HOW TO Convert From Drum Brakes to Disc Multi Part Video Series

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ForeverFalcon40

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Making hydraulic hoses was my job at The Bus Plant for about a year. Best I can figure, I made about 20,000 hoses, more-or-less. Most of them fabric braid over steel-reinforced rubber, (Aeroquip FC300 and Aeroquip FC350) but plenty of single- (Aeroquip 2807) and double-steel-braid (Aeroquip 2808) hoses over Teflon (PTFE) liners like your brake hoses.

Replacing metal tubing brake plumbing with "steel braided" hose is insane.

Metal tubing weighs less, costs less, has a longer service life, is more resistant to road debris, and is less-likely to be damaged by failure-to-properly-secure.


What happens when those filters get damaged by contact with the ground? Doesn't look like they're protected by being above the frame-rail aside from a thin-steel guard attached to the frame.


According to my '97 C/K service manual, they're 3/4 to 1 inch smaller in diameter than the JF9 C3500HD rear rotors, and probably not as wide, either. JF9 rotors = 13.58 diameter, 1.435 thick.

You haven't said which calipers you're using, but the web site brags-up their "ElDorado" calipers which are puny junk for an application like this. The JF9 rear discs use Bendix single-piston calipers, but the service manual doesn't specify how big the piston is.


1. Anti-seize is an improper "lubricant" for drum brake adjusters. The metal powder in anti-seize is abrasive. No wonder you had problems with them.

2. How are the bleeder screws on wheel cylinders any more prone to corrosion than bleeder screws on calipers?


No idea how that fits a non-C3500HD truck. May have been a nightmare. Probably easier to get a disc-swap or an axle-swap from a newer-generation 3500. I don't know how easy it would be to install, but at least the caliper would be supported properly instead of those damned flat-brackets; and the calipers and rotors would have been sized properly for the vehicle.
From what I gather making hose with the correct crimp tool is an streamlined process. The Job who I choose to employ me actually use to make their own hoses. Corp/New Management said it takes up too much space and chuck it. Rather use it for inventory and keep hoses in stock LOL. Now we pay a shop to make our hoses and they are using the equipment we "threw out" to make our lines LMAO

I understand the cost aspect, but it is still cheaper than a truck payment, looks cool and I think would last longer. Heck if I'm not in the mood to make a line, I can bring it to a place ands have them replicate it for me.

Air Dog Fuel System...Great question...if you look at every other diesel truck that was modded before mine. No one has that issue...BUT I ADMIT when I see a diesel with their filters hanging low It bothers me. I'm a retard and I like clean look under the frame. I think the air dog sticking out is a "flex" like stickers. My truck is lowered 2" and I plan on going more low so I did tuck it up. You can look at my truck from the side, front and rear and would never know I had an Air Dog until I turn the key on and hear them kick on. Mandingo from the factory was set up haul / camper (there is a sticker inside the glove box). Also being a K Series truck it is beefed up suspension wise. I lowered my truck 2" then I negated it when I scored a set of 19.5's off an old UPS truck HD model. I went from 215/85/16's to 225/70/19.5

Again my truck is K Series so Lowering it has its limitations...Mandingo is one of my forever trucks/work truck. I'm vertically challenged if you couldn't tell in the video and I prefer all my vehicles lowered for multiple reasons. That is my goal this summer...the only way for me to lower the rear is remove leafs to the sweet spot than move to the front and adjust torsion bars.

I'm going to see if I can attach multiple photos so you can get better idea of the whole truck.

I resorted to Antiseize b/c the Purple Brake Lube in the same brush bottle like Antiseize failed to work as well.

If the bleeders snap on the caliper the bleeders are located in a spot where I can choose to work them out and replace them. If I choose to be lazy I can just pop off the tires and the caliper vs pulling the axle and other components. Bleeder is hidden away...cant be taken out. Have to remove the wheel cylinder and that is a chore in itself.

Again my plan is to go lower...So an HD rear appeals to me if I want to go with a different rim and tire set up and keep my rears tucked vs getting extended fenders. Thats why I had no issue committing funds to swap it in.

Sidenote: I pull my spikes off in the colder months to prevent them from breaking as the company who made them discontinued them b/c people were complaining of them melting even though I NEVER had an issue.
 

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ForeverFalcon40

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Nevermind the width issue as the 3500HD being a C&C model has about an 8" narrower rear end than a regular dually. There's all kinds of "not gonna work" in that idea, beyond the 10x7.25" bolt pattern on the wheels.

Richard
Bolt Pattern on HD trucks are the same just come with 19.5's which I run on my truck a narrow rear is exactly what I want and need as well. That is why I had no issue spending money, time and effort.
 

someotherguy

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Bolt Pattern on HD trucks are the same just come with 19.5's which I run on my truck a narrow rear is exactly what I want and need as well. That is why I had no issue spending money, time and effort.
A 3500HD wheel has a 10x7.25 bolt pattern. What truck are you working on that is not a 3500HD and shares that bolt pattern?

I just looked at your pictures a couple replies back and see you have a 3500 which is 8x6.5 bolt pattern. You have 19.5's, yes, they are from a step van with the 8 lug pattern. I'm familiar with them as I ran them on a previous 3500.

A C&C rear will not fit a regular dually, but without more insight into what your goal is I can't comment further.

Richard
 

ForeverFalcon40

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A 3500HD wheel has a 10x7.25 bolt pattern. What truck are you working on that is not a 3500HD and shares that bolt pattern?

I just looked at your pictures a couple replies back and see you have a 3500 which is 8x6.5 bolt pattern. You have 19.5's, yes, they are from a step van with the 8 lug pattern. I'm familiar with them as I ran them on a previous 3500.

A C&C rear will not fit a regular dually, but without more insight into what your goal is I can't comment further.

Richard
Forgive my ignorance as I'm forever a student when it comes to the gmt400 platform considering I still have my first truck (Escahoe) for over a decade now since I was a teen.

When I got Mandingo I was tired of replacing the door handles and discovered Kodiak Handles which can be found on HD models will work just need the rods and bits. I found a yard that would let me pick and pull b/c I have been going to them since I was a teen. Even though it is illegal now they let me...they would sell me the doors for $200 or if I found a dented one $50 each.

In my travels I have a Cab and Chasis and assumed it was HD bc of cab and chasis as well as Kodiak Handles...truck was also sporting 19.5's never paid attention to bolt patten till you pointed this out. you are correct about the 10 lug maybe lol

either way I would have swapped hubs front or rear to make it work.

#1 goal is disc brake conversion
#2 shortened wheelbase to give me the option to run a bigger rim/tire combo without extending the fenders

Last photo is me using a forklift at work to take the doors to the scrap dumpster. I sware I had to drag these doors half a mile at the yard to get them to my truck.
 

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ForeverFalcon40

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Illegal to pull your own parts in a salvage yard? What's the reasoning?
maybe illegal isn't the correct term BUT due to theft and insurance purposes no yard here on the island and city won't let you pull anymore. I can't speak for upstate as I have never gone there but island and city for sure.
 

Supercharged111

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I looked at the TSM web site. ANOTHER company selling junk flat-bracket conversions for use with calipers not designed for 'em. I feel like a broken record explaining why that's potentially unsafe.

Drum brakes don't suck when they're kept in proper working condition, and when they're sized appropriately for the vehicle and usage. Drum brakes were grossly undersized on passenger cars for decades. They were replaced in the late-'60s and '70s with somewhat less-undersized discs. When disc brakes were "new", guys pissed and moaned about how hard they were to work on, and how precise everything had to be. It's just a matter of what the guy working on them is used to.

I hope the discs you installed have AT LEAST as much stopping power as the big (13 x 2.5?) drums you removed. If the kit you bought uses passenger-car calipers on those 12.5" or 12.75" rotors, I have a suspicion that you have less braking now than you did before.

You saved me from watching the video. My dad's Monte Carlo with a Quick Performance Ford 9" rear end uses the same garbage flat steel plate to mount a front caliper for an 85 Monte Carlo. It definitely works as the rear brakes were shot and most surprising was the pads weren't tapered. One of the passenger side brake pads came apart and it tore up the rotor. They want $150 for a rotor that they claim is proprietary. . . just to have incorrectly designed rear brakes where the pads ride over the top of the rotor. Insanity. I'm going to the junkyard in hopes I can adapt an Explorer rear disc setup onto the thing. Maybe it's the circle track that perpetuates the use of these components?

And directly to the OP, drum brakes do NOT suck, on an empty dually the rears lock before the fronts. They are incredibly up to the task. Yes, they're an asspain to service, but they work very well. I've entertained the notion of a disc swap to better dial in bias with a larger selection of brake pad compounds, but I'd want to adapt something factory to it.
 

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img_7186-jpeg.330847

Note how the OEMs mount the caliper--no damned flat bracket. The caliper mount takes the braking thrust in-line with the rotor, not off to the inboard side of the inboard pad.

That's the Bendix caliper system, familiar to folks who've worked on older Fords, and (maybe) Chryslers. At least, Fords are what I first saw them on. They're considered "sliding" calipers because they slide on a steel leaf-spring and are trapped underneath by a steel support. As opposed to the Delco-style calipers which "float" on rubber O-rings on steel sleeves/pins.
 

ForeverFalcon40

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You saved me from watching the video. My dad's Monte Carlo with a Quick Performance Ford 9" rear end uses the same garbage flat steel plate to mount a front caliper for an 85 Monte Carlo. It definitely works as the rear brakes were shot and most surprising was the pads weren't tapered. One of the passenger side brake pads came apart and it tore up the rotor. They want $150 for a rotor that they claim is proprietary. . . just to have incorrectly designed rear brakes where the pads ride over the top of the rotor. Insanity. I'm going to the junkyard in hopes I can adapt an Explorer rear disc setup onto the thing. Maybe it's the circle track that perpetuates the use of these components?

And directly to the OP, drum brakes do NOT suck, on an empty dually the rears lock before the fronts. They are incredibly up to the task. Yes, they're an ass pain to service, but they work very well. I've entertained the notion of a disc swap to better dial in bias with a larger selection of brake pad compounds, but I'd want to adapt something factory to it.
It is only part 1. If you want to see me break down the kit and what I got for $1,400 its all there.

Last time I checked when I got the kit new D&S Rotors were around $120 for the pair and I didn't even shop around to see if there is better package with pads. With this kit I can walk into parts place and get parts needed if I ever get into a jam.
 
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