has anyone ever tried to convert rear drums to discs? are they even available as after market kit? I am sick of adjusting my rears once a month.

George

 

Why do you have to adjust them? If you use your emergency brake, they are adjusted automatically.

 

once a month! Are you front brakes doing any work. Normally the front does 70% stopping and the rear does 30%

 

Yea - I'm curious about rear discs also. Anybody know?

 

If I`m not mistaken I believe Downey and All Pro Offroad have the disk brake conversion kits.

 

Ya, drums are my biggest gripe. I wish there was a cheap alternative to them. As far as adjusting them once a month... I've never adjusted mine and the truck seems to stop just fine.

 

SKY-Manufacturing has rear disk brakets, rotors and brake lines for those of you who want to get most of the stuff at the same time and not have to hassle with finding the stuff elsewhere. The only other part you would need to find are the calipers which you can get from like napa or autzone or where ever.
http://www.sky-manufacturing.com/suspension2.htm the rear disk stuff is about half-way down the page.

I you are cheap I have been told that you can find the brakelines for around $30, instead of their $80 ones.

I think that this is what I will put on my rig when I am done with my engine swap.
Thanks

 

i am just waiting for someone to make a kit to use the 4th gen rear brakes, that way you can keep the parking brake and don't have to buy custom machined rotors.

 

Yes, the fronts are working fine and is doing majority of the stopping... I have to adjust my rears so often so the rears would react with more stopping force. I do use my e-brake often but not always. I thought everytime we back up and use the brakes to stop would adjust the rears?

George

 

You're probably adjusting them needlessly, and thus wearing the shoes prematurely by making them grab more than they ought to. Be careful, it could have adverse affects on stopping distances if ABS were to kick in.

 

Anyone have any dimensions for the rear caliper & rotor on a 4th gen? Specifically, I'm looking for rotor diameter, rotor thickness, and the distance between caliper mounting points.

 

Forgive my ignorance on this matter, as I basically don't know the advantages of either, but the above seems to be a strong contradiction. I've read a bit of the differences of discs vs. drums in the past and have since forgotten everything, but I'm obviously missing something in relation to the above.

I can stop just fine as well, so I'm not really that interested in the subject. Just curious.

 

kyle, Thank you for your feed back...

I only started adjusting them after I had failed inspection (rear) and once the truck came back from the dealers and they said the rears are not doing much. At this point the brake peddle would travel about 1/4 inch to half inch before the brakes would react.

I usually adjust the rears until I can hear/feel some drag - duration of the drag is about 1/4 turn of the wheel.

george

 

Disks - 2 clampng surfaces
Drums - 1 clamping surface

 

i had a 1990 Pathfinder SE before i got my 4runner and it had 4 wheels discs (SE option) and that thing stopped a ton better than my 4runner, I absolutely had drum brakes on my 4runner.

 

one major advantage to drum brakes is heat. they dont heat up as much as disk brakes do. thats why huge trucks, such as the military's MTVR and 18 wheelers use drum brakes. the drum on the military's MTVR weighs 75 lbs!! i guess you need that though on a truck that weighs 23000 lbs and can transport another 14 TONS, weighing a max total of 51000 lbs, yes, 25 tons

 

I do hate the mushy feel that the drum brakes give you.
This is definately a mod that will be on my list of future improvements.

 

is it possible to over-adjust rear brakes? i pull the ebrake but the drag is still there.