Drums or Disc

[Midgets50]

Hi again,
Ive got a question for everyone reading this. which is it better to do stick with the rear drum brakes or switch to disc brakes. currently have only 265/75-16 hoping to put something in the 30 inch tires size on. whats gonna help me stop the best. the front of the truck already has disc brakes and if i swap what is the difficulty of the switch

[OrrieG]

On an unloaded truck the front discs will do most of the work anyway, so unless you are hauling loads all the time I would not do it unless you are replacing the rearend because of other issues. My drive train is a 74 with Disc/Drum. I drove it daily in town, camping loaded up for 15 years about 80K miles. When I put in the drive train I put in new rear shoes and front pucks. In the that time I replaced the front pucks twice, rear shoes are about 1/3 worn.

[Midgets50]

Thanks OrrieG,
you always give great advice

[Chevette]

What OrrieG says is very true but.......it also depends what you are doing with the truck. If you are building a custom, you may want to go with discs for the complete look. If you are adding larger wheels you may want to increase the size of the discs to fill up the wheel center and so on. The thing is......the difference between decent and cool is somewhat expensive and the coolness factor is only my opinion and I'm sure everyone has their own ideas about that and so they should.

[mknittle]

Originally Posted by Chevette

What OrrieG says is very true but.......it also depends what you are doing with the truck. If you are building a custom, you may want to go with discs for the complete look. If you are adding larger wheels you may want to increase the size of the discs to fill up the wheel center and so on. The thing is......the difference between decent and cool is somewhat expensive and the coolness factor is only my opinion and I'm sure everyone has their own ideas about that and so they should.

That's cool

[Speedbumpauto]

Agree with Orrie that drums work very well in the cost/function analysis. Here's my attempt at "cool" using the 10x2 1/4 drums that closely matched the stock set up that came on a Camaro which front clip/discs I used. It's bright red powdercoat that matches the front calipers I did and even though you can't see it in the pic, I hit the tops of the fins with a die grinder and roto loc to make them shiney then went over it again with clear powder. Lots of work but I got more time than money and remember, cool is in the eye of the beholder. Don't beat me up too bad.

[AZbent]

On 90% of the vehicles on the road today, the front brakes does 70% of the braking. So do what you want, and don't worry about everybody else and their opinions. Like has been said, cool is a personal factor. I personally don't think it will matter.

[Midgets50]

Thanks for all the input, the main reason i was wondering is for stopping power with the bigger tires put on the truck. didnt want to keep the drums if they wouldnt perform as well as disc with 35's on the truck

[OrrieG]

Originally Posted by OrrieG

unless you are replacing the rearend because of other issues.

Cool and personal choice are always "another issue"! I thought the OP's question was more practical in nature. Good point about discs and aftermarket wheels.

[mr48chev]

I don't think that the bigger tires would make a lot of difference with brake stopping power. At least not enough to notice.

Outside of the "cool 4 wheel disk look" I'd say your driving habits and where you drive would dictate having or needing the rear disk. If you tend to use the truck to commute in heavy traffic where a lot of vehicles do have 4 wheel disk brakes as standard equipment then I say go for the disk rear brakes. Nothing will give a guy a higher pucker factor than being in a line of traffic with no escape route and having less then optimum braking power with a new BMW or Mercedes directly in front of your front bumper.
I always try to give myself plenty of room but even with my 71 and a 21 foot sailboat on behind it some guys will cut in front of me with no clue that that extra space I had in front of me was stopping room that they just took up. It is getting rear disk brakes when I do the axle swap.