little more inventive(socket, flat piece of metal but later found an easier way that I think was very easy to find the tranny angle while the driveshaft was out. Can't remember exactly how and if I do I will post up.

 

I put the angle finder on the bottom of the actual pinion yoke itself, on the flat machined part. I rotated the pinion until the flat part was on the bottom and measured from there. The socket method mentioned above is a really good idea too.

Technically the flat bottom of the pumpkin on the MWC 9" should be parallel to the pinion yoke and it should be close , but ideally you'd want to measure the actual pinion itself.

+.4 driveshaft angle and -1.9 pinion angle means the overall working angle is -2.3, if they were measured from the same side of the car with the angle finder oriented the same way when measuring both.

-2.3 sounds good enough for a road test, post up how it goes !

Rob (Bad30th)

 

Ok I took it out for a test drive and have done the break in. Everything seems pretty good. When my converter locks up there is a little bit of a vibration right when it locks for a couple seconds but as I speed up it goes away. My biggest question is those of you that have these rear ends, did you notice an increase in just overall noise coming from the rear end? Its not like gear noise but just noise from like the suspension when hitting bumps and stuff? I replaced all the suspension components with tubular adjustable stuff so there are more rubber bushings for the LCA's or panhard bar. I am guessing this lack of bushings is what is causing the noise. Anybody else experience this?