Disc brake conversions for 93

[GeraldGordon]

Does anyone know of anybody that make disc brake conversions for the 1993 W250 5 SPD? And How much am I going to have to pay for them ?



Thanks for the help Gerald

 

[Steve Graham]

TSM is cheapest place I know of, you get to do more of the work so its cheaper.



http://www.tsmmfg.com/5500_or_6000.htm



Steve

 

[BHiggins]

Steve,

Good link, that's a nice kit! I wish I had some extra $$ to sink, but I just did my rears including drums, kind of expensive to just toss and go to disc... There's always next time.

Brian

 

[cerberusiam]

I considered doing the same thing until I did some research. To each his own, but, everything I have found so far indicates its not worth the dollars. Using 3" brakes and the bigger wheel cylinders seems to work as well or better than the conversion. I am more than a little concerned using parts off of something that old. In addition, without changing the master cylinder I think you may be decreasing braking instead of gaining.



I frequently gross 13k to 15k and have no problems with the drums providing they are adjusted and working correctly.



My . 02

 

[boatpuller]

I can't say for sure it's my rear discs but this trouble started the day I put them on, it feels like there is air in my brake system, I replaced all my rubber lines when I put the discs on, thought I had a bad master cylinder, replaced it, tried bypassing the antilock valve, didn't help, took truck to a shop to have pressure bled, there is no air in the system, truck stops fine but the pedal is spongy. If I had it to do over again I would have stuck with the 3" Drums, I was just tired of adjusting them all the time, but I've spent a lot more time trying to get the discs to work than I ever would have spent adjusting the drums.

As it is now, I am just driving the truck as I don't have a warning light and it stops fine, just a spongy pedal.



There's my $. 02



Caleb

 

[Philip]

Everyone that has tried a rear disk conversion has had problems with spongy bakes.



The kits are also not complete. The EGR brand kit you have to fab your own emg brake cable mounting system. This kit has been on the market for a few years now and the MFG has not finished the EMG mountings yet.



Do a search for rear disk conversions. It should give you some ideas what the job takes and some of the pitfalls.

 

[Steve Graham]

The best way I know of to make the conversion work is to also replace the master cylinder with one from a dual disk set up. You can make a disk/drum work with the original master cylinder by removing the residual check valve for the rear, but you will still lack the volume the thats needed for the rear disk. Could be the cause of soft brakes?



Steve

 

[Steve Graham]

Here's a link for everything you ever wanted to know about brakes.

Steve



http://www.hotrodheaven.com/tech/brakes/brakes1_index.htm

 

[boatpuller]

Everyone that has tried a rear disk conversion has had problems with spongy bakes.



The kits are also not complete. The EGR brand kit you have to fab your own emg brake cable mounting system. This kit has been on the market for a few years now and the MFG has not finished the EMG mountings yet.



Do a search for rear disk conversions. It should give you some ideas what the job takes and some of the pitfalls.

The emergency brake cable was the easy part, if you move the bracket on the frame that the 2 outer housings go to, back about 3" it uses up the extra cable hanging out of the end and the cables will go right in to the caliper just like they did on the Cadillac. Now if only the spongy part was so easy to correct. I still think it's something to do with the emergency brake in the caliper, would like to build a driveline brake and go to calipers that don't have an emergency brake in them. But that's a project that's way down my list of things to do.



Caleb

 

[Case500D]

Save your $$$

I had rear discs on my '92 W-250. Never could get a firm brake pedal. As the rear pads wore, the lower the pedal got. It was kind of scary towing with them because the front brake on the truck were doing most of the work. The MC doesn't flow enough fluid to work the calipers correctly. The EGR kit was close to $900. It was a poor investment on my part. I am back to drum brakes with 3" shoes and 1" wheel cylinders. Originally had 1-1/8" wheel cylinders when I bought the truck. Went with the 1" cylinders because the have better fill (response) time. If you do the rear brake job corectly, they will work very well for you.



Jeremy

 

[BHiggins]

From everyone's responses, I'm glad I didn't switch to rear disc.

 

[John Martines]

I uesd the EGR system and had spongy pedal but as I broke in the brakes I've had no problem. The drums are a pain. I went to the larger pads, larger wheel cylinders and all new hardware and still could not get good ajustment. Plus pulling axles everytime to change them was a mess. My two cents!

 

[RWWinslow]

I have >70,000 miles on EGR conversion. Soft spongy brake pedal has not been a problem after the MC was changed. They offer much better control on snow and icy roads. They expose the rear axle seal to more dirt / sand / road debris which can cause problems. My rear drums and hardware wore out at 250,000 miles and the cost at that time to replace all of that hardware was more than the cost to convert to EGR rear discs.



So far they have worked well for me . . . . . .

 

[GeraldGordon]

Thanks for the input

Well guy I am going to save my $$$$ and maybe buy a Turbo or something like that.

 

[JGorombey]

Where can you get a bigger MC? Also does anyone else make a disc conversion?

 

[HFletcher]

I bought a dually dana 80 disc rear from a 1992 Dodge but haven't yet got the courage (and time) to install it. I keep hoping it will be do'able. I've been reading this thread hoping to find knowledge regarding proportioning valves etc. which I know nothing about. I own a 1990 W250 that I upgraded to 3" brakes and the larger brake cylinders, and it stops not too good. I think the anti-lock valve on top of the rear axel needs bleeding. I also own a 1993 D250 which stops on a dime - and I mean on a dime. That makes me think the booster on the 1991 isn't quite right. I want to put the new dana 80 under either of these but don't know how to make it work. Any advice? I don't mean to rob a thread, but the topic was about how to install rear disc brakes and maybe this is the route??????? TIA Hank

 

[Steve Graham]

Hank,



My guess for your 1990 W250 that you upgraded to 3" brakes and the larger brake cylinders, check part numbers for the master cylinder. My bet is the factory either enlarged the diameter of the master cylinder or moved the port for the rear wheels cylinders so that in received more fluid. When you increase the diameter it will increase the pressure as the expense of volume, so it makes sense to me that you need more volume for the rear brakes.

My guess.



Steve

 

[HFletcher]

Thanks, Steve, I'll look into that. Actually I misstated that the dana 80 was from a 1992, I meant 2002 (Dodge). I saw a thread awhile back wherein someone suggested that to make rear discs work would require a different master cylinder from a vehicle having dual calipers (?). Anyone have any ideas where I might find/buy such a master cylinder. The dana 80 I have is a dually rear, if that matters. Thanks, Hank

 

[Steve Graham]

Hank,

I looked at part numbers at "napaonline.com" and the part numbers for the MC are the same for the w250 2 1/2' and the w350 with 3" brakes. Guess that blowes that theory. Must be air in the line.



Why not use the MC from the 2002 Dodge that the axle came form?



Steve

 

[HFletcher]

Thanks again, Steve, I should have thought of that. I had no idea if mc's interchange or are for dual or for single caliper. The 2002 mc is no longer available to me, but I'll be looking for another one. How would one know if they are interchangeable. Also, I think I've seen previous posts about using mc's from other trucks, early chevy's(?) etc. Might an earlier model, if even from a different make truck, fit better. I know these questions are probably not answerable except by someone who has done this, and I was just hoping someone like that would see this post. Hank