drum question - The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network

76bonanza · 09-09-2005, 10:22 PM

Looking at buying a 68 with drums, guy says it has 69 drums 71 master and 83 booster says stops as good as disk new lines and hoses. Do you think it will stop good or not?

Also anyone put shoulder belts in from like brother or year one? Are they any good?

HeavyD · 09-09-2005, 10:32 PM

Might stop Ok but I do not think it will equal a disc system. Don't let that stop you from buying it though..if they work good save up a few bucks over the next while and buy a complete disc system to swap over later.
As far as seatbelts go, I have heard good things about the ones sold by Julianos.
http://www.julianos.com/

4tiresngas · 09-10-2005, 01:17 AM

Yeah, if the truck is in good shaped...I'd say buy it regardless of the brakes. Swapping over later is not that difficult. I swapped my 69 over with spindles from ECE. I had never done anything like that before, but with the ECE tech line and this board, it went pretty smooth.

I saw the seatbelts at Brothers. They look pretty straight to me. I'm going to get a set (on my long list of things to do). I never knew that plastic piece over your sholder just covered up the bolt hole for the 3-point seatbelt. I just wonder why they put that there. The counter guy at Brothers told me trucks sold to the Gov't requied 3-point back then. I had never heard that before...ssounds reasonable enough, though.

Longhorn Man · 09-10-2005, 04:47 AM

Quote:

trucks sold to the Gov't requied 3-point back then. I had never heard that before...ssounds reasonable enough, though.

Not true. Hummers had lap belts untill 99 when all hummers were required to have the MWO (modification work order) for the 3 point, 2 1/2 ton and older 5 ton cargo trucks to this day only have lap belts.
As for the brake question, 69 drums...they are the same as 68.
71 master... if not mistaken, this would cause the front wheels to lock up too easily. Discs require lots of fluid movement to operate, drums do not. So if you move lots of fluid, odds are, you aren't going to have a ballanced system.
booster off an 83... I don't see how this would do anything at all in all reality, plus, I found, that in 3/4 ton and one ton parts anyways, the drum/drum master wouldn't work on the disc/drum boster.

Do you have a way of getting pics of this set up?

76bonanza · 09-10-2005, 08:28 AM

he said the 69 drum uses a wider pad than the 68 this is the only pic I have.

Longhorn Man · 09-10-2005, 06:33 PM

69 is wider than 68? Never heard that one...could well be true, I never dealt with the 67/68 trucks. Even if they are wider, are the shoes wider?
That doesn't look like a 71 master cylinder to me...both reservoirs look to be the same size, and disc/drum set ups should have one much larger than the other.

**pjmoreland** · 09-10-2005, 07:42 PM

Looks like the correct drum/drum proportioning valve on there at least. I've had both 67 and 69 drums. They were both the same width. In my experience, drums stop just as well as disks, but drums have a tendency to brake unevenly causing the truck to turn when braking if things aren't totally perfect.

In my opinion, I wouldn't let the brake setup be the deciding factor on buying the truck. If the brakes don't work very well, you can always put the correct booster/master cylinder in there for not too much cost compared to the overall cost of the truck. I'd be interested primarily in the condition of the body (rust). Looks like a pretty clean truck from that picture. Hopefully there aren't large amounts of bondo lurking under the paint.

Old Yeller 1970 · 09-10-2005, 10:45 PM

My experience with drums is they stop pretty well on dry pavement when compared to disk brakes.
However, if you don't maintian them (like I did back in college) they can lock up in a bad way on wet streets. I had several close calls because I let the right rear brake pad wear down to the steel (unknown to me at the time), which locked up on wet pavement and made for two very interesting close calls.
After graduating the first thing I did was swap out the non powered drums for powered disk brakes which made a big improvement. I also pay closer attention to the condition of my brake shoes now too.
I'd say buy the truck and do the brake swap later if you're still concerned about it.

09-09-2005, 10:22 PM	#1
76bonanza Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: St robert Mo Posts: 2,001	drum question Looking at buying a 68 with drums, guy says it has 69 drums 71 master and 83 booster says stops as good as disk new lines and hoses. Do you think it will stop good or not? Also anyone put shoulder belts in from like brother or year one? Are they any good? __________________ 1968 c10 lowered 3" 4" 355/Th400 built by Hatfield racing in joplin MO

09-09-2005, 10:32 PM	#2
HeavyD Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Wakaw, Sask, Canada Posts: 3,180	Might stop Ok but I do not think it will equal a disc system. Don't let that stop you from buying it though..if they work good save up a few bucks over the next while and buy a complete disc system to swap over later. As far as seatbelts go, I have heard good things about the ones sold by Julianos. http://www.julianos.com/ __________________ "You can take the man out of PA, but you can't take PA out of the man"

09-10-2005, 01:17 AM	#3
4tiresngas An American Soldier Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Grumolo D' Abadessee, Italy Posts: 503	Yeah, if the truck is in good shaped...I'd say buy it regardless of the brakes. Swapping over later is not that difficult. I swapped my 69 over with spindles from ECE. I had never done anything like that before, but with the ECE tech line and this board, it went pretty smooth. I saw the seatbelts at Brothers. They look pretty straight to me. I'm going to get a set (on my long list of things to do). I never knew that plastic piece over your sholder just covered up the bolt hole for the 3-point seatbelt. I just wonder why they put that there. The counter guy at Brothers told me trucks sold to the Gov't requied 3-point back then. I had never heard that before...ssounds reasonable enough, though. __________________ Dan dan.brue@us.army.mil

09-10-2005, 08:28 AM	#5
76bonanza Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: St robert Mo Posts: 2,001	he said the 69 drum uses a wider pad than the 68 this is the only pic I have. Attached Images __________________ 1968 c10 lowered 3" 4" 355/Th400 built by Hatfield racing in joplin MO Last edited by 76bonanza; 09-10-2005 at 08:30 AM.

09-10-2005, 06:33 PM	#6
Longhorn Man its all about the +6 inches Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Hilliard Ohio Posts: 2,693	69 is wider than 68? Never heard that one...could well be true, I never dealt with the 67/68 trucks. Even if they are wider, are the shoes wider? That doesn't look like a 71 master cylinder to me...both reservoirs look to be the same size, and disc/drum set ups should have one much larger than the other.

09-10-2005, 07:42 PM	#7
pjmoreland Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: CA Posts: 5,630	Looks like the correct drum/drum proportioning valve on there at least. I've had both 67 and 69 drums. They were both the same width. In my experience, drums stop just as well as disks, but drums have a tendency to brake unevenly causing the truck to turn when braking if things aren't totally perfect. In my opinion, I wouldn't let the brake setup be the deciding factor on buying the truck. If the brakes don't work very well, you can always put the correct booster/master cylinder in there for not too much cost compared to the overall cost of the truck. I'd be interested primarily in the condition of the body (rust). Looks like a pretty clean truck from that picture. Hopefully there aren't large amounts of bondo lurking under the paint.

09-10-2005, 10:45 PM	#8
Old Yeller 1970 DON'T TREAD ON ME Join Date: May 2005 Location: Crosby County, TX Posts: 989	My experience with drums is they stop pretty well on dry pavement when compared to disk brakes. However, if you don't maintian them (like I did back in college) they can lock up in a bad way on wet streets. I had several close calls because I let the right rear brake pad wear down to the steel (unknown to me at the time), which locked up on wet pavement and made for two very interesting close calls. After graduating the first thing I did was swap out the non powered drums for powered disk brakes which made a big improvement. I also pay closer attention to the condition of my brake shoes now too. I'd say buy the truck and do the brake swap later if you're still concerned about it.



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