converting 4 lug to 5 lug on fox mustang

I am wanting to make my 4 lugnut bolt pattern on the wheels in a 84 mustang into a 5 lugnut bolt pattern. Can I just buy a set of rotors for a 1984 mustang with a 302 in it and bolt them on keeping the same brake callipers? The rear is getting swapped with a 5 lug 8.8 so I am not concerned with the rear.

fox body car where 4 lug till 1993

http://svo73mm.cjb.net/
This page is mostly geared towards the stock 4 lug wheels and stock '87-93 GT/LX wheels. Hence the "budget" name to the page. Here are some of your options for converting to 5 lug:

Cheap way:

-For the 87-93 4 cyls, you can use the 4cyl 83-88 Ranger rotors and then mix/match bearings to fit.
-For the front 87-93 v8 cars, use the rotors from a mid 80's Lincoln Continental, Lincoln Mark VII (85-91), or '84-'86 SVO. This will keep the cost down and allow you to keep the stock front brakes. . You an also purchase after market front rotors in 5 lug.

**Important note here! The SVO/Lincoln front rotors will NOT work with the Ford '98 & '99+ Cobra, Y2K Cobra R wheels, and '97+ GT 17" wheels. Most of the wheels will mount up ('98 cobra and the Bullitt wheels will not), but you will not be able to mount the center cap due to the larger dust cap on the rotor. To run these wheels, you need to convert over to the SN95 front brakes (this includes spindles, rotors, hubs and calipers). Alternatively you can use a wheel spacer, but it is not recommended. The Lincoln/SVO rotors will work for the' 95 Cobra R wheel, 16" SN95 Pony wheel, and '99+ 15" & 16" wheel since they have a different center design and cap. If the center of the wheel is recessed, the Lincoln/SVO dust rotor will most likely be to large for the center cap of the wheel.

fox body car where 4 lug till 1993


-For the 87-93 4 cyls, you can use the 4cyl 83-88 Ranger rotors and then mix/match bearings to fit.
-For the front 87-93 v8 cars, use the rotors from a mid 80's Lincoln Continental, Lincoln Mark VII (85-91), or '84-'86 SVO. This will keep the cost down and allow you to keep the stock front brakes. . You an also purchase after market front rotors in 5 lug.

**Important note here! The SVO/Lincoln front rotors will NOT work with the Ford '98 & '99+ Cobra, Y2K Cobra R wheels, and '97+ GT 17" wheels. Most of the wheels will mount up ('98 cobra and the Bullitt wheels will not), but you will not be able to mount the center cap due to the larger dust cap on the rotor. To run these wheels, you need to convert over to the SN95 front brakes (this includes spindles, rotors, hubs and calipers). Alternatively you can use a wheel spacer, but it is not recommended. The Lincoln/SVO rotors will work for the' 95 Cobra R wheel, 16" SN95 Pony wheel, and '99+ 15" & 16" wheel since they have a different center design and cap. If the center of the wheel is recessed, the Lincoln/SVO dust rotor will most likely be to large for the center cap of the wheel.

To do any of this, I believe you will have to swap out your spindles for those from a newer car. I know for a fact that the 4 and 6 cylinder cars had the older smaller spindle size which will not permit you to swap to different stuff. Do an internet search and find out if you have the small or large ones.

I have never been able to make the ranger rotors work, I worked in a parts house and never could find the bearings to match these rotors.

I am using rotors from a lincoln mark 7. They use the stock mustang brake pads but the pistons are larger for extra stopping force (5000 lb lincoln vs. 3200 lb mustang)... go down to the parts house and compare the two you'll see what I'm talking about. My rotors are for the same car, they are the same dimension but with 5 lugs. Make sure you use a bigger master cylinder with them.

If you have to change spindles for sure, the spindles off of a 94 and up sn95 do not use standard bearings, they have a sealed hub that bolts on. Nothing wrong with this at all, but you will find that you need to put a couple washers to space the spindle on the ball joint to make it fit correctly. Done a swap on a buddy's car with these pieces and it works fine.

For your rear, you can use axles from the right? side of an aerostar or ranger/explorer as the differential is offset a little and the one is shorter than the other. You want the shorter ones. If not, I recommend just buying a set of moser 5 lug axles that can take some abuse and get some C clip eliminators at the same time. I also seem to remember an article a while back where someone used slightly modified big cadillac calipers on a ford rotor, which is a cheap option that works well (once again 5000+ lb car). Snagging the stuff off the back of an sn95 works I believe but the stock sn95 axles are a half inch bigger than the original fox axles (space for abs ring).

you can switch to 5 lug in all kinds of ways. here is what i did on my zeph. for the rear i used 28 spline usa alloy axles from summit. i used them to go along a stock trac loc with fresh clutch pacs.
.... for the front i purchased used 95 spindles complete with hubs, calipers and rotors. traded in the calipers as cores to get rebuilt ones, turned the rotors. you will need new brake hoses. i did not like using a shim under the lower ball joint nut so i also switched to the sn95 ball joints. the taper on them are different then the ones on a fox joint. bobn

I have been researching this as well because nobody seems to offer much info past: telling you Ranger rotors need different bearings or telling you to upgrade to later spindles/brakes too.


I think you need:

2 - 1983-1988 Ranger front rotors $27 ea. at Autozone
2 - outer wheel bearings 79-86 Mustang V12 - $8 ea,
2 - inner wheel bearings 79-86 Mustang V17 - $6 ea.
2 - inner wheel seals 79-86 Mustang - $3 ea.
2 - 1983-1988 Ranger rear drums 9" x 1.75" - ROCKAUTO.COM - $23.79 ea.

The drums are MUCH higher at Autozone. Even with shipping you save $10 a drum.

You might need to use a Ranger inner bearing (National A6 or Autozone V6) cup with the Mustang tapered bearing because the Mustang cup is a butt hair larger (2.3622" vs. 2.328") in outer diameter than the Ranger one.

I *think* this is what all you need. At least this is the way I am going to try it. lol

lol, nobody's telling anybody anything, just offered one way that i know works. like i said lots of ways to go. where you are located and whats available to you matters most.
...also keep in mind early ranger disc brakes are on the small size compared to later gt/cobra etc brakes. bobn