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14 bolt drum ID

A

aceroth

1/2 ton status
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Oct 5, 2016
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Location
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I got a 14 bolt off of a '73 C20. Trying to figure out what brake parts I need. When I got the axle, the gears and other axle internals were good but the brakes consisted of drums, hubs, backing plates and nothing else. No shoes, no small parts, no springs, no cylinders.

LMC says there are 11", 11 5/32" and 13" drums. I measure mine at 11" but cant promise I'm not off 1/8" depending on how you measure so they could be 11 5/32". I never saw the shoes but the braking surface in the drum looks to me like it's almost 3" wide. LMC says the 11" are 2" wide and 11 5/32" are 2 3/4".

Markings on the drums say 212114 C and "max dia 11.21" there is also a "4E" with what looks like a vertical line and a "5"

Any ideas about ID'ing the brakes? Part numbers would be great since LMC looks pretty overpriced on this stuff.
 
Throw away all that drum stuff and go with one of the many disc swaps available. Cheaper, lighter and better stopping power. I really like having discs on my trucks, its a worthy upgrade in my opinion.
 
I thought hard about discs, still consodering them but I want reliable brakes, not another hobby. I see so many threads here and on other boards where guys are two years in screwing around with disc swaps trying to get them to work right. Was your swap plug and play?
 
I have done it a few times now. Ruff stuff brackets, calipers from parts store and a wilwood proportioning valve from ebay. Worked fine. My latest one is a AAM 10.5 axle with the factory discs. Works great but the brakes are massive. I need to upgrade the fronts to take full advantage of the extra stopping power. With the regular k20 calipers everyone uses I had good luck on other trucks with just a prop valve to even things up. I have also heard guys having trouble with disc swaps, I did not have issues. The first time I did the swap I was going to need new drums along with the other brake parts. $$$$. Did the whole swap for less than drums were going to cost. If you want to retain the e brake things get more difficult, that's how I ended up with the AAM axle in my latest project. Try and get your parts from a place like rockauto, LMC is expensive.
 
Good advice. I'll keep thinking about it. Do those wildwood eldorado calipers I see on summit solve the parking brake problem?
 
aceroth said:
Good advice. I'll keep thinking about it. Do those wildwood eldorado calipers I see on summit solve the parking brake problem?
Click to expand...

That's a controversial question. ;)

I haven't used Eldorado calipers, but I did own a car with a similar cable-actuated disc caliper set up. The caliper has to be adjusted properly or you wind up with brakes stuck on (Or off, potentially). It's not a free floating piston setup like most disc brakes. That's one reason folks don't like messing with Eldorado calipers.
 
Eldorado calipers require you to set the parking brake every time you drive your truck. This is the way the system does it adjustments.
 
Ruffstuff is reproducing the eldo calipers. An issue with them was that they did not come with the actuating lever and the core was expensive. The ruffstuff ones come with the hardware, no core needed. They sold out when they first offered them but looks like they are back. Never tried them but they look like a good solution.
https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/R2262-A.html
 
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