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2500 disc conversion

I think my GM shop manual mentions some type of driveshaft mounted brake? Possibly an option on the HD chassis cab models?
 
ak diesel driver said:
Check out the TSM link that 83GMC gave they have driveshaft brakes available.
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Indeed they do. Problem is, I get stuck at 83GMC's avatar, and forget where I'm going....

I'm not sure if they all work like this, but the Driveshaft e-brake I used before locked on so strong and quick. It was the best e-brake i've ever used. It didn't have nearly the pedal movement of traditional methods. It locked on, and that was that.

Another possible method of 'parking brake' could be line-lock. Although that wouldn't help you one bit if all brakes failed and you actually needed an 'emergency brake'
 
Just remember a driveshaft mounted parking brake is no good if a U-joint goes out.

Previous owner of a piece of property I had a U-joint fail on the drive shaft of the dump truck he was driving up the driveway. Off one side of driveway 1000+ feet almost straight down. The otherside 20' straight up. Driveway slightly wider than truck at that point and about a 30deg grade. Think he wound up dumping the load of 8" solid core block he was hauling and using the pile to keep the truck from rolling.
 
We have a Case tractor that has a mechanical parking brake on the front driveshaft. It's effective for the most part. Rarely you could find an ice/snow situation where the front & rear differentials would allow wheels to turn in opposite directions allowing the tractor to scoot a bit.

The driveshaft brake does have the additional mechanical leverage advantage of the axle ratio (eg 4.56:1 for the HD C&Cab trucks).
 
I think a lot of equipment like you mentioned has a drive shaft brake, but the difference is that they don't see 70+ mph down the highway. If there was an emergency situation, I would rather put my money on the shoes or pads with more surface area and larger diameter (x2) for more resisting force that what would be available on the shaft.

Don't get me wrong, there may be some good systems out there on the shaft that would be adequate for this and I obviously only have a limited amount of information on these.
 
SnowDrift said:
I'm not crazy about a drive shaft brake, either. Better than nothing, I guess.
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To Clarify, these rear brake conversions come with an optional parking brake caliper. I don't want people to be mislead that if you switch to rear disc, you need a driveshaft brake, where as you do not.
 
Most E-Brakes are Parking Brakes. If you think for a second that you find out you have ZERO brakes you are going to find your foot over to that pedal on the floor that you never use before you crash into whatever it was you were trying to stop for originally when you realized you had no brakes is wrong...., which is highly unlikely anyhow because front and rear are always 2 separate systems for safety reasons.

They are parking brakes. Yes can be used in emergencies, but your going to be focusing your brain on steering and avoiding things in the split second you have which is already a few seconds behind real time as you still think your brakes havn't failed yet. Once you do, you're probably going to try the dead pedal once again to see if it will work a 2nd time by reflex. So now your 3-5 seconds behind real time. Smash......... You crashed.
 
SmithvilleD said:
Please keep us posted when you've swapped in the OEM axle with rear discs setup.

The aftermarket brackets that utilize the earlier GM 3/4T rotors/calipers look reasonable except no parking brake. Another option out there uses older Cadillac El Dorado calipers that included an OEM parking brake setup. I've heard rather mixed reviews on how that parking brake works.

Swapping to rear discs interests me but I'll want a reliable/trustable parking brake setup (my truck's a 5 spd). One would hope GM engineered an effective parking brake setup for rear disc brakes by 2004.

Regardless of my wish that the OEM 14 bolt/10.5 rear disc brake setups from 3/4T gassers includes an effective parking brake; I'd much rather hear from an owner using such a setup.
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I have the rear disk conversion using the Cadillac Eldorado rear brakes and calipers. The rear parking brake does leave a little to be desired. It takes a lot of pressure to get the brakes to hold on a hill. The truck has a tendency to roll backwards, flat surface is ok but I wouldn't trust it to hold on its own on a hill rolling backwards.

That being said I have love the stopping power of the brakes they are 100 percent better with a load behind them
 
Slim Shady said:
I have the rear disk conversion using the Cadillac Eldorado rear brakes and calipers. The rear parking brake does leave a little to be desired. It takes a lot of pressure to get the brakes to hold on a hill. The truck has a tendency to roll backwards, flat surface is ok but I wouldn't trust it to hold on its own on a hill rolling backwards.

That being said I have love the stopping power of the brakes they are 100 percent better with a load behind them
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Okay, now there's some credible data from a guy that tows a real load. The question remains though, what can I hang my hat on when I'm parking on a hill with 20,000# of truck, trailer, and horses? Wheel chocks?

(I'm also thinking of what to train the wife to do if she's parked on the side of the road with three horses in the back. This alone could sway me back towards the 13" rear drums.)

Is the parking brake on the later model 4-wheel-disk trucks capable of holding this much?

Mike
 
OregonHorseTug said:
Okay, now there's some credible data from a guy that tows a real load. The question remains though, what can I hang my hat on when I'm parking on a hill with 20,000# of truck, trailer, and horses? Wheel chocks?

(I'm also thinking of what to train the wife to do if she's parked on the side of the road with three horses in the back. This alone could sway me back towards the 13" rear drums.)

Is the parking brake on the later model 4-wheel-disk trucks capable of holding this much?

Mike
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Yeah, that's kind why I brought the e-brake up. Think it's difficult to design a mechanical link that will put enough clamp on discs & work well longterm. I thought the newer trucks have a small set of bands just for ebrake inside the rotor, but so few manuals of the newer trucks so few reports of how effective they are?

Drums aren't sexy, but they are well evolved where heavy loads are involved & something like the oil bathed disc braking systems as in some heavy equip isn't really justified.
 
Hey Slim thanks for the input, what I was looking for in the other thread that I started.

My one concern though is that of the proportioning valve. My worry being that the rears start locking up before the fronts. Now my conversation with TSM they said that the ABS takes care of all that. The thing is it seems counterintuitive to me for more braking power to have a bias where the rears are now locking up before the fronts and the ABS is coming on to relieve this situation. My question is how does the bias feel after the conversion is the ABS activating more?

Good discussion on the parking brake as well that is important to me also. I am seriously pondering in my case changing out from my SF to a FF axle with the hope that the extra 1" of shoe width will make a difference to braking in my case.

Cheers
Nobby
 
The e brake setup on the newer trucks will outhold the caddy calipers. The only long term tests I have are with my van, 90k miles on it and even with a trailer the brakes hold it.
I am about to do brakes all around so I will see what rust issues I have after 3 years of using them but it works as of now. I tend to use my e brake all the time so maybe that helps with it still working so well.
 
nobby said:
Hey Slim thanks for the input, what I was looking for in the other thread that I started.

My one concern though is that of the proportioning valve. My worry being that the rears start locking up before the fronts. Now my conversation with TSM they said that the ABS takes care of all that. The thing is it seems counterintuitive to me for more braking power to have a bias where the rears are now locking up before the fronts and the ABS is coming on to relieve this situation. My question is how does the bias feel after the conversion is the ABS activating more?

Good discussion on the parking brake as well that is important to me also. I am seriously pondering in my case changing out from my SF to a FF axle with the hope that the extra 1" of shoe width will make a difference to braking in my case.

Cheers
Nobby
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The brake bias front to rear with my set up was fine, I did not have to use a pressure balance valve (proportioning valve), although I bought one just in case. it is still in the package if someone has a use for it I would like to sell it. :D

I think the parking brake on the drive shaft would be the best for holding a load.
 
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