[Ron Sutton]

Jay offered some excellent, objective advice. Love it.

Ron Myers has a similar semi-floater rear end housing utilizing the C6 bearing/hub ends & we're using it in an offset 3-link install. I like it. I don't know what it costs, but it puts better bearings on the outer ends of the housing for safety reasons. While they're not as heavy duty as the bearings in floater ends, they are a nice step up from the regular roller bearings in 12-Bolts & 9" Fords. Plus they only require occasional inspection for play (wear) & basically no maintenance.

For ultimate safety and the elimination of any brake knock back, a full floating rear end is tops. They use two opposing tapered roller bearings inside a beefy hub that are rated over 2000# each for thrust load. Most of the hard runners in autocross and/or track days have gone this route, or want to. Surprisingly, the cost is a not a lot more when compared to buying a flange axle housing. A complete Speedway Engineering floater rear end housing with axles, hubs, drive plates, bearings, studs, etc is $1299. This is does not include the 3rd member. Moser & Currie offer them for less, but I'm not a fan of the components they use. But if you're on a super tight budget, a complete floater from them is around $950 & better than going with a flange axle & single roller bearing.

Rear brakes were a challenge, but no more. Speedway, Moser & Currie all offer brakes and/or mounts installed ... but only up 12.19" rotors & no parking brake. Wilwood offers a nice street kit for the Speedway Mod-Lite Floater with 12.88" x .81" rotors & parking brakes. These do mount closer out to the wheel for appearance sake. The standard caliper only has 1.96" piston area, but can be upgraded to 2.46" piston area for no charge (requires the thicker pad). The rotor is the medium duty GT version and can not be upgraded to the Spec-37. So think "medium duty" here. I feel it is an excellent brake package for most Pro-Touring cars running autocross often & only occasional track days.

For my clients with a higher priority on performance, we don't run parking brakes for several key reasons.
#1 is they add a LOT of weight in exactly the wrong place ... as the parking brake hat/drum is cast iron ... out at the end of the axle housing. For those that are not familiar with the unsprung weight concept on solid axles, lighter components out on the end of the axle allow the shocks & suspension to respond quicker = more grip. Heavier components out on the end of the axle make the shocks & suspension respond slower = less grip.
#2 is the internal drum style parking brake creates additional friction, drag and heat that we don't want on a performance vehicle.

A trick my clients do, instead of running a parking brake, is to install a drag race style "line lock" solenoid in the brake line (front or rear - doesn't matter) with a regular switch instead of a momentary switch. When the car is parked & the engine if off, they simply leave the car in 1st gear (or park for autos) and the car isn't going to roll away. But they like to let the engine warm up at times ... so they start the car, put it in neutral ... press the brake pedal to apply brake pressure & flip the switch. Viola ... brakes are on. Then they can get out & let the engine run & warm up.

So I created brake kits for floater rear ends that don't have parking brakes, but do use rear racing brake parts like big, race quality brake rotors & calipers. The most common package uses a 13.06" x 1.25" Wilwood Spec-37 rotor and 4-piston Superlite caliper with either 2.46" or 3.00" piston area for serious braking force. These do place the caliper & rotor farther inward, so the appearance doesn't match the fronts. I plan to offer floater brake packages with 14.00" x 1.25" rotors and Aerolite 4P calipers once Wilwood offers the Aerolite 4P in a piston area in the 2.46"-3.00" range.

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Regardless of brand, version or source, I personally hope everyone driving their cars hard in autocross & track days go the floater route for both safety sake & the elimination of brake knock back ... which can also be a safety issue.