Disc vs. Drum brakes

[Piece of Work]

I would like to here from those that have experiance driving trucks with both disc front/drum rear and drum front/rear. What are the pros and cons of each.

Thanks

-Mark

[mikajo39]

My 69 has drums all around and it stops pretty well P/B. Of course i just had my entire brake system redone. However for drums they stop pretty well, never had any bad brake fade. Of course Discs will outstop drums all around but if your tight on cash a well maintained drum system should be plenty efficent

[Sinister]

X2

[69halfton]

i have drums all around on my 69 shortbox. power brakes..

if your not trying to road race you truck, they are fine. they will stop really hard real good, once. if you try to stop real hard real fast more then once without letting them cool off is when you start to have problems.

living in the mountains, or towing big loads can be tough as you get prolonged amounts of brake use (as in your riding the brakes for long distances) and they will heat up alot faster then discs do, causeing brake fade..

[Piece of Work]

Thanks for the replies. Now if I find a truck with drum brakes, I won't be in a rush to change to disc.

-Mark

[Stocker]

Drums will be fine. That said, I'm glad I have front discs -- I live in hill country and sometimes the old girl has carried some very heavy loads. Five miles of very steep downhill with tight corners and a few thousand pounds in the bed will get your attention...

[Piece of Work]

Originally Posted by Stocker

Drums will be fine. That said, I'm glad I have front discs -- I live in hill country and sometimes the old girl has carried some very heavy loads. Five miles of very steep downhill with tight corners and a few thousand pounds in the bed will get your attention...

Not a lot of hills here in FL, so my list of "must haves" for my next truck just got smaller.

[texanidiot25]

Drums, mine were always pure suck. In the few drives I used them, they had little stopping power until they rapidly decided to stop the truck. Which usually meant locking up the front tires. Needless to say the truck now has 12" Disk brakes now that it's on the road.


Emergency stops with drums, is a joke I hear.

[Stocker]

^^ I love discs and am not a fan of drums..... but something was wrong with yours. Properly set up, they should work just fine under most circumstances, including panic stops.

[mikajo39]

Originally Posted by texanidiot25

Drums, mine were always pure suck. In the few drives I used them, they had little stopping power until they rapidly decided to stop the truck. Which usually meant locking up the front tires. Needless to say the truck now has 12" Disk brakes now that it's on the road.


Emergency stops with drums, is a joke I hear.

Yeah, thats how mine were before the brakes were redone, so something was definetley wrong with your drums, no shoe material left or lack of fluid or a leak. But with my new drums and all emergency stops are pretty damn hard just got to be careful that you don't lock 'em up that why i have 30 ft worth of tire marks out front of my house Stopped so damn hard it stalled my truck

[texanidiot25]

Good drums/shoes and plenty of fluid.

Their just completely inferior. They can't stop has hard with out locking, or react as quick to peddle modulation as disks can. And as mentioned, heat is a factor. I've never noticed that drums get hotter than disks until I started driving this truck

Even with the Drum MC the truck out stops the OG Drums.

[texanidiot25]

And the 300 or so spent on 73-87 disk brakes with new rotors, BJs, calipers, and pads is well worth the extra safety and control. 12" x 1.5" Disks stomp nice and hard.

[70Custom10Nut]

I look at what for, and how much is the truck used. I really had to wrestle with this same thing, but I figured that the cost doesn't justify the gain, since I only put about 500 miles a year on my truck and I don't tow anything. HOWEVER, if I go though with my future plans to build a Quarter miler (70 Nova, like I had as a kid) again, I'll go the route of 4 wheel disc brakes for safety. Hope this helps, Cnut

[69halfton]

well there is always the slotted & drilled drums route for extra cooling...

[Camper Power]

drums are ok for around town driving, but when your on the highway give yourself room to slow down.