towing?

[69halfton]

hey there guys, its winter time up here, and its snowing again, and all im thinking about is next years racing season (4cyl mini stock circle track) and drivin my C-10. then i got to thinking, how cool would it be to haul the car to the track with my truck?

oh no, its got drums all the way around....

but wait, our trailer has electic brakes!

...sorry, that was kinda lame lol..

have any of you guys managed to wire in some electric brake controlers and plugs into our trucks?

how was the install?

how does it stop with 4 drums and the trailer brakes?

this is a full size car trailer, two 3500 pound axles under it, both axles have good, working brakes.

[PanelDeland]

There's nothing wrong with drum brakes.They are very effective.They just need to be in good shape and you have to drive them like drums.The advantage that discs have is that they don't fade as readily under repeated stop conditions.
I've never wired in a brake controller on a drum/drum vehicle but it should be fairly easy.The controller you buy should have all the instructions.
Another consideration is the weight of the vehicle.I'm assuming a 4 cyl min-stock is fairly lightweight so that should not be a problem.With low weight and trailer brakes you should be OK.
Last but not least,is there a reason you don't have disc or is it in the plans?If so then you have time.

[69halfton]

yeah, im still in school, so money is kinda tight and everything, i really want to lower it, but i want to do it right with drop spindles, which means ill convert to 5 lug, which means i need new axles in the rear end, and new rims all the way around, so for right now, its still drums and 6 lug lol....

[cdowns]

believe it or not they had racecars that they towed to the race track before disc brakes// seems to me they got there and back from the early 1900's all the way up thru the early 70's// the pettys for one probabally towed a million or so miles hauling big racers with V8engines they had drum brakes for most of the 200+wins

[69halfton]

cdowns,

that is true. but think about it, back in the 60s, muscle cars brakes seems pretty good, even though they really sucked. thats becasue everyones brakes sucked, so really, in perportion to every one else, your brakes were normal, not many cars could really stop any faster or slower then any other cars..

put one of those 60's mucles cars (or our trucks) in with the mix or regular cars and trucks on the road today, and they are plain scary to drive, because the rest of the world can stop on a dime compared to these out-dated technology challenged brakes of yesterday.

[Pont406]

My 69 has drum brakes for now. It stops ok but I stoped using it for dailly driver. Too many close calls on the freeway during rush hours.

[CPNEJR]

we have a 67 1 ton dually with a big block that we used to use for towing everyday. if you keep your brakes in good condition and adjusted you will have no problem stopping. we used it to pull around our landscape trailer rated for 7000 lbs with two commercial mowers on it and it stopped great.

it also has an electric brake controller on it and so does our 81 1 ton dump truck

[cstm68]

Originally Posted by 69halfton

yeah, im still in school, so money is kinda tight and everything, i really want to lower it, but i want to do it right with drop spindles, which means ill convert to 5 lug, which means i need new axles in the rear end, and new rims all the way around, so for right now, its still drums and 6 lug lol....

if your going to convert it to disk and use it to pull i would keep it 6 lug, thats what i did with mine, i bought a disk brake kit that was 6 lug and used drop spindals, the rear is still drum but i will be puting in a disk rear out of a z71 truck to keep it 6 lug,
plus with 6 lug you have more wheels options and they are cheeper most of the time. just my $.2

[chevy29267truck]

my 1967 chevy truck still has drums for now

[CPNEJR]

you'll be fine if you just give people around you more room and be more cautious. remember these trucks are 40 yrs. old, they aint exactly spring chickens.

[Ford Assassin]

What is the tow rating for our half ton trucks as far as weight?

My truck is SWB fleetside. I have the 12 bolt rear, trailing arms, and a modern 5.3/4L60e swap.

I am considering buying a travel trailer. It will have electric brakes and a load distribution/anti-sway hitch hooked up to a class 4 receiver.

Thanks guys!!

[special-K]

Semi Trucks have drum brakes w/trailer brakes.That`s all you need.The trailer has drums.You can only stop a trailer so fast and you can`t stop a truck faster than the trailer.When you`re towing you`re not driving like everybody else.Being a 1/2t,your brake capacity is greater than payload capacity.You`ll be fine with what you have.

[rambler]

:agreed: just use common sense, when towing,, thats the most important thing...

including a empty trailer vs a full one.. I've locked up a empty trailer because I had set the electric brakes too high..

[Dan69 step]

I have used the Tekonsha electric brake controller on my 69 step and my 72 2wd Blazer. Hauled anything/everything w/ them, probably 125K miles between the two w/ no problems. Drums on the 69 and disc on the 72.
The Tekonsha was simple to wire in and to operate. I wouldn't haul a trailer of any kind w/o it!