The Vanco Raptor brake kit comes with dual-piston caliper assemblies bolted to Vanco's brake bracket, and also has modified knuckles, new rotors, brake pads, and new cotter pins. For less than $800, we like the thought of getting better brakes and still being able to fit our 15-inch wheels. The biggest problem with most other brake kits (in our opinion) is that they usually require wheel sizes bigger than we want to use.
When was the last time you locked up the brakes on your Dana 30 axle? Yeah, we thought not. The brakes on the front of Dana 30-equipped Jeep YJs, TJs, XJs, and ZJs have never been anything to brag about. Their mildly acceptable braking performance with stock-sized tires has always translated into a pedal-mashing endeavor when combined with some decent sized off-road treads, and in our opinion that's just not enough stopping safety. A serious (and affordable) brake kit has been long past due, and Vanco has stepped up and created a bitchin' little retrofit kit to fill the niche. The Raptor Dana 30 braking system comes with dual-piston caliper assemblies, new rotors, and modified Dana 30 knuckles that will put a stop to your brake blues, and for less than $800 to boot.
We got a chance to try out a Raptor brake kit and we were amazed at how much more grab it put on the front end. Vanco has some specific brake break-in procedures, and the brakes will most likely continue to get better over the next few hundred miles. How well did the brakes work? Just ask the guy in the passenger seat who was trying to polish the dashboard with his teeth.
Tech Specs
Who: Vanco
What It Is: Raptor disc-brake kit
What It Comes With: Twin-piston caliper assemblies, new rotors, modified Dana 30 knuckles
How Much It'll Set You Back: Around $750
Options: You can add a hydroboost system for $450
1. The axle nuts are usually hard as heck to get off. Air tools are nice but if you're trying to break the nut free by hand, we found it easiest to have a friend step on the brakes and hold the rotor while we took a breaker bar and cracked it loose. This is also a good way to tighten it back up once the Raptor brake kit is on and functioning. | 
2. Next we removed the caliper slider bolts, lifted off the caliper, and slid off the rotor. The axle nut was already off, but there are three 12-point 13mm head bolts that hold the unit bearing on. Unscrew these, and remove the unit bearing. Unfortunately, to install the new rotors, the unit bearing will have to be shaved around 0.060 to fit the rotors on. We drove ours to a local machine shop and put them on a lathe to take them down the correct amount. | 
3. Vanco reuses a stock knuckle but cuts, modifies, and retrofits it with a custom bracket made to accept the supplied caliper assemblies. There is a core charge of $200 that you will get back as soon as you send Vanco your old knuckles. There are both ABS and non-ABS versions available. |
4. With the unit bearing off, the axleshaft should slide right out. The knuckles are fairly easy to deal with, but you'll need to man-up a little bit to get them off. First remove the cotter pins and loosen both the upper and lower ball-joint nuts. Use a BFH (sledge, preferably) to knock the knuckle on the side of where the ball joints enter it, and strike down upon it on the flat spot near the upper ball joint. With enough force, an undamaged knuckle should drop off the ball joints. The new knuckles are original factory units, so they will go on the opposite way the old ones came off. Use the supplied new cotter pins as you should never reuse them. Replace the axleshaft and unit bearing, but do not worry about tightening the axle nut up until your brakes are bled and able to hold the rotor from spinning. | 
5. There should be some shims already installed in the calipers, but if they are still in the box, then pop them in and snap the brake pads into place. The dual-piston calipers are not really any bigger than the original calipers, but the dual-piston setup will better displace braking pressure through the entire pad and give us better stopping abilities. | 
6. Something we figured out after we already had the brakes together was that some factory brake lines have a lip that will not allow them to be installed on the Raptor caliper assemblies. Aftermarket brake lines will not give you this issue, but if you're cheap like us and the brake lines still look good, then just get out a grinder and take a little ribbing off of the caliper right next to the hose inlet. You don't have to be exact or anything here. As long as the brake hose end gets a flat and proper seating on the caliper, you should be in business. |
7. With the unit bearing's diameter trimmed down a bit, the rotor should slide on just the same as the factory one did. The caliper assembly is a two-piece unit that bolts onto the Vanco knuckle bracket and fits snugly over the rotors. One thing we did notice is that this setup puts the calipers at the end of their travel on the slider pins. This is not a problem, as long as you get even wear from the brake pads. | 
8. Remember that there is no brake fluid in new calipers, and you'll most likely have to do a considerable amount of bleeding to get all the air bubbles out. Be sure to check the brake-fluid level in the master cylinder in between bleedings. | |
Option Up
The Vanco Raptor brake system is a nice addition to add considerably better stopping power to your Dana 30-equipped Cherokee, Wrangler, Comanche, or Grand Cherokee. But to really get the best of your new kit, you could option up to Vanco's signature hydroboost kit. Vanco claims that this setup will take 37s to a halt on a Dana 30 axle.