Rear drum brake conversion to disc brake

lol. that's nothing. my woodworking projects always end up requiring welding!

 

Um, no. With ABS, braking distance is purely a function of the coefficient of adhesion of the tire and the road surface. Stopping distance is the same. Maybe feel, not distance, and we all know about "feeling."

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/rear-disc-brake-conversion.751345/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/rear-disc-brakes.627512/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/rear-disc-brake-conversion-on-2nd-gen.665542/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/rear-disc-conversion-pros-and-cons.482881/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/rear-disc-brakes-anyone-done-the-conversion.134015/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/drum-to-disc-brake-conversion.735181/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/drum-to-disc-brake-conversion.68025/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/rear-brake-conversion.679510/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/is-there-a-rear-disk-brake-upgrade.549512/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/gen-2-rear-disc-brake-conversion.624828/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/rear-disc-conversion-sos-kit.734114/



Hundreds of threads on this, first post, probably wont return.

 

Yes and no. Either way it was a typo on my part.

 

They don't, the weight transfer is to the front.

 

You got that right! Just read a breaking test on the small trucks, little if any difference in any of the trucks they all stopped just about the same! I guess rear disks are sexy.

 

thanks for all the responses, I am new to the Toyota/Tacoma life. I live in Ohio so lots of salt, rust, corrosion. After doing a road trip my brakes felt off and had to get my drums adjusted and it was a pain in the ass to get them off. But it sounds like it’s not worth the modification.

 

Not all disc brake setups use a smaller drum for a parking brake. Some just squeeze the pads against the caliper.

You can 100% upgrade the rear brakes to help when under heavy loads and not have them lock up when unloaded. Modern cars don't have proportioning valves anymore. The ABS pump now splits power to each wheel individually and can moderate the pressure sent to each tire ensure that none of them lock up. Since the ratio is no longer fixed increase rear braking power doesn't mean the tires will lock up.

Discs shed heat better than drums. There is no question in that and the brakes job is to create heat. Discs work better but we have drums because they're cheaper.

All that said I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze to convert to rear disc.

 

Your truck is around 5 years old, the drums probably hadn't been off in a while.
It you pull the drums and do a break inspection/clean up/adjustment annually they will pull off easily enough.

With the drum removed a tiny bit of high temperature grease applied to the flange area indicated below makes removal next time easier. Again, just a tiny amount, only a extremely light film of grease is required.

 

I don't have my truck any longer to look at so correct me if I'm off. But a lot of brake drums on cars have threaded holes in the face of the drum. You can drive a bolt into that hole which presses against the axle flange (or whatever it's called). It's not an overall fix, but it sure does help get some stuck drums off.

 

Correct, the Tacoma has those holes.
I have only had to use them on used vehicles for the first service.

Usually I do a brake inspections Spring and Fall (snow tires), just like most things mechanical regular service and adjustments ultimately ends up saving you time.

 

I was pretty sure it did. The Japanese manufacturers are good about "installing" those. Sometimes shoes just don't like to be out in public for the world to see.

 

Yea there are bolt holes unfortunately the guy that showed me how to adjust them last time broke all the bolts off in the holes so I’ll need to tap those back out and I’ll get heavy duty ones from my work for next time

 

Thank you for the tip I’ll definitely try this out

 

Notice the rusty ridge on the edge of the drum where the brake shoes don't ride?
That is what makes it difficult to remove the drums. Make sure you clean that rust off every inspection.
You can use a putty knife or scrape it with a wide chisel, the easiest way is with a wire brush attachment on a grinder or a drill.



Be sure to wear safety glasses/goggles/face shield

 

The bolt holes in the drums work quite well new, more often than not the hub and drums become good friends and the bolts pull the treads out of the thin metal drums. Having dealt with this many times when my 2011 was new off with the drums and a good coating of anti seize on the axle and the drum edge.

 

The rotors on my truck have a similar threaded hole to help pop the rotors off the hub.