Brake Upgrades

[Frank Enstein]

What stainless lines are people running on K2500s. The Russel’s on my K1500 don’t share the interchange….it’s strange it looks like the rubber lines are the same part number

What year K2500 and is it lifted?

 

[red98]

What stainless lines are people running on K2500s. The Russel’s on my K1500 don’t share the interchange….it’s strange it looks like the rubber lines are the same part number

Think a lot of people are running stainless lines that came with lift kits, I know Rough Country throws in braided stainless with their liftkits.

 

[Reega]

What year K2500 and is it lifted?

2000, factory

 

[Schurkey]

If the pedal is super soft there's something going on, most likely air in the system somewhere. IMO the best thing that you can do to improve brake pedal feel in these trucks is to bleed the brakes properly (including the ABS module) with a bi-directional scan tool.

Thanks. You saved me a lot of typing.

Hat's off to Frank Enstein for covering all the other bases in the second post.

The braided stainless soft lines seem to help a little as well.

I have the steel-braid-over-Teflon (PTFE) hoses on several vehicles. They're worthwhile, but not until everything else is in proper order. Old rubber hoses get soft; new rubber hoses aren't all that bad. So someone replaces crappy old hoses with new "steel braid" hoses and thinks they've made a big difference.

 

[df2x4]

Make sure you factor in your rotors when selecting upgraded pads, I've heard bad things about mixing pad/rotor material and quality, for instance if you have cheapo rotors and high end aggressive pads, your rotors will be chewed a lot quicker than usual (or vice versa), and other things of this nature that can sneak up on you when upgrading.
I think I've heard the high end pads on standard rotors is worse than high end rotors and standard pads, but I'm sure someone with more experience knows for sure.

Agreed to a certain extent, however it's easy to get caught up in marketing too. For example...

I think if you're going with super aggressive pads then it probably makes sense to get slotted rotors (not drilled) to help with cooling. I run Raybestos EHT369H pads (GG code) on both of my '97s. The Suburban has EBC slotted rotors and the red truck has Raybestos slotted. The EBCs are normally twice the price of the Raybestos, but I have yet to notice any differences in stopping behavior between them using the same pads on both. I'll be curious to see how they've worn when I replace brakes next, but hopefully that will be quite a while.

What stainless lines are people running on K2500s. The Russel’s on my K1500 don’t share the interchange….it’s strange it looks like the rubber lines are the same part number

Russell lists part number 672370 for '88-'96 7200GVW K2500 pickups. Not sure why they stop at '96, maybe you could email them and find out?

I have the steel-braid-over-Teflon (PTFE) hoses on several vehicles. They're worthwhile, but not until everything else is in proper order. Old rubber hoses get soft; new rubber hoses aren't all that bad. So someone replaces crappy old hoses with new "steel braid" hoses and thinks they've made a big difference.

I'm sure there's some truth to that. When I replaced the (likely original) rubber soft lines on my red truck they didn't seem to be in bad shape, but there was a noticeable improvement in pedal feel going to the Russell braided lines. Maybe the rubber lines were worse off than they appeared.

 

[Reega]

Found these by paragon performance https://www.paragonperformance.com/Auto-Brake-Line-Hose-Kits/Chevy-Trucks

Haven’t heard of the before, seem a little spendy but at least there is an option

 

[Schurkey]

I have the steel-braid-over-Teflon (PTFE) hoses on several vehicles.

Fairly sure I put Russell/Edelbrock 672370 hoses on the front of my K1500. (Three hose kit, but I haven't installed the rear hose yet.) The same set is listed as fitting my '97 K2500; but other folks have said that the hoses are too short on their '2500s.)

About $130. I don't remember paying that much--but I bought them several years ago.

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

 

[RichLo]

Dont get drilled or slotted rotors!

The decrease the surface area of the rotor and you get reduced braking efficiency. They are only meant for extremely wet and extremely high speed braking (think Formula-1 in the rain or cruising down the autobahn) where they have to carry water through the pad area when the brakes were not engaged. Solid rotors tend to let water push the calipers apart and when you go to press the brakes the first time you get a long pedal travel before the pads touch the rotors again.

 

[Erik the Awful]

Drills and slots aren't for water drainage, nor for digging into the pad material. They're for dispersing the gases that escape from the pad material. Newer pad materials don't put off gases when hot, so the drills and slots aren't necessary. My race team runs stock rotors (larger brakes off a later model) when endurance racing our BMW.

 

[Frank Enstein]

^^^^^What he said!