Rear disk brakes -- worth it or not?

[kipps]

My truck is a 3/4 ton 4wd, and will be seeing general farm duty, commuter driving, and some heavy towing.

I need to swap the axle under the thing, and there's two routes I could go.

#1, use a 1975 14-bolt full-floater axle that's sitting around already. This will need new bearings, seals, and brakes for $350. This axle is equipped with 13" drums.

#2, purchase a 2001 14-bolt full-floater axle from the junkyard for $285. This comes with factory disk brakes and a G80 posi-lock. Here too, I'd plan on spending around $300 for new bearings and brakes. The spring pads will need to be moved, but that looks doable enough.

Either axle looks like a good deal. I like the idea of disk brakes, because of weight savings and mechanical simplicity. My main concern is that I don't take a step backward in braking performance by switching to disks. I've had quite a few people tell me I would be downgrading, and their credentials indicate they should know.

Can anyone weigh in on this?

[cadillac_al]

Rear discs are nice as long as they don't have a hokey park brake system like the old Cadillacs. I'm not familiar with the 14bolt park brake. I wouldn't do it unless I was swapping axles anyway.

[mongocanfly]

if you go to rear discs youll need to swap to a disc/disc master cyl and prop valve...so that needs factored in...
I doubt there would be any significant weight difference between disc and drum setups...
I used my previous truck for general purpose driving/towing/hauling...it had rear discs, and I couldn't tell any difference from a drum setup

[kipps]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

I doubt there would be any significant weight difference between disc and drum setups...

It's fairly well documented that disk-brake 14bff's weigh 100-lbs less than 14bff's with 13" drums.

[mongocanfly]

Ive never researched that...but that's a huge difference in weight...not sure where the 100lbs difference would be though..

[ACS]

If anything, it’s a bunch easier to do brake pads on the disc brake setup vs drums. That said, rear discs eat pads at least 2x faster than the drum setup.

[kipps]

Originally Posted by ACS

If anything, it’s a bunch easier to do brake pads on the disc brake setup vs drums. That said, rear discs eat pads at least 2x faster than the drum setup.

Do they eat pads any faster than the front brakes? As long as they don't, I don't mind.

[mongocanfly]

I had over 250,000m before I touched the brakes on either end of my disc/disc truck

[Nick_R_23]

I also did my disc/disc truck at 230,000 miles, and not because they were worn out, but because the rotors finally developed some runout and the pads were at 25%. Disc brakes last MUCH longer than drums.

[ACS]

Opposite experience here - but in fairness, on a late model 1500, not a 3/4.

[trixter99]

There is a reason that factories went to disc brakes, they just plain work better. I have also heard that some of the HD trucks went back to drums but I’m not sure if it’s true or not. Rear Disc brakes on HD trucks up here get eaten very quickly by the muddy gravel roads that the work trucks have to travel on. Either way you decide to go will be more than ample braking power for your truck.

[mongocanfly]

My 99 1500 has disc rears...my 13 1500 has drum rears