You young bucks!
I remember when disc brakes were just getting popular. You know--AFTER they weren't optional, (with almost no-one paying extra for them) and becoming standard at the front of just about everything.
Mechanics bitched and whined about how complex disc brakes were. How they weren't as simple and reliable as good ol' easy-to-work-on drums.
?? I've done front pads 5X and rotors 3X on my 1500. Still rocking whatever shoes are inside the junkyard diff I installed back in 2012. Discs ARE easier to service, absolutely, but I can't think of a brake pad that's outlasted what's in the back of my 1500.
Have we discussed this before? If your rear brakes last that long...
there's something wrong. They're lasting that long because they're not being used. Plugged rear hose, faulty combination valve...something like that. And when the rear brakes don't work, the front brakes wear prematurely as they're working extra-hard to stop the truck with no help from the rears.
As to why the OP loves his new setup? New stuff is better than old, out of adjustment leading/trailing garbage. But I'm in violent agreement with those who've pointed out the glaring flaws in this kit.
Yes. It's easy to fall in love with a new design, when the old stuff wasn't working to it's potential due to age and wear.
And--true enough--the 254mm leading/trailing shoe brakes are a fookin' disaster even if properly-designed (Duo-Servo) and properly-sized drums in general aren't a real problem.
A well designed caliper, all you have to do to change pads is knock out 2 pins and push the pistons back. When I change shoes, a lot of cussin' and fussin' is involved. You're never going to convince me that drums are better.
When racing, knocking out two pins and replacing pads is a wonderful design. Faster pit-stops is more better, and the whole system can be examined in detail--maybe scrapped--before the next race.
This DOES NOT WORK on street-driven cars, because the calipers and rotors are likely to also need attention that they won't get if a person is focused on slapping pads in and throwing the tire back on.
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"Crust" on the square-cut caliper seal, partially scraped-off.
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