14 bolt rear disc brakes with eldorado calipers

[survivingalone]

i have a new cucv 14 bolt ff axle. 4.56 gears detroit locker. im looking to add discs brakes. i want to use the eldorado calipers with parking brake levers. anyone have this setup? how did you run your emergency brake cables? did you use factory? were they long enough? did you fab brackets? can you post pictures of your setup? i want to see the hardline to softline setup as well as the emergency brake lines and how they are run/attached. thank you...

[ryanroo]

e brake cables will depend on the year of the truck i would imagine.

this is a regular K20 caliper on the 14 bolt in my jeep. this is how i routed the soft line

[95 S_Trucker]

There were elderado calipers on my truck when I got it. The parking brake didn't hold and the brakes didn't work to well. The pistons in the elderado caliper are just too small for a 3/4 or 1 ton truck. I ended up putting c20 calipers on the rear with my 14 bolt. It stops great now. So far, I have been fine without a parking brake. But I am still looking for options.

[survivingalone]

great pic. thats what im looking for. im in Pa i need the e-brake for inspection.

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by 95 S_Trucker

There were elderado calipers on my truck when I got it. The parking brake didn't hold and the brakes didn't work to well. The pistons in the elderado caliper are just too small for a 3/4 or 1 ton truck. I ended up putting c20 calipers on the rear with my 14 bolt. It stops great now. So far, I have been fine without a parking brake. But I am still looking for options.

Exactly! El Dorado/Tornado calipers didn’t work well on El Dorado’s and Tornado’s let alone on a big truck. I never bought into the eldo rear disk caliper swap business. I’ll stick with drums because I want to the truck to actually stop and have a park brake that actually works too .

Rear disk swaps are over rated IMOP . Yes, drums are heavy but there is a lot of surface area to a bigarse 13" drum for friction material to grab. Look at all the class 8 semi's on the road....99% of them still use drums at all 6 positions as well as the trailer. Imagine that, drum brakes stopping an 80,000 lb rig but yet everybody needs rear disk on their little pickup.

[ryanroo]

i agree Larry.

i used the disk on my jeep to gain the benefit of not having to worry about crud getting into the drums. i prefer drums in most cases.

the jeep however, stops like you tossed the anchor out. very nice. i cant complain about the function in this case. something that gets a load or a trailer with any frequency, and i am going with drums.

[survivingalone]

the truck im putting the new cucv rear axle in has to have new brake lines put in. i already had the brackets calipers ect from another chevy i had a couple years ago. so while we had the axle out of the truck we decided to do the swap to discs. the step side will have a gm 10 bolt front 3/4 ton axle. should i stay with the factory booster? perportioning valve?

[argonaut]

Agreed. Rear disks are kind of like crossover steering, not necessary for *most* trucks.
Also you can't get the correct front to rear brake bias if using the same bore calipers in front and rear, even if you use an adjustable proportioning valve turned all the way down.
I put small bore Wilwood calipers on the rear of my truck along with a Wilwood adjustable prop valve turned all the way down. They work great and look great but I have no parking brake (until I put a transfer case brake on). If I was doing it over again I'd have cleaned up and rebuilt the stock drums. Just saying...

[Gobuffalo]

Check your local laws. In some states this swap is NOT approved for on highway use because it's not DOT approved.
May not ever be a problem till you have an accident.
I have herd the best and easiest way to get a parking brake is to use a driveline brake mounted on the transfer case.
I Googled it and found one right away.

[dennislbrooks]

I moved the 82 Camaro calipers with the parking brake from the 12 bolt to a 9.5 14 bolt in my k10. I used my orig parking brake cable setup but I believe in my case I had to shorten the cable. To pass Texas inspection, the parking brake only had to hold it in drive at idle --mine was an automatic. To get this condition I depressed the brake pedal and then pulled the hand lever on my 67. I do not offroad but will agree with those above that it is hard to beat the parking/emergency brakes with rear drums.

The stock 67 parking brake connections will work on the Camaro disc which I think are near the same as the eldorado. The Camaro left and right are same with one being up and one down. I have the pressure adjustment on the rear line. Speedway catalog will show you the correct setup or call them.

You will have to consider spring travel also. I can supply some other detail pics if you still want a look.

[SoCalK20]

Here's my unsolicited 2 cents. Set up on my K1500 Burb will put your face thru the windshield when jammed on. I run 3/4 ton front calipers and caddy calipers in the rear. While I agree that caliper bore diameter is important, you also need great clamping force to go along with it. My set up was decent with a traded in 14 bolt semi floater and discs instead of drums, but game over when I finally swapped to Hydroboost. That gave me the missing clamping force. No sponginess whatsoever. I still respect drums but discs are a much lighter and cleaner set up. Good luck.

[survivingalone]

yes dennis more pics please. i appriciate all the pros/cons on this topic. socal20 do you have pics of your setup/hydroboost setup? what all did you use for your hydroboost setup? part numbers? thank you.

[argonaut]

I use hydroboost as well and agree that the brakes are superior to all my other vehicles (save for the sportbikes ). I would recommend a hydroboost conversion be prioritized higher than rear disks, if that matters to you.

[dennislbrooks]

I used 83 Camaro calipers, 82 caprice diesel hydroboost, 82 caprice power steering pump ( 2 return ports) ( you can T if wanted instead) and 82 caprice diesel lines to keep all o-ring fittings-- some modification may be needed. Agree with others that you can lock it down with the hydroboost. I fabbed my own plate for the hydroboost and modified the rod to the brake pedal. The disc were from a 73-80 front K10 4wd for 6 lugs -- you may be 8 --something will work.

I used my stock brake line splitter. Speedway says use an RPV in front and back and an APV on the back. page 19 of the catalog. I used an 82 vette master cylinder. Other variations probably work also.

[survivingalone]

great pics. thank you.

[whitedog76]

I just wanted to throw something out there. You can get the disc brake brackets and calipers from a late model truck, for tons cheaper than those Eldo calipers.

http://s1074.photobucket.com/user/wh...40646421207819

[SoCalK20]

Yep, what Argonaut said about going to Hydroboost first off. My 98 K1500 Burb uses Hydroboost, master cylinder, power steering pump from '02 2500 HD Silverado. I fabbed up my own braided hoses and used Hydroboost mounting bracket from vendor on this site. I had to cut and thread rod on Hydroboost rod for my application. Used caddy calipers for e brake hook up. No problems. Been running this for over 2 years now. I'm thinking that just the Hydroboost upgrade with drums and good innards would be quite an improvement.

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by SoCalK20

I'm thinking that just the Hydroboost upgrade with drums and good innards would be quite an improvement.

Exactly! It sure was on my K10. Adding hydroboost with the larger master cylinder to front disk/rear 11” drum setup was a huge improvement. 2 years later I swapped on 13 x 3.5 rear drums and it really stops like an anchor got thrown out of the back now even with the weight of the fully loaded camper on the truck. It weighs 8,000 lbs and rolls on 35” tires. I don’t feel the need to do anything further to the brakes, certainly not rear disk that is for sure. The only rear disks I would ever entertain would be a complete late model GM or Dodge HD truck rear axle swap. Those are both disk and drum. Huge disk and calipers for service brakes and a drum and shoes inside the disk hub for the park brake. That is the only way to have rear disks.

I also run 13 x 3.5" drums on the back of my Suburban but it is on vacuum brakes. Even with the Burb being considerably lighter than the K10 it doesn't stop nearly as well as the much heavier K10 with hydroboost.

[ryanroo]

Originally Posted by DirtyLarry

Exactly! It sure was on my K10. Adding hydroboost with the larger master cylinder to front disk/rear 11” drum setup was a huge improvement. 2 years later I swapped on 13 x 3.5 rear drums and it really stops like an anchor got thrown out of the back now even with the weight of the fully loaded camper on the truck. It weighs 8,000 lbs and rolls on 35” tires. I don’t feel the need to do anything further to the brakes, certainly not rear disk that is for sure. The only rear disks I would ever entertain would be a complete late model GM or Dodge HD truck rear axle swap. Those are both disk and drum. Huge disk and calipers for service brakes and a drum and shoes inside the disk hub for the park brake. That is the only way to have rear disks.

I also run 13 x 3.5" drums on the back of my Suburban but it is on vacuum brakes. Even with the Burb being considerably lighter than the K10 it doesn't stop nearly as well as the much heavier K10 with hydroboost.

i wouldnt even swap to those axles. i used a dodge 80 in my truck and specifically looked for the drum variant. the caliper hat parking brake is a pile donkey scat. they hold... ish. they are notorious for getting really crummy and being a pile of crap. and mechanically a drum is a better system. IMO the advantage is that the disk set up wont collect dirt. that is the only reason i ran it on my jeep.

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by ryanroo

i wouldnt even swap to those axles. i used a dodge 80 in my truck and specifically looked for the drum variant. the caliper hat parking brake is a pile donkey scat. they hold... ish. they are notorious for getting really crummy and being a pile of crap. and mechanically a drum is a better system. IMO the advantage is that the disk set up wont collect dirt. that is the only reason i ran it on my jeep.

These late model American Axle 10.5 and 11.5 axles have park brake issues? My 2001 HD has been great and the park brake holds like the truck is drilled into the ground. BUT, the truck is a total garage queen with only 60,000 miles. It’s never seen a dirt road (there than the one I live on) or mud. The 2005 HD I fixed and flipped was a retired work truck and the park brake seemed to work okay but it was an automatic where I probably only used the park brake once in the 2 years I had it. Haven’t heard of any issues on these from GM dealers.

That is a bummer if these have issues too. Seems like ingenious idea for rear disk and superior to any rear disk setup used in prior years of vehicles…especially the El Dorado/Tornado turds of calipers.






At the end of the day, I agee. I’ll stick with my big heavy 13 x 3.5 drums any day and let the rock crawlers and magazine reader sheaple follow the rear disk swap trend.

[whitedog76]

The rotor over drum setup is about as simple as it gets. The 13" rotor and dual piston caliper should provide enough braking for even the biggest rig. When I pulled the setup I have off of an 03 van I was amazed that it was basically just a standard Bendix setup that we've been using for years.

If guys have problems with them I'm will to bet it's because they aren't using them enough or servicing them.

Most folks that have automatic trannies, never or rarely ever use the parking brake. They need to be cycled every once in awhile to make sure everything stays free.

Another issue I see is that they don't ever get adjusted. the parking brake doesn't have an auto-adjuster. They need to be checked for adjustment when getting serviced. When's the last time you saw the kid at quickie-lube look at your brakes?

[survivingalone]

dirty larry do you still have your dana 44? is it for sale?

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by survivingalone

dirty larry do you still have your dana 44? is it for sale?

No sir, I used it in my Burb. I answered you in the other thread too.

[survivingalone]

dirty larry thank you for all your help. i might as well go with a dana 60 front to match the 14 bolt rear. i might have a few questions for you about the 60 when i install it. thank you.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

While I don't have much input on the eldorado calipers, I did recently do a disk brake swap on my rear 14 bolt.

The truck has a pretty radical cam on a 496BB and I thought I was going to have to convert it to hydroboost. The brakes completely sucked when I bought it. Since then I have done a d60 front axle swap and converted the 14 bolt to disks along with a rear proportioning valve and new master cylinder. Works great so far, and she stops in a hurry for a big truck. I haven't had any problems with low/soft brake pedal since the conversion.

My truck has an auto and I eventually have plans for a t-case brake in the future. But, if I am not mistaken I think with the brackets I put on I could swap over to eldorado calipers in the future and they should bolt right up.

Did a build thread with lots of pics here: http://www.ooberfabrication.com/ol-b...o-disk-brakes/