Another question... rear brakes

[sparks57]

How many of you guys have switched over to rear disc brakes? Where did you get them, and what do you think of them?



What can you do to make brakes better? I have heard of stainless brake lines... but can someone give me the rundown?

 

[Case500D]

CB,



I have the 1992 W-250 with rear discs and the 1993 W-350 with rear drums. I might get kicked for saying this, but I think the drums (properly setup) are still the better brakes. Empty, the W-350 will easly lock the rear duals up, but the W-250, you have to really mash the pedal and then the fronts usually lock up first. With a gooseneck on the drums still stop better than the discs.



On the W-350 I have 1" wheel cylinders. The master cylinder has a set volume and pressure that it provides. So with the 1" wheel cylinders versus the 1-1/8" wheel cylinders, there is more force exerted on them. Now, the same thing about the master cylinder applies on the W-250 with the discs. The MC puts out the same pressure and volume. The rear disc calipers require more volume than the wheel cylinders, so the braking is not as aggressive as it could be. I have developed this conclusion after discussing this with a friend or two. If you have the money, just redo the rear drums on your truck and you won't have to mess with them again. Just providing my view/opinion, not trying to support/not support any companies. Hope this helps.



Jeremy

 

[PPeters]

See my sig, I went to the rear disc setup. I'm happy with the braking, better than my drums, but still requires maintenance on occasion (still haven't got the ebrake setup just right yet). Gotta use the ebrake to keep the shoes adjusted. I used the original ebrake cables from the drum setup, fabbed a bracket that accepted the backing plate clip that held the cable in the original setup. My problem seems to be with the cable not keeping tension, perhaps it is too long. Hoping that after this issue is solved she will be all I expected. One big benefit (JMHO) is brake maintenance is easier, no pulling axle shafts to do shoes



Pat

 

[RGT]

just a note: a 1 1/8" wheel cylinder will exert more force on the shoes than a 1" cylinder will with the same pedal pressure...

 

[sparks57]

What can you do to improve stock brakes?



Like is there anything you can do to the brake lines, the master cylinder... anything like that?



What, specifically can you do to upgrade the stock rear drums brakes?



What, specifically can you do to upgrade the stock front disc brakes?



Is there a big brake company that I could talk to that could recommend mods?

 

[Midnite]

There should be a ton of threads about brake improvements, but the best bang for the buck (for the 250's anyway) seems to be going up to the 350 (1 ton) rear brake setup. That's basically just going from 2. 5" shoes to 3" shoes, and larger wheel cylinders.



Sam Peterson is a highly respected brake guru, and if you do a search on his name you'll be able to find the phone number and address for his shop.



EGR is another popular brake company--their big thing seems to be rear disk systems, but they've got more than that.



One thing I've never seen discussed here, but which looks really interesting to me is ventilating drums. Lots of people go to disk systems because of increased cooling. However, you can drill your drums and get better cooling as well. Check it out here.



Mike