Hey guys I have a funny story for you all today.



I was doing the front brakes on the truck and figured I may as well upgrade the rears to disc while the truck is under the knife (got parts from rockauto for less than $150 with raybestos parts and $200 with the ruffstuff brackets). I got to the rears last night and I could not for the life of me remove the drums from the hub. I sprayed it with some rust penetrant and let it sit until tonight and still nothing. I inspected the lugs and noticed the factory rings on two of the lugs. As far as I know these rings were put on at the factory and did not come with replacement parts so either someone has been reusing these retainers (which I highly doubt) or these are the ORIGINAL DRUM BRAKES that came with the vehicle (seems more likely now that I have seen the inside of the brakes).Long story short some rust penetrant a butane torch and a big crowbar later the drums came off...
Pictures to come tomorrow.


Tell me how lucky I am that this thing hasn't rammed into the rear of some prius or something..

 

Depending on the milage... rear brakes last for quite a long time. I would bet you still had lots of shoe left too

 

what's the deal with the rear disc conversion....haven't seen a thread here lately on this. What are the pros/cons with this conversion? What is needed for full conversion?

 

I don't know what the OP is using for calipers but most conversion kits use CAR calipers or 1/2 chevy front calipers with no E-brake(illegal here) and I have stick so no good.

Using a 99+ SuperDuty axle and redrilling the hub to the 8 on 6.5 bolt patter seems to have the best results for stopping power AND still have a parking brake

10.5 SuperDuty Rear Hubs to 8 on 6.5 - PowerStrokeNation : Ford Powerstroke Diesel Forum

 

Actually zero shoe left 176000 miles! I don't really have a reason for doing the conversion I just wanted to do something cool to the truck that nobody in my area has done before. I am retaining all the drum brake equipment in case I ever want to put them back on.


I went the ruffstuff route for disc brake conversion and I have the 1986 C20 calipers they are 3/4 ton front calipers and 1996 E350 rotors. Still no E brake though not a big deal here plus I have an automatic.

 

Good luck with it. I would get a proportion valve for rear discs while you are in there

 

I see you are in MI. On my Dodge with rear calipers I get mabey 2 winters due to salt spray from the front tires. It literally delaminates the pads. I seem to have better luck with drums on the rear regarding longevity. I just antisieze everything, keep the shoes adjusted and don't seem to have many issues. Granted the drum system doesn't have the stopping power of the rear discs.

 

I guess I'll give it a shot this winter and if I'm not satisfied I'll switch it all back.

I did have a question about the proportioning valve install. Where would be the best place to install it? I have seen some people do it right off the master and others do it after the abs pump in the frame rail.

 

no ABS pump on these trucks, just a STOCK proportioning valVe on the frame below the master cylinder

 

My 97 F250HD has original shoes on the rear with 105k on them. Still lots of lining left.

 

So where the stock valve is should I take that valve out and put an aftermarket one in? Or leave it and gut the residual pressure valve?

 

After 185,00 miles, the rear shoes and drums are still in my '92 F150. I inspected them about a month ago. It looks like they have at least another 10k of wear left. I had even bought replacement shoes/drums to do the job. Returned the parts and will defer the work for now. It seems they need adjusting from time to time...that's all. I've replaced the front pads 4 times, rotors once.

 

I'm not saying these things don't last I'm more surprised that they probably have never been checked because the factory retaining rings were still on the lugs when I went to take them off. My last 1995 f150 had the stock drums on it at 180,000 but I checked them regularly on tire rotations. I've had this truck for a year almost and I didn't change anything besides an unfortunate incident on the freeway leading me to get a new transfer case

 

Yes, please post pics and how to do it and what is needed!

 

same here. 200,000 miles and still original rear brake shoes.