Defender disc handbrake product review - a flawed design? How to make it work properly.

I review the Defender disc handbrake conversion sold under the name X-Brake. Although it works very well initially, it has what I consider to be design flaws which need to be rectified. I show the necessary modifications which anyone with modest workshop facilities can do for themselves.
I have also sourced replacement brake pads which are sold for a fraction of the high price charged by the OEM. They may be bought from
saftek.co.uk/

[@markgash316]

Good review. I’ve had a X-eng disc brake on my 110 for about 10 years and it has been faultless in that time. Haven’t even changed the pads. A very good mod in my opinion. Bonus is I can top up my leaky transfer box oil now directly from the bottle as there is more room to get to the filler plug. The downside is I’ve not got round to fixing the leak😅

[@defendermodsandtravels]

You have done very well if you haven't had problems with the pads rattling and wearing. I wish I could say the same. At the moment I have a small transfer box oil leak on my Disco 1 and the transmission brake is useless. I guess a transmission disk brake would still be working.

[@JUKE179r]

Great video! Cheers from a Yank with a Disco 2 V8 in IP27 Suffolk! 🍻

[@KoningSuperSimon]

Good review, thank you.

[@neilwhite8131]

Great stuff, I will have to have a look at mine , I used a set of JCB brake pads on mine . I will have to search the saftek site for these ones. Do you have a part number for them please? if its not to much trouble. Thanks

[@defendermodsandtravels]

Send an emai to Julie Evans (lower case, no spaces) at Saftek.co.uk and she will sort you out. I don't think they have an online shop because they have a lot of industrial customers.

[@V8PropaneBurner]

These calipers originate from a certain model of JCB, I don't know which one. I ran an early LR90 fitted with the X-Eng brake for many years without any problems. The big bonus for me was the reduced maintenance requirement after off roading. I always found the drum hand brake to be very capable, until it filled with mud and quickly went out of adjustment or the linkage got jammed. This is nothing dismantling and cleaning wouldn't solve, but as with the wheel drum brakes, it all takes time.

[@defendermodsandtravels]

Thanks for the info. If you ran this with no problems you did much better than me - high pad wear; pads coming loose; rip off prices for replacement pads. With my mods I now have a workable solution, and if I need to replace the static pads I can get a supply at reasonable cost. Their performance, when working as designed, is very good.

[@V8PropaneBurner]

@@defendermodsandtravels I believe many people said pads were available at a lower price direct from JCB spares sources, but I have no first hand experience of this. I bought my kit long before the business was sold to Foundry, and found customer service at that time was personal and top notch. It certainly devalues a product when such benefits are lost. I would say the irregular pad wear you experienced may have been due to the caliper not being free to slide on the guides. The gaiters must be in good shape and the sliding elements within be suitably lubricated. I'm glad you have found a reliable way to enjoy the benefits of a disk hand brake.

[@rustandoil]

You've probably saved me a bit of cash 👍🏻

[@benwood5488]

Have you got the part number, for the ordered brake pad from saftek Thanks in advance

[@defendermodsandtravels]

Nope but send them a picture and they'll identify it for you. They are v helpful.

[@adelarsen9776]

Fixing other people's *uck-ups is what good engineers spend their time doing.

[@defendermodsandtravels]

But it's more satisfying to be designing good things in the first place.

[@adelarsen9776]

@@defendermodsandtravels If it wasn't for had engineers I wouldn't have a chance to do mine.

[@nickosborne1982]

Great video as always. Maybe you should make and sell your own kit ?

[@defendermodsandtravels]

Look I have steered viewers in the right direction to get affordable pads. I could sell static pads with keepers and they are admittedly the more acute problem, but how long before the copy artists take over? The moving pad needs a small mod to the actuating piston and the manufacturer needs to get involved here. I could no doubt make a bit of money but probably too much effort for little return.

[@nickosborne1982]

@@defendermodsandtravels yes probably true Regarding being more trouble than it’s worth. Just a thought was all, you being a engineer are far more skilled than the average person.

[@red90rover98]

You need to change to the earlier style drums. When they are setup, they work great. They always hold. They just need to be lubed up once in awhile. The newer style is crap.

[@defendermodsandtravels]

Now that I have got the disc handbrake working well I intend to stay with that. It's inherently a better design than the drum handbrake IMO. I am tempted to switch to drum rear brakes too but that means an axle change, as I recall.

[@EWOverland]

Can you reoeat here the travel blog that you mention ?

[@defendermodsandtravels]

Sorry for the late reply. The travel blog is ihana.com. Those guys, Tom and Barry, were pioneers by posting their travels online as they went around S. America. Their website seems to be alive still even though the trip ended many years ago.

[@EWOverland]

@@defendermodsandtravels Thanks

[@nickboylen6873]

Neither pad is static - both move; one on the calliper and one on the piston. It sounds like your calliper has been binding on its rods through insufficient clearance, misalignment, insufficient lubrication or contamination. I have heard of others having the same issue until they got the calliper moving freely.

[@defendermodsandtravels]

The moving pad is spring loaded so it positively retracts. The caliper gets pushed back by the pressure of the rotor against the pad. Even if the caliper is free, as mine is, my experience is that this pad wears much more quickly.

[@nickboylen6873]

@@defendermodsandtravels The principle is the same as most cars’ main brake system callipers. The fixed calliper and pistons on both sides that Range Rover Classic, Defender and Discovery 1s have is atypical, a single sided sliding calliper being the norm, just like the aftermarket X-Brake. They manage relatively even wear unless the calliper is seized on its rods, just like the X-Brake.

[@philparr2724]

I fitted a discovery drum system, so full cable , no idiot mechanical links, that i have phot evidence of my 90 holding on a 1in3, these discs are a useless fad, had my 90 for over 15yrs and never replaced the holding brake shoes or a drum for that matter. my 110 holds over 3 ton quite regularly and releases niecely without fail, so, I advise fitting the Discovery cable system , its soooo much cheaper

[@defendermodsandtravels]

It's better than the Defender drum handbrake? Mine was pretty useless which is why I changed.