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Rear Disc brake conversion

M

Montanachris

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May 10, 2021
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Location
Huson, MT
Looking to go with rear disc brakes on my 1972. Body is off the frame and a new axle is going in along with a 2.5" Skyjacker lift kit. I'm new to this so looking for recommendations on where to start
 
A bunch of places sell lots that let you use the disc and calipers from the front. Check out DIY4X.com and another was ruffstuffspecialties.com

parking brake is kind of an issue if you need it. I saw someone had new calipers that had a parking brake, maybe it was ruff stuff.
 
Here are some pics of the axle
bp71k5 said:
A bunch of places sell lots that let you use the disc and calipers from the front. Check out DIY4X.com and another was ruffstuffspecialties.com

parking brake is kind of an issue if you need it. I saw someone had new calipers that had a parking brake, maybe it was ruff stuff.
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Thanks a bunch I would definitely check them out.
 
Montanachris said:
I'm just looking for a cruiser
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And that’s why I would leave it drums. Make sure the hardware is good, adjusted and enjoy it. Some people get lucky and have the disc swap work for them right off the bat. Some folks have to swap other parts and re-engineer the system to make them work. Some, like myself, have spent much more money than they anticipated on different MCs and prop valves...on shops that specialize in brakes, and used time to get nothing but “they work ok” results.
Those that get lucky don’t know why, those that change some things and get lucky did so on a guess/recommendation, and those of us like myself can’t find customer support from the manufacturers any better than “well have you tried?” guesses.
Sometimes...it was better stock.
 
K85 Octane said:
And that’s why I would leave it drums. Make sure the hardware is good, adjusted and enjoy it. Some people get lucky and have the disc swap work for them right off the bat. Some folks have to swap other parts and re-engineer the system to make them work. Some, like myself, have spent much more money than they anticipated on different MCs and prop valves...on shops that specialize in brakes, and used time to get nothing but “they work ok” results.
Those that get lucky don’t know why, those that change some things and get lucky did so on a guess/recommendation, and those of us like myself can’t find customer support from the manufacturers any better than “well have you tried?” guesses.
Sometimes...it was better stock.
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I cannot argue with that as I've been there with multiple things the same type of results if it's not broke don't fix it. I just thought that the kinks may have been worked out by now. And for customer service your spot on people don't seem to know anything or they'll just tell you something to sell you something. I just thought that maybe disc brakes would be easier.
 
I did a rear disc conversion on my '70 K10 and I wish that I would have just went back to stock before I spent a bunch of time and money. Too late now. For a cruiser, leave it stock unless you have a large tire and wheel package, like over 33's.
@K85 Octane is correct that some have good success while others don't.
 
6872xtc said:
I did a rear disc conversion on my '70 K10 and I wish that I would have just went back to stock before I spent a bunch of time and money. Too late now. For a cruiser, leave it stock unless you have a large tire and wheel package, like over 33's.
@K85 Octane is correct that some have good success while others don't.
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I'm going to be running 32 10.50 tires
 
bp71k5 said:
I love my disc brakes. I do need to setup the parking brake correctly though.
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The Eldorado calipers on mine don't have a good parking brake. With the drums, it took a fair amount of throttle to pull through, so you knew that it would hold the truck. Now with disc, it won't hold if you just anything above idle. And the pedal pressure to get it hold that much is very high compared to drums.
 
6872xtc said:
The Eldorado calipers on mine don't have a good parking brake. With the drums, it took a fair amount of throttle to pull through, so you knew that it would hold the truck. Now with disc, it won't hold if you just anything above idle. And the pedal pressure to get it hold that much is very high compared to drums.
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I read an article on how to adjust the parking brake. I’ve been wanting to try it and see if it works. Looks promising. If it works, I’ll pass it along but your right the parking brake seems to be the most problematic item. But I also never use the parking brake on automatics.
 
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