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REAR BRAKE UPGRADE AND FRONTS FOR 94 K3500 4X4 SRW??

THEFERMANATOR said:
It should be of note though that injecting grease through the ABS sensor port only works on 95+, up to 94 the speed sensor was external. Also if you inject grease through the speed sensor hole, you must also put a pick or something VERY CAREFULLY between the the shaft and seal in the bearing to allow air and old grease to escape. If you don't give it a place to go out, then it will destroy the hub bearings seal, and your bearing will fail shortly after. I did mine this way over 50K miles ago, and my bearings currently have roughly 226K on the original factory bearings.
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Thank you, that is the important part I had left out.......
 
Theres one other way to grease hub bearings. Most parts stores sell a needle like you would use to inflate a basketball or something that goes into the fitting on your grease gun. You can put it on, and then slide it under the seal and put grease in. I don't think this method will work on our hub bearings though due to how the seals are placed.
 
No, it doesn't fit- tried it a couple times. and also in a sealed bearing if you get too much grease in there, through the abs sensor it can build pressure and blowout the seal.
 
Will L. said:
Something that will help with always adjusting is some spray graphite. You'd have to do it with them all the way out, then use 3 coats.
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Please explain in greater detail or give me a link where it's been talked about. Mine used to stop, barely pushing the pedal - was almost dream-like. Years later, it's not stopping like this anymore and at times doesn't even feel like I have rear brakes. Graphite where? My adjusters are greased, as well as the surfaces where the shoes rub the back plates.
 
In the threads of the "self adjusters". Grease makes it worse because the brake dust sticks to the grease and makes a goo. It comes in a spray can like spray paint. It sprays out with some kind of liquid I order to carry it, then the liquid quickly evaporates leaving only graphite. It is an amazing lubricant that will not attract brake (or any other) dust.

It won't fix all the problems but if the adjusters are in good condition it will help a lot.

Idk of any posts on line, it is used in fleets all the time- especially heavy equipment in the dirt where grease catches too much sand.
 
adjusters don't really work as advertised on these trucks. You must get your hands dirty and get in there and do it by hand. I am having the same problem. My brake pedal does not feel as firm as it use too.
 
I am curious why you would want to upgrade to rear disc brakes if you tow heavy. Big trucks use drum brakes all the way around. Is my thinking on this flawed? When ever I have towed heavy for my truck my rear brakes did the job they were asked.
 
Big trucks get busted all day long for "out of adjustment" drum brakes. And the Drums on trucks are huge. Vs. the afterthought pickups esp the 1/2 tons get. Most pickup operators are not "truckers" and have zero clue about drum brake adjustment and for that matter neither does the dealer.

Drums are obsolete technology period.

Cooling - Yup just the outside drum gets cooled. Vented disc and upgrade to slotted/drilled is another level of performance over drums. Yeah it's all a heat sink till things fade and you need more stopping power before the drums can cool down.

Heavy. You loose like 50 lbs of rotating mass per wheel converting over.

Shoes, however, last forever. This is because the drums simply aren't working at all usually due to being out of adjustment. Yes, disc brakes auto adjust. If they don't (not as common failure as drums) you are replacing parts.

NVH: You can come to a smooth 4 wheel disc stop without the last moment "grab" and "kickback" if you feather the brakes to release the sliding to static friction transition. The suspension and tires are all wound up and want to throw you backwards the moment forward momentum ends. GM 1/2 ton krap including 2005+ return to obsolete 1/2 ton GM pickups are near impossible to feather this out. The drums just don't "let go" while attempting to do this and always kick the vehicle backwards.

Simple: Disc brakes are easier to change pads on. Drums wear a groove and require time to spin the rusted adjuster... oh hell cut them off it's quicker and they are shot anyway.

GM: Yes, typical bean counter lets drive our customers to overseas car makers... The rear drums (and entire braking system prior to 1999 MY) are simply too small on 1/2 ton pickups and the 2005 return to obsolete technology (because their cheap Fup 4 wheel disc parking brake never ever worked on 1/2 tons) doesn't even have cooling fins on the drums and they get hot and warp. Yes warped drums with under 18K on the clock is a fun warranty claim.

Even U-Haul trailers are going to 4 wheel disc surge brakes. I would rather tow with the 4 wheel disc as they stop much better.

Life of pads: 4 wheel disc systems have long pad life 100K+ where disc/drum is under 15K for the front pads.

Drum in hat "parking brake". Well drum systems have a emergency brake function built into the parking brake. Drum in hat is a 1 time use maybe. Other parking brake designs for 4 wheel disc do have true E Brake function.

Again on 3/4 ton+ the drums when working do a decent job. Some minor upgrades and the cost to go to disc isn't justified. Sadly they don't always work (adjustment) and it's a real cookies in your pants when you need them to work.
 
If you live where they use road salt in the winter, then rear drums are much more attractive. On the several trucks that I have owned I've only worn out one set of rear shoes, and never had to replace the rear drums. The front discs and pads need replacement about every other year due to serious corrosion issues. Rear discs would corrode even faster than the fronts due to being constantly sprayed with the salt water mixture thrown up by the front tires. One of the main reasons I bought my Colorado for a winter truck is specifically because it came with drums on the rear axle. One of my freinds has an older S-10 with four wheel discs. Not a pretty sight.
 
These are all good points on disk vs drum or drum vs disk whichever guys and i appreciate the advice,knowledge, and comments
i am looking into upgrading my braking system front and back as this 94 k3500 has just had some brake work done not to long ago and was reading and thinking that the disk conversion would be the best solution for my brakes do it once and done everything new and stops on the dime considering this truck is so old and still runs good just wanted to keep it up to date with modern tech. as my other cars have disk all around. anyway i personally dont like doing anything with drum braking and im not familiar with anything about them, im more familiar with disk than drum with fixing them and working on them which is also why i want to convert the truck to disk from drum.if most of u knowledgeable chevy truck veterans agree that the drums r way better than disk then i might leave it and not convert it all i would then like to know what would be the best setup on the drums all parts to look for so i can fix them and also what upgrade/replacement or whatever u want to call it for the fronts, what would be a better/best setup for the front disks

let me know guys thank for your help
 
Grendahl said:
If you live where they use road salt in the winter, then rear drums are much more attractive. On the several trucks that I have owned I've only worn out one set of rear shoes, and never had to replace the rear drums. The front discs and pads need replacement about every other year due to serious corrosion issues. Rear discs would corrode even faster than the fronts due to being constantly sprayed with the salt water mixture thrown up by the front tires. One of the main reasons I bought my Colorado for a winter truck is specifically because it came with drums on the rear axle. One of my freinds has an older S-10 with four wheel discs. Not a pretty sight.
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GM has come out with revised dust shields for some years as the factory ones would feed the rears a constant dirt diet. This would grind the rotors down to the cooling fins on a regular low mile basis. You should check into this for your model year truck. Yes the rear discs do get wet (even from mist) and require some planning to apply the brake and dry them out so they work when needed.
 
I'm not the resident expert, by any means, but after reading through all this, I'd still consider a rear disc brake kit for my '95. I might need brakes on my project '95 and if so, I'll take them off my nice '95 and will probably put a disc kit on in place of the drums.
 
jrsavoie said:
I would do the front brake upgrade. There are threads on here about how to use a newer style rotor - that does not require pulling the bearing to remove the rotor - the rotor pulls right off. like on every other normal vehicle. I wish I had done it on all of my vehicles.

I looked into it a long time ago. I never got it figured out. Later on after a couple of guys figured it out, I haven't had time & or funds to do the swap.

I surely do wish somebody sold a kit for this. It would be good for all GMT400's
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Did you ever find a good quality outboard rotor conversion for the 3/4 ton Burb????
 
jc_price77 said:
Did you ever find a good quality outboard rotor conversion for the 3/4 ton Burb????
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I havent done it since it wont work with mine now, but I believe if you can find wheel studs that will go in from the back with a shoulder on them, you can run 01-07 2500hd rotors. The measurements all add up so they should line up, but they're only 1.25" thick so you're limited to the 2500 8 lug calipers.
 
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