97 F250 4x4 Brakes
 

I need to get better brakes on my truck. Disc front and drum rear. It's a EFI 460 and stops okay now. not doing massive pulling, but like to be able to stop quicker. Everything now is either stock or stock replacement. I was thinking a good set of drileld and slotted front rotors and a good set of pads on front. Limited by drums on back. Any recommendations on what pads to get and front rotors? Where is best price?

I would forget about drilled rotors, they tend to crack and they and slotted rotors just reduce the area in contact with the pads.
You could certainly upgrade the pads and maybe think of hydraboost power assist.
Just my opinion, hopefully you will get others.

I would agree... The cross drilled rotors were designed for cooling and off gasing brakes on lighter cars that go high speeds and need to stop quickly. And it depends on where you want to sacrafice... Stop quick or have brake dust... read link below.

http://www.f150online.com/forums/whe...rake-pads.html

ny other input? Anything on the pads? Again, I'm not really pulling heavy, just off roading some and mainly around town.

Sounds like the stock rotors are best?

if you want to spend some money you could put a disc brake conversion on the rear

How does the brake fluid look? Change it anyway...that way, you will get better brake response.

But let's be real...it's a 3/4 ton HD truck. It ain't going to stop on a dime!

Don't take this the wrong way, because I'm not being a smart***:

Have you driven other F-250's in this model year family? I ask because I've been impressed with the braking ability of the F-250s, which I believe utilize a two-piston caliper (but I haven't gotten into mine yet, to be sure) as opposed to the single-piston F-150 calipers.

Perhaps your particular truck is underperforming, due to any number of reasons (misadjusted/nonworking rear brakes, glazed pads/rotors up front/air in the system/malfunctioning ABS, etc....).

Alternatively, you could have a buddy who owns a similar F-250 drive yours, and see what he thinks of your truck's brakes?

Lastly, if you could find a mech. you trust, with F-250 experience (I have a friend who is Ford-dealer-trained, but now owns his own shop) they too could evaluate your truck objectively, for you.

I'm betting your brakes are under performing and could be improved, using stock components.

Let us know?

BigSix

Also make sure the drums out back are adjusted properly. When I got my truck from my grandfather he had just had les scwab do rear brake shoes on the truck. The thing was stopping terribly, I remembered the brakes being better when I had driven it in the past and I knew my dad's '97 was better. Properly serviced and adjusted with quality parts, the braking systems on these trucks should provide smooth, strong, and confident stopping power.

A few months later I pulled of the drums and the shoes looked almost out of the box new and there was near zero brake dust in there. So I cranked up the adjusters and fixed the problem. The adjusters to adjust the brakes by themselves, but they only fine tune and the brakes must be properly adjusted by hand when serviced.

To adjust your drums first jack up the truck, support it, and take the wheels off. Use a brake spoon (or flatblade screwdriver) tighten the adjusters through the hole on the back of the brakes until you get a fair amount of resistance (not hard to turn, but has some drag) when you turn the drums by hand.

Good luck!

What are you talking about? If you buy a quality rotor and pad you dont have any problems. My 86 f250 has EBC pads and rotors w 80k on them w at least half of thwm towing miles and not one crack or any problems. Sure , if you but some POS ebay rotor for 25 bucks they are going to fail