Rear Drums Anyone??

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AuroraGirl

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I did the NBS rear disc brake upgrade. It was pretty easy. Find your self a complete 10 bolt rear axle with brakes from a 99-03 silverado/sierra 2001-2006 Tahoe/Suburban. By complete I mean get the parking brake cables, brakes...everything. You will be transferring the backing plates and brakes from it on to your rig. I bought one for $200. Took the needed parts, and re-sold the axle for $150. You will need the axle spacers for the backing plates. Cunningham machine makes them for both 10 and 14 bolt rear ends. I made a bracket to hold the parking brake cables to the frame, and had to buy the intermediate parking brake cable from a 2003 silverado. There are 3 sizes... Mine used the middle length. Took me about a day for the install. Not difficult. You gain better/smoother brakes that wont fade as bad like drums do, but the parking brake won't be as good. Drum brakes do make one hell of a good parking brake.

You need to change the master cylinder to do this properly., the drum brake master cylinder in your truck powering the discs will cause them to drag. I dont know how GM did the residual pressure , iirc it was through the ABS unit (Someone like @Schurkey should be better suited to fact check that?), or in a valve on the master

The discs also need more volume than provided in the rear portion of a master thats disc/drum

Either drag or not enough take up would be what happen , assuming no changes are made
 

BBslider001

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But why do you want to change to discs? You've already got the wonderful 11.150" drums. Things might be different if you had the horrible 254mm (10") leading-trailing shoe drums.
I have since changed my mind. Now that I have done these once, I realize it is totally doable and some of the length of time was due to my lack of knowledge/experience. I am good. See? You saved me money LOL
 

AuroraGirl

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I cannot think of a single place on a drum brake assembly that requires anti-seize.

ESPECIALLY not on the threads of the adjuster. (I use white grease.)


Yes, and most of them use disc-brake DOWN-grade kits apparently engineered by a middle-schooler.

The better way is to use disc brakes from a GMT800 truck. You know...put-together by an ACTUAL ENGINEER.

But why do you want to change to discs? You've already got the wonderful 11.150" drums. Things might be different if you had the horrible 254mm (10") leading-trailing shoe drums.
he was using anti seize as his brake lubricant, which is better than nothing but its not the best
 

AuroraGirl

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I have since changed my mind. Now that I have done these once, I realize it is totally doable and some of the length of time was due to my lack of knowledge/experience. I am good. See? You saved me money LOL
cooler heads prevail

Also i dont wish the 14 bolt full float rear drum in hat park brake on anyone if they are old and rusted
(3/4 ton not a half ton)'
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They are HARD to getoff when the shoes are seized inside and hold it on and the rust welds it too
 

BBslider001

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he was using anti seize as his brake lubricant, which is better than nothing but its not the best
It wasn't copper or nickel anti-seize. It was more like di-electric grease. I had it in my toolbox and don't remember why, but when I checked the consistency, it seemed to be the best option out of what I had on me. I just know adjusters can freeze up from having 1st Gen 7.3 trucks. When I check them in a month or so, I'll redo it with better stuff. Oh, I am not the guy who waits years to take care of my rigs. They get used pretty hard on my property and my gun range. I'm the guy looking for reasons to work on stuff. It'll be maintained, believe me. Thanks for the input. Hopefully at the end of the day I'll be the drum brake master. LOL
 
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AuroraGirl

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Oh? Guess I’ll read the bottle cause I use it like Frank’s Red Hot.
It swells rubber. If you find the product on amazon, THEY USE IT ON RUBBER IN THE STOCK PHOTO!
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DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE USE THIS FOR SLIDE PINS OR WHEEL CYLINDER PUSHROD DUST BOOTS OR PISTON SEAL areas.
You can use it on any surface which touches metal and it will help either noise or vibration or wear
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you can see some orange residue where the dust boot is , thats this:
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you can use this bottle instead of the purple, but the purple has superior wash out and metal-metal surface performance
I use both, and jusst this orange stuff where the rubber parts are
 

Schurkey

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he was using anti seize as his brake lubricant, which is better than nothing but its not the best
Anti-seize is intended for threaded fasteners. It's essentially powdered-metal (aluminum, copper, or nickel) and perhaps graphite in a grease carrier. The grease carrier burns away in high-temperature areas--exhaust manifold bolts/nuts, for example. That leaves the powdered metal to act a microscopic "ball bearings" when the threaded fasteners are removed.

So the ideal use-case is that you apply the anti-seize, the parts stay assembled and with zero relative movement for...ages...and then on disassembly it unthreads fairly easy due to the "ball bearings" and--maybe--some grease lubricant between male and female threads.

But when the threaded assembly is in frequent motion (the brake adjuster in this case) the male threads are moving against the female threads--that powdered-metal is an ABRASIVE.
 
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