It's an upgrade in clamping force to put in bigger wheel cylinders on the rear of a 94-02 Dodge 3/4tons. I was thinking about trying it to my 67, since a cyl is pretty cheap. It may buy me some time until I can get a power disc setup. Anyone ever try this on their fronts?

 

You can do a factory disc upgrade while you are trying to figure out how to do what you want. IMHO

John

 

Pushing shoes against drums harder with more force only makes brakes heat up faster and work worse in the end. Especialy in traffic or in mountains, or anywhere brakes are used frequently and/or hard,

So I agree with John, Do Discs IMHO too! . . . .

FBp

 

Drum brakes are almost self actuating - as soon as the shoe rubs the drum it moves over center and "jams" into place. They would lock up the wheel everytime - except for the springs pulling them back.

I don't think more force would make them work better.

 

You can but more force on them.. BUt and this is a big BUT.. the more force you put on them the higher the chance you will delaminate the friction surface right off the shoes and louse you brakes fully..

 

ya, I was driving home from work in it today, and a hard stop convinced me to not even bother with this drum junk. I'll be lookin for some disc stuff soon.

 

Great Decision & choice,

May I suggest you find a 73-79 F-100/150 as a donor source? The Twin Is or just the spindles & caliper brackets will interchange with yours. It's a virtual Bolt up deal with the OEM split system, proportioning valve & lines, all brackets & stuff, Pwr booster, etc. etc. If you can't find a donor to get cheap, go to A U-Pull It and get it all. But get it all. I'm tellin ya it makes a WORLD of Difference!

I run the 1/4 in the mid 12s and I stop great with OEM Power Discs from a 79 F-150 from 125+ mph. Yeah I know 125 is tall for a 12.60 index, but it's a 460 and I got BIG Torque to get the good "TE Numbers". Point is with out the Power Front Discs I'd fight with stopping over 80-85 mph.

Also get the mechanical Br Light Switch from the 73-79 along with the OEM bracket & harness. The old, OEM Stock, "wet pressure sensing switch" will cut a second or a second & a half off the safety margin of the guy behind you.

Discs take a lot less PSI to set stopping in motion and you will seldom use that sort of pressure right off the bat. that's gonna delay the time it take for your brake lights to light up. With the newer style mechanical switch ( circa 73-79) when you touch the pedal the lights will begin lighting because the pedal lever is the "trip mechanism". Any motion of the lever actuates the brake light switch. At 60 mph that gives the guy behind you 60 to 90 more feet to stop safely within. . . .

Check the Archives here on FTE, there's plenty of info available.

FBp