I never realy liked the brakes on my 86' truck, even after having it all refreshed from A to Z, new calipers, discs, drums, hoses, MC,...The truck needs a major press on the pedal to stop it. I deleted the rear proportioning valve so all the power is there to the rear drums, it is much better but still far from what i would like.

Is there bolt-ons for theses trucks, what are the top rated pads for theses ? or a 3rd generation calipers with more clamping forces ?,...

thanks.

 

use the V6/T-100 front rotors/calipers and it's up in the air about getting the bigger MC or not. I've already got a V6 truck with this and as a further upgrade I'm thinking of getting some late model (96-98 I think will work) rear wheel cylinders which are 1" bore instead of 7/8" like the truck and should provide a little more brake force. You might need the larger MC if you do this. This stuff is the cheap way, there is always rear discs. You'll see a substantial improvement with the V6 rotors and calipers though.

 

is this a bolt-on affair on the 4x4 hub ? does the disc are realy needed ?

thanks for the reply !!

 

how come my thread has moved to the newbie section ?
if only newbie watch the newbie section, what its purpose ? how non-newbie will be interested to help...thats not cool.

i am not newbie...altough the question was easy for most of you.

 

Based on a rudimentary knowledge of physics, I would have thought the smaller the bore, the more braking force, but with more pedal travel... Big bore= high pedal effort + short pedal travel, small bore = long pedal travel + low pedal effort.

Maybe check out the later model brake booster diameter, the bigger it is, the lower the pedal effort.

 

you are right, i am used to work on BMW, i have modified several, and i still own 4, one is a race car, i have played a lot with brake bias and know the basicsof brakes.
I dont want to use the 1" bore MC for my pick-up as it will make the pedal harder. I want to increase pad surface or caliper bores, to the detriment of more pedal travel (more fluid to fill them up).

Anyway, now that i know the V6 calipers are bigger, i may go with this set-up.

 

upgrade your rear brakes dude!!

convert the rear to Disc's, that'll help a lot.

then convert to the bigger disc's and calipers and MC and booster up front!.

my brakes work just fine..i just wish i had ABS....i don't like to lock up my tires on asphalt i try hard not to, but sometimes ya gotta lol...damn cows

 

The rear is alredy locking up before the front, i dont want to change the bias too much.

I should have precised that i want to improve on the front only, and reduce overall pedal effort. Converting the rear to disc is costly, this is a utility truck to carry car parts and wood.

Maybe i have shi**ty pads, i would like to know if there is good pads, Hawk does not seem to make some for the 86-89 4 cyl, other pads manufacturer other than raybestos ty ones ?

 

how'd you converted?? sick of tired of drums and squeals too much! and SPRINGS TOO!

 

http://www.trail-gear.com/brake.html

 

thanks for that link, very good !!

 

i have been thinking bout doing the rear disc brake conversion with a larger bore MC.

let me know how the rear goes if you do decide to do it

 

I was hesitant to go to a 'performance' brake company- but the Hawk HPS on my Chevy are the best I've bought- including ceramics. Hot or cold.

 

When you increase the bore size pressure goes down and vice versa... you will notice that the brake pedal has a different pivot point to compensate. This is always addressed with musclecars/hotrods that convert from one brake style/system to another. Most stock GM pedals were drilled for 2 pivot locations depending on application

 

locking in the rear, before front? not good... you should get a wilwood manual adjust LSPV. are your front brakes even engaging? could have bad front calipers or brake lines