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Dana 60 brake upgrades?

rompinstompinmudmonkey

rompinstompinmudmonkey

1/2 ton status
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Apr 19, 2006
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Location
South Dakota
For those of you that aren't familiar with my towrig its an 89 CC dually with a 12 valve Cummins swapped in and rollin on 37's.

I want to improve the braking system but not sure where to start. I know the heavier wheels and tires play a factor, but I want to end up with brake performance that's similar to a new truck

The brakes work great when I'm not towing a trailer. I can lock up all 6 37's during a panic stop if I want to. I would consider the pedal a little low though. I've bled the brakes multiple times and even removed the master cylinder and bench bled it. I am 100% sure there is no air in the system. Under normal operation I'd say the pedal is 1/2 to 2/3rd of the way down to achieve a substantial amount of braking.

Is the master cylinder bad? If i change I'd like to upgrade. Will the master cylinder off a 2001- up 2500HD swap on and is the bore larger on the newer master than the old one?

Are there any caliper upgrades for the dana 60? I've heard of someone installing calipers from a 2500HD but have never seen pics or really found any info on it.

I plan on ditching the drums in the rear but haven't yet because I don't want to lose the parking brake. I'll probably just swap the whole rear axle for an AAM out of a GM or Dodge

Anyway, what's everybody's thoughts? The truck tows as good as a new truck. Time to make it stop like one
 
see if you can get some slotted rotors . then see if there is performance pads like hawk or others . these 2 would bump up the performance.

napa has these severe duty front pads . UP7081ASD my napa guy calles them rotor eating pads . but they STOP .

rear if towing lots of guys still prefer drums in the back . make sure there clean of dust and mud . also not glazed drums from years of hard use . and adjust the shoes up to just a tiny drag so there is no slack to eat pedal travel up .
 
Dumb question, but since you have 1 ton brakes all around, did you upgrade to the 1 ton master cylinder already?
 
Start at the beginning. Don't upgrade the fronts until the back is on par. While weight wise its apples and oranges so is the actual brakes size. My 94 2wd has metric gm parking brake calipers in the back, parking brake works great I add, with stock pads and slotted and drilled rotors. Up front is stock calipers with EBC reds and drilled and slotted rotors. The thing stops insanely fast. So just remember your Dana 60 brakes are way larger than mine for a larger truck.

I would do the rear discs and go from there. Drilled and slotted rotors play a huge part in fade and ebc pads will make the brakes feel way better. A caliper change is the last thing I would resort to.
 
During a panic stop the rears will lock up before the fronts will. I suppose I could turn the drums to break the glaze, but my seat-of-the-pants calculations feel that the front is where the biggest improvements are to be made. I haven't found any slotted rotors but I have seen EBC pads available.

I really want the improvement for when I'm loaded. My truck will out pull a stock power stroke or duramax, but won't come close to comparison when it comes time to stop. Its not uncommon for me to be loaded to 30k or more
 
Then rears locking up is just the nature of things. The drums wedge and bite under a panic stop. Not to mention the weight shifting forward onto the fronts, I guess depending on the load though.

I'm not a Dana 60 guru but are ford brakes twin piston vs Chevy being single?
 
yes ford is 2 pistion over gm single .

but to run ford brakes with stock parts you need knuckle out . and ford knuckles are weaker than gm/dodge knuckles.
 
Over the years I've seen caliper upgrades for the GM D60 but I can't recall who made them now. A twin piston, or better yet 4 piston, caliper will give better pressure distribution across the surface of the pads. Do you have rubber flex hoses on the front? If not I'd upgrade to braided stainless.

For a M/T rig I'd rather keep the rear drums for the superior parking brake over a disc w/inner drum setup.

Having owned several K30/V30 CC over the years if you are running >30K GCVW you are over loading that chassis. They are good trucks but they don't hold a candle to the new hydro formed frames of the newer stuff.
 
sweetk30 said:
yes ford is 2 pistion over gm single .

but to run ford brakes with stock parts you need knuckle out . and ford knuckles are weaker than gm/dodge knuckles.
Click to expand...

Also keep in mind that the Ford D60 rotors are smaller, and even though they have two pistons, only have about 3/4 the piston area as the Chevy caliper. The Chevy D60 brakes are definitely better.
 
I've also considered buying an exhaust brake. I guess I'm still not sure what direction I want to go. I think I'll probably start with upgraded pads, and tighten up the rear brake shoes
 
oh ya I forgot you got that motor .

a good quality exhaust brake works good along with down shifts .

I run tow truck with a dmax/Allison combo in a 5500 chassie and it works so nice I wish it had 2 settings . light and heavy .

my buddy had a 2011 gmc 3500 dmax and his exhaust brake sucked compared to his other truck . 2011 dodge 3500 cummins with 6.7 in it . both factory setups . he said no comparison dodge is the winner .
 
I think there is a reason the big three have all went to disks in the rear of the bigger trucks. The brakes on an aam 11.5 are massive dual piston. That is what I would be looking for.
 
Bringing this back up. I've done some looking and have found a few other guys that have done similar upgrades to what I want to do. Some have used GM calipers and others have used Dodge calipers. Seems like nobody has done it on a DRW axle though. I've got no problem fabbing brackets but I'd be willing to save the time and buy them if someone already had them figured out. WFO concepts makes the brackets for their SAS kits, but they only have them for Ford axles..
bdee66453cce76459a3b819418a5e570.jpg
 
drw difference ? maybe in rim fitment .

and that bracket looks a little scary in the 2 half moon cuts to clear the piston body section .
 
The only difference in the DRW vs SRW is how the rotor is held on. WFO uses a slip on rotor hat and the DRW needs to use a bolt on rotor because of the wheel spacer.

I know the GM 60 and the GM 2500HD rotors are almost the same diameter. The Dodge rotors are about 1" or so larger.

I have my 89 CC that's Cummins swapped and weighs in at 7800 lbs. My 07 Dmax weighs in at 8000 lbs. The 07 stops MUCH better than the 89 does. I want to bring the 89 up to the same braking standards.
 
Hey Kert & ORD

Enough with the front calipers used in the rear, enough with running stock D60 calipers. Get on making some new stuff. Why has the entire aftermarket community settled on the use of front calipers, why not something from today's trucks. Something with a proper parking brake too. This can't be hard to do, break away from the old fellas :D

I'd give up my current set up, spend the money AGAIN for a GOOD rear disc conversion. I think RSMM has a point, it's not just offroaders looking for this stuff. :waytogo:
 
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