Purpose of backing plates on rear discs

[ystrdyisgone]

So I've been trying to track down a rear disc setup (who hasn't been..) to no avail. I see we can get the calipers and rotors on RA, all that leaves is hubs and backing plates right?

 

Now the question, are the backing plates there primarily as a dust/rock shield? If so, could I modify the existing backing plates to accommodate the new setup? Or is there some function they serve that I'm not thinking of here?

[81EA81]

The caliper mounting bracket bolts to the backing plate surprisingly enough. I couldnt tell you about moding the existing backing plate.  Anything is possible if you try.

[Crazyeights]

I used Legacy backing plates and rear calipers on my Loyale project ("Royal Loyale")  I picked it the idea from Nico and Suberdave. You also end up with the option for a rear e-brake. You just have to weld up and re-drill the Leg backing plates and it's pretty much plug and play. The pieces in the first picture were cut from old EA rear drum backing plates.

 

 

I am not sure how much this helps you though. I still had to find a set of XT6 rear hubs to make this work and I never did find the correct XT6 rear backing plates, hence the need for the mods... Sooo much difference in braking now. It was well worth the effort.

Edited May 11, 2014 by Crazyeights

[ystrdyisgone]

Thanks for the info guys.

 

Crazyeights, that definitely sheds some light on what I'm going to have to do here. Do you know if anyone has tried the same setup but with ea82 rotors and hubs?

[Crazyeights]

The EA82 rear rotors would be too small in diameter I think. Hmm...  Thinking. You should be able to make rear caliper mounts from some flat steel stock. I have a complete EA82 rear disc set up off the car right now (not for sale, sorry). I can send along pictures and measurements of that too if it helps. You might just have to fab up something.  We can help!

 

Here are some EA82 Turbo Wagon rear disc backing plates that I pulled at the local P-N-P and cleaned up for a project a couple years back. You only really need the thick center portion to mount the caliper. The rest just keeps the rotor cool and sheds debris or water. As you can see from the pictures above, any cut up old drum backing plate works as a drill-hole template for making what you need.

 

Edited May 13, 2014 by Crazyeights

[czny]

Shoot me a PM about disc backing plates.

[wagonist]

You can use the stuff of a FWD model, but the centre hole on the backing plate needs to be enlarged.

These are a lot easier to find.

The differences in the FWD & 4WD stuff is the hub & the backing plate centre hole, everything else is identical.

 

Problem is, the 4wd hubs are the hardest thing to find....