Best Rear Brakes

[bronco821]

Alright, in your opinion what is the best rear brake setup for a daily driver/weekend warrior with 35's and an auto? I have the small bearing with 31 spline shafts and drums, but have never driven the bronco to see how they are. I have to have a e-brake to pass TX inspection and plan to pull a 17.5 foot boat sometimes along with moderate wheeling. I have the Ford disks for the front to put on. I plan on running hydro-boost also. Any personal experience or best bang for my buck? Thanks

 

[00gyrhed]

Best bang for the buck is probably the chevy front with rerar drums. I do not even run a power brake booster of any knid. It stops well with 33's. In low of the NP435 and low of the xfer case it can be a little hard to stop, but I have a clutch so it coesn't matter, but with your auto you may want to ask soemone else.

Every thing else you spend over and above the chevy conversion is just that, more money, for progressively less stopping factor. Yea the hydroboost will stop on a dime but the non power assit chevy conversion discs with drum brakes on the rear will stop good. Add a vacuum assit and you probably have all the stopping power you need. Dics on the rear are good but it is a lot of money and time to get it all working well with an emergency brake.

How much do you want to spend to stop a little better?

If money (and time) were no object I would have a hydroboost and rear disc,(it was my original plan) but I bet the first set of pads on the rear would be the last set I ever put on. The front does all the work. I really doubt I will ever need to change the rear drum brakes either. I just decided that it stopped so well as it is I would live with what I have. I like having fewer things to go wrong particulaly with brakes.

A trailer can be fun, brakes or no brakes. Just be careful of the tongue weight.

 

[Tito]

Nothing wrong with stock rear brakes, I run them on all mine, I still need to hook up the e-brakes :-X but I will eventually.
Front discs are a must with anything bigger than 31's. I just need to do the plumbing on my hydroboost for mine (changed engine and pump so needed to run new lines anyways so it was a good time) but it stopped pretty darn well with just the disc front end off a 78 Bronco.

 

[ObscureMachine]

My rear drums work amazingly well with my chevy disc front setup. I would just rebuild them. Rear discs are great, but not sure if they're really worth the $$$ (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

 

[t.lay]

chebby discs up front - rear drum + hydroboost. C4 and 36"s. Hydroboost is more about pedal effort with a larger bore mc than pure stopping power.

 

[bronco821]

I already have the Ford knuckles and spindles to put on the front. Is the Chevy that much better or do most of you guys have it because its cheaper and easier?
If I keep the drum rear and Ford disk front what master cylinder is best? I'm trying to keep the bronco simple and reliable. Can I get a much larger MC and not have to use something to power assist to feel safe?

Thanks for all the help so far.

 

[Dave]

I do a lot of driving in the mountains with long downhill grades. I've had problems with drum brakes heating up and fading especially with an auto. That is the only reason that I'm converting to disks front and rear.

 

[Broncobowsher]

Down shift on the grades, problem solved.

 

[00gyrhed]

cheaper and easier

I already have the Ford knuckles and spindles to put on the front. Is the Chevy that much better or do most of you guys have it because its cheaper and easier?
If I keep the drum rear and Ford disk front what master cylinder is best? I'm trying to keep the bronco simple and reliable. Can I get a much larger MC and not have to use something to power assist to feel safe?

Thanks for all the help so far.

I also like the little tattletale tabs that are not on the ford.

As for mastercylinders you will get a lot of arguement.

I am running the 1973 F250 2WD Camper special. It is listed in some books as serving trucks with the dual piston calipers. I love teh feel of the pedal and the way it stops, but others disagree. Still would like some of the people the hat them to drive mine and tell me what they do not like.

 

[Dave]

Down shift on the grades, problem solved.

I was mostly preferring to those long paved downhills (some are 30 miles) behind schizophrenic tourists that can not decide between 20 and 70 mph. Downshifting the C4 or ZF constantly adds a lot of noise and wear and tear on the drivetrain. I've always felt it easier to throw on a new set of disks and calipers that rebuilding drivetrain components. I think I downshift when appropriate but perhaps I'm in need of some remedial drivers ed. Never had any issues on the trails with the old drum brakes.

 

[75bronco08]

my dad owned 77 eb all stock towed with it and was daily driver never had prblems w/stk set up it was 302 c-4 and 235-75-15.then i bought it 3.5 lift and 31x9.50x15 and towed a 28hp tractor w/equipment and no trailer brakes and it stoped faily good.now my 75 i did chevy up frt and stk rear and 33 going to up grade rears im probly going disc w/hydro this vehical dd and trail rig and for the trails and for the trails i would like little more brake.

 

[bronco821]

00gyrhead are you running manual brakes?

 

[Viperwolf1]

I already have the Ford knuckles and spindles to put on the front. Is the Chevy that much better or do most of you guys have it because its cheaper and easier?
If I keep the drum rear and Ford disk front what master cylinder is best? I'm trying to keep the bronco simple and reliable. Can I get a much larger MC and not have to use something to power assist to feel safe?

Thanks for all the help so far.

If you don't have power assist stick with a 1 in bore master cylinder. If you get a bigger bore it will be harder for you to generate the pressure needed in the lines. Ford used 1 in bores in the disk equipped broncos.

I went with the chevy setup because it was cheap and easy. If you already have the ford parts use them.

 

[Madgyver]

The 77 stock drum brakes works good on my green77.
I like the way the BC rear disc brakes works stopping the 37"s on the yellow77

I wonder how the Explorer rear discs brake are doing now that they've been on the market for a few years?

 

[mudstud]

I am running F-150 disks up front and stock drums on the rear. I have a hydro-boost as well. I have no problem stopping 35s with this setup. I went from four-wheel manual drum system to the current setup. There is no comparison between the two. The only thing I think a rear disk setup would do is help with break fade on water crossings. I do not believe I would change to rear disk unless I could get them cheap.

 

[csjr]

The rear caddy disk calipers are not good and very expensive. You get e-brake cable function but also constant adjustment and somewhat mushy pedal IMO. I think front disks are a must, but I would stick with rear drums for simplicity and cost. I wish I still had mine...

 

[toddz69]

I wonder how the Explorer rear discs brake are doing now that they've been on the market for a few years?

Doing just fine on my truck. Best rear discs I've ever had. I like having a reliable rear parking brake all the time.

Todd Z.

 

[blubuckaroo]

Good discs in front are a must. Drums in the rear are even better on a truck than discs. Most of the stopping is in the front anyway. Look at the newer big pick-ups. They went back to rear drums. Do you see tractor trailer rigs with discs?

 

[bronco821]

Thanks for the help guys. So if I have front disks and rear drums what do you guys think about manual brakes vs hydroboost vs vacuum assist?

 

[Dave]

Do you see tractor trailer rigs with discs?

Don't needem! That's what all the truck runaway ramps are for;D ;D ;D Seems like all high performance applications use disks. Even my 173,000 lb AirBus.