Are disc brakes worth the money

[LilD]

Like others Ive had the plan of swapping over a later 70s parts to my 70. Alot cheaper

[LowGT]

I just finished my conversion from 4 wheel drum to power disc/drum and love it. People in Dallas drive too crazy to feel comfortable with manual drums.

Anyway, I did it this way:

'72 used spindles - $80
'72 new upper/lower ball joints - $76
'72 new outer tiered ends - $15
reman calipers - $26
new disc rotors - $100
new pads - $25
new bearings/seals -$34
used booster/master/prop - $50
new conversion brake lines - $55

So about $461. It's the most noticable difference I've made to the truck. First time I got in it I ate the steering wheel.

[1972RedNeck]

Originally Posted by GRX

Never had a problem with fading? Really? You are lucky. That has not been my experience at all. Having owned GTO's the same model year with stock either front drums or disks, I gotta say drums will fade quick when you are trying to stop at 120-mph at the end of the track. Not near so much with disks.

Maybe I should have added that most 4 wheel drum vehicles I drive have never seen more than 80 mph. I also use the transmission to slow me down whenever possible(Grandpa chews my butt every time I use the brake pedal). But the one time when the brakes froze over coming down the canyon should make me want to swap my drums for discs.

[74baggedbug]

The PO of my truck swapped over the 4corners to discs.. At 1st I didn't think much of it until I drove my buddies 68 with drums... Let me just say Im glad I have disc brakes and now he is in the process of swapping over after he drove my truck...
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[GRX]

Originally Posted by 1972RedNeck

Maybe I should have added that most 4 wheel drum vehicles I drive have never seen more than 80 mph. I also use the transmission to slow me down whenever possible(Grandpa chews my butt every time I use the brake pedal). But the one time when the brakes froze over coming down the canyon should make me want to swap my drums for discs.

Yeah. I was giving an extreme case scenario. Yet I do occasionally experience some fade when doing a near panic stop with the truck in my sig in traffic around 40-50-mph. 4,700 lbs is a lot to stop on drums. As always experiences vary.

[dan42]

Disc brakes are great and at some point I will convert to them. Of course they are safer. But realistically, if you live somewhere where the traffic is relatively light, you drive it in good weather, and the truck is not "built" - that is, relatively original drive train - and you aren't pulling things, or filling it with dirt, the drum brakes will perform fine. You just have to remember to drive it like it was designed to be driven, which is much different than how modern cars are designed.

[randamospenamos]

I talked to a buddy and he told me to do exactly what LowGT said so I think that's the way I'm going to do it. Thanks for all the replies and all the help.
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[oldschool18]

when i drive my 70 with all drums and no power i drive alittle slower and alittle further behind the person in front of me, and lowgt i know what you meen about eating the steering wheel. when i first got my truck i drove it for about a week straight then jumped in my 91 blazer took off and hit the brakes and was almost laying on the dash. but plan on big rims so i will be putting on disc's too.

[mrein3]

You can adjust your driving style and all that stuff but what are you gonna do after you hit them hard once and then a distracted mom with kids belted in pulls out in front of you and you t-bone her and take that kid out because you didn't pop for disk brakes?
I need my sleep. I don't think I could sleep knowing I was too cheap for disk brakes and a kid died because of it.

If front drum brakes were better, why aren't they on all new cars and trucks today?

Don't do it for yourself. Think of the other 300 million people you live with in this country.

[m_wnzl]

The kits above are cheaper.You can also use the entire front crossmember and suspension from up to 86IIRC.It will probably be about the same $$ if you replace all the wear parts.Brakes,suspension,and steering are no place to scrimp on any build.The rest of it can be wasted because you saved a buck there,not to mention your and others safety and health.

What is 86IIRC ???

[Eddie H.]

I've been driving my 69 GMC for 25 years with the original drum brake set up. I'm not an aggressive driver, so they have worked fine , with a couple of exceptions, when they faded on me when driving in hilly terrain, or pulling a trailer. Having said that, I now have all of the parts ready to do a 6 lug disc swap, and that will be my next major upgrade to the old mule. To answer your question, Yes, I think it is worth the money.

[67_C-30]

Originally Posted by m_wnzl

The kits above are cheaper.You can also use the entire front crossmember and suspension from up to 86IIRC.It will probably be about the same $$ if you replace all the wear parts.Brakes,suspension,and steering are no place to scrimp on any build.The rest of it can be wasted because you saved a buck there,not to mention your and others safety and health.

What is 86IIRC ???

IIRC = If I remember correctly. He was saying that the crossmember out of a '73 - '87 Chevy will bolt under these trucks. I think an extra hole has to be drilled, but its pretty much staight-forward.

[Lattimer]

I rebuilt my front drums for now, and they work ok. Added a brake booster and that helped a bunch. I still have to rebuild the back, but they are in ok shape for now and work ok. I just want them to be new.

I've driven the truck a total of about 3000 miles in the 14 months I've owned it. I'll say this----drum brakes are just adequate, barely. I never drove a drum brake vehicle on highways before this, and I'm not a fan. Disks are definitely on the list in the near future. Probably going to wait until after the bodywork is done, so that's a year or more away right now.

[Stocker]

Seems like pretty much everything has been covered in this thread already. I'm old enough to have done a lot of driving when drum brakes were the only game in town. Just want to say that you do not need to drive through deep water to get the shoes wet. A fraction of an inch of standing water, especially at highway speed, can kick up enough spray to severely affect braking performance. I quickly learned to expect poor braking unless I held the pedal briefly, just enough to dry the brakes.

[burnin oil]

Discs stop better till they get hot and fade then you will wish you had drums. drums heat up faster but mantain some stpping power were discs have none once fade hits. This is the reason most large trucks and many light ones run drum rears, fronts on most HDs. Just remember that semi next to you is running 5 sets of drums and dragging down 80k lbs. Metallic pads and larger wheel cylinders will drag them down quicker. I really like my factory disc on the K20 but I can stop with either.

[oldschool18]

And remember when you go and buy your disc brake pads the ones that cost more money are the ones that destroy your rotors....the pads will last longer but there harder. I don't put a lot of miles on anything I own so I put the soft pads on my stuff. I think they stop better and the rotors last longer, I've never warped a rotor and I never get a screeching sound when I touch the brakes.

[MARKDTN]

Hands down, I would convert to disc brakes. It is worth the money. The post on pads is a good one too. I always use genuine GM pads. They have the best combination of wear and life. I think the current p/n is 18043837.

And 1 more thing. Most of the semis are now going to discs beginning last year. You cannot hardly meet the current Class 8 stopping requirements with drums. Ever see pieces of big truck drums where they exploded going down a long steep hill? The reason they have waited so long is cost, not stopping power.

[John Gilbert]

The '73-87 C10 F-44 discs are a really good way to go. We've done brake tests with special aftermarket brake pads, and they really get impressive.

You can source from a used Squarebody, or new from CPP, ECE, and I'm sure there's more sources for new.

I did this conversion of my '66 C10 in Custom Classic Trucks using ECE. Some kind of Google search should bring it up.

Its a good cheap way to get better brakes... I'll bet I'm in trouble again.