Quote:
Originally Posted by Longhorn 70
I have to do my rear brakes. They are in serious need. I haven't decided whether to do the drums or upgrade to disc. Do I just remove the axles, hub nuts, take the drum off, pound out the studs, replace parts like a normal drum brake job.
If I stick with drums, more than likely have to replace the drums, shoes, seals, hardware kits, wheel cylinders, hoses and studs.
If I upgrade to disc, I'll have to buy brackets, loaded calipers, studs, proportioning valve, hoses and seals. I may also have to mod the ebrake cable. This will be about as much work as the drums.
My questions are.....
Do I want to use car calipers on a truck?
Will the car discs be more reliable than the drums? I know the pads are WAY easier to change than shoes.
Is it better to buy a kit with everything included or get brackets and hit ebay?
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If you can get to a press to press out the studs, its a lot easier, some have had a bit of a problem getting the old drums off, something about no adjuster hole to back off the shoes or it was a frozen adjuster? The rest of your thoughts seem to be in line, replacing the hub bearings are a bit different, plus you really need to grease the bearings before reassembly.
You have disks on the front already correct? you can use the same calipers and disks on the rear, its a proven option, the other option is the Eldorado calipers with the E brake. From what i hear if you use the Eldorado calipers you have to set the E brake a lot or they come out of adjustment somehow, that was from the guy at Black Bird conversions, plus you have to devise your own E brake cable bracket so some fabrication is involved. If you do the front calipers you have the option of using a drive line brake, there are a couple company's that make stuff for that.
You will also need to add rubber hoses from the rear calipers to allow them to move in and out freely so you will need to shorten the existing hoses and use a double flair, plus you should make some brackets to weld on to the axle to attach the steel line too for support. Oh, of you run aluminum rims then you will need longer than stock studs on the rear, with stock you'll be fine with the old stuff.
I think in the long run i wish i had just bought my own stuff locally, i had problems with some of it and it would have been easier to work it out locally rather than have to send stuff back to where you got it from.
Of you need help finding brackets let me know i have a few web pages lined up