Rear End Options

My first time... here goes???? My xRunner is basically a daily drive, almost at the 100K mark, no complaints. If there is one disappointing factor, its the braking part! Both my car & my wife's truck have four-wheel disc systems. This old rear-drum brake set-up is lacking sometimes. My query... anyone have any experience/suggestions on swapping out the rear-axle or changing the brakes to disc? Both worry about quoting what might seem like the obvious to you... I'm not offended easily! Appreciate any and all suggestions. Thanks...

 

Welcome to TW. The issues with changing a drum system to disc's has come up here before. I'm sure if you use the search bar, you'll find lots of posts. The short version is that the brake system was designed to use drums, and no amount of altering will create a system worth using. Sorry I didn't pay too much attention, as this was not something I plan to do.

Frank

 

Brake kits are made and sold to convert the rears to disc.

IS350 rear brake conversion (~$1200)
http://tundraracing.com/355xrunnerrotora.htm

Rear brake conversion ($~900)
http://tundraracing.com/xrunnerreardiscbrakeconversionkit.htm

I think Rotora makes a rear kit too but can't find it but have seen it done before... If you touch the rears, you might want to upgrade the front brakes with a BBK too since the rear brakes only do 20% of the braking.

 

*discs

and depending on the use, yes, disc brakes may be beneficial

yes, the rear does very little of the actual braking. but, if for whatever reason intense, repeated braking is needed, discs would be beneficial as they are much less prone to excessive heat buildup.

for avereage daily driving, there will be no difference. let's get that clear.

like whipper said, front brake upgrades (especially on a truck with brake and vehicle weight proportions heavily favoring the front) will do much in terms of improving overall brake performance more than any kind of rear upgrade.

 

like others have said your best bet is to first upgrade the front be it either with a simple pad and rotor upgrade or by putting on your big boy pants and doing a bbk, as doing the rear will make the ass end lock up with little to no braking force. which dramatically affects handling for the worse, especially if you like to push the limits of your truck. i would also suggest looking up sdxrunner619 on xrunnerground and chat with him about his experiances with his rear disc conversion

 

an adjustable brake proportioning valve from summit racing should fixe the 80/20 braking split then you could adjust it to more like 65/35-70/30. you can grab a good on for 50-90 bucks.

 

this case that you mention does not necessarily reflect even what the OP is asking for; we are talking about a 5-lug kit designed for an XRunner. considering both of these kits (rotora and Lexus Rear BBK) in comparison to the rather undersized kit for the 6 lug trucks, are quite large in comparison.

like i stated before overall braking power shouldn't be your main concern when considering a rear disc conversion; rather other factors such as heat dissipation and substantially less brake fade etc.

 

Get the rotora bbk from tundraracing.com, its on sale for $1299. I have them and love em. The problem with disks in the rear is that they work to well for the wieght we have back there. They will lock up quite easy unless you get a bias valve and adjust accordingly. But why buy better brakes to just tone them down?! They are wonderful for drifting however....

 

wow, that's a lot of good stuff, really appreciate. understand (should've known) that the weight distribution (front-to-rear) has a big impact. think i'll go with the front end upgrade, will post when i git-er-done. again, thanks mucho for all the responses.