Rear Drum Vs Disc

I definitely heat mine up enough.

 

The parking brake on drums is usually a lot stronger. Whether this is bad or not, obviously not a problem on the 4Runner being similar size and weight. Having your truck hold parked off road is no small thing. But I think it's mostly a cost thing, more profit for Mike Sweers and Toyota. The reason the Tundra has them is there's real competition in the segment.

 

SUVs mentioned (4Runner, etc.) are not pickup trucks, like the Tacoma, and don't usually have such little weight on the back axle. The video explains that the back breaks get only 25% of the stopping job and drum breaks are far less exposed to the elements that in disc brakes cause failure, wear, and noise.

 

I had disk brakes on a Honda CR-V. They had to be cleaned and freed up regularly. I much prefer drum brakes on the rear as they are better protected from the crap coming off the front wheels. The Tacoma stops just fine.

 

I see nobody here is an ex-F150 owner.

Rear brake rotors on a truck, due to the solid axle, tend to be solid and unvented. At least mine were and most all the ones that came with any F150/Expedition.

Anyway, they also tend to be rather small for the application. So you take a heavy truck + unvented and small rear brake rotor, and after enough stops, you get a warped rear rotor.

So then the next time you brake, it feels like the rear is hopping up and down as the pulsations work their way through the cab.

It got to the point where I was putting new ROTORS on the rear every 30k miles.

I'll keep my rear drums. They may look "old school" but I've replaced enough rear rotors to not want to spend the money on it ever again.

BTW, here is a pic of what I'm talking about. These are from a 2011 4runner. Notice how the rotor is SOLID. There are no vents like on most front brakes. (and before you bring it up, I'm not talking about cross-drilled or slotted. vented is where the circumference has a channel for air to flow into).

 

Cost vs performance. Most of the braking is done by the front brakes anyways. The drums get the job done and keeps costs down. They also last a hell of a long time. Mine at 85K had a lot of material left.

 

Drums are not hard to work on. It's just dealing with the dust that's the issue. What makes discs sexy? Because u can see a shiny disc? They don't work much better than two large horseshoes with a lot more friction material. Can lock up my taco rear with the handbrake easily. Just as easily as any rear disc equipped vehicle.
Why whine so much about such frivolous things. Just enjoy the damn truck. Shit....

 

Mine uses vented.

http://sosperformance.com/products/rear-disc-conversion-with-parking-brake-slash-tr-dot-ps2-dot-ta16

 

i honestly think when your brakes from driving in rain, puddles etc the drum brakes still work good compared to the disc brakes.

 

Just my $0.02 here but I think that it is very possible to convert the rear drum brakes to disc. I also used to think why Toyota never offered this on their Tacoma's?

The reason why I say this is because we used to own a 2003 4Runner (now 2016 4Runner) and it basically had the same style model engine as my 2008 Tacoma. The braking system was practically the same as well, only difference was the rear brakes (as we all know) on my 2008 Tacoma are drum compared to the rear brakes on the 2003 4Runner were disk?

I'm sure it can be done and but would need to basically follow the braking system of the 4Runner to achieve this for total and complete functionality?

Other than converting the rear axle on the Tacoma with one off of a 4Runner? Also possible other brake related parts as well?

Good Luck on this project (that is if you attempt to do the change) and please post pictures and update as you go along?

 

I will be, but in my build thread. 4Runner parts, minus the backing plate.

 

I can't understand why anyone would want rear discs on they're Tacoma. There would be no performance benifit. The rear brakes do only about 20% of the braking and the better braking performance of rear disc wouldn't even be noticed. A downside to disc brakes is that the parking brakes don't perform as well as drum brakes. The larger diameter drum brake holds better that the small diameter disc parking shoes. If you live anywhere they use road salt discs tend to corrode.

Hey, but discs look really cool.

 

Found your solution.... disc brakes bro!
LOLOL

 

Too bad you had to show off that little secret, which has been on the market a while.

Now all the mall crawlers will be ordering up. Make a nice contrast to their black wheels.

 

So as load is added to the rear, it still stays as only 20%?

I cannot speak for everyone. Nor should any mods be for everyone. I race my truck. There is a significant performance upgrade when converting to disk. Cooling.

I would also like to see some documentation where e-brakes work better on drum than on disks. Someone do the math between a 4Runner, Tacoma, Tundra....

 

Because when it come to braking... size matters.
Disc brakes have small shoes.

 

We're not talking race trucks. In the real world drum brakes on the back of a truck work better. Remember GM ran discs on the back of their full size for approx. 6 year then dropped them because of corrosion problems and parking brake corrosion issues. There was no decrease in braking performance when they went back to drum brakes.

Yes the parking brakes will hold better on a large diameter than a smaller diameter parking brake.

 

Well I am talking about a race truck, that is daily driven in the real world.

GM is plagued with QC and material problems. Use better material. Duh.

 

Doesn't take higher pressure. In fact, that is one of the plusses for drums. If you look at the mechanical forces, one of the two drum shoes is "self actuating" due to the rotational force of the drum actually pulling the shoe into the drum once contact is made. Disk brakes take MUCH higher pressure / pedal effort, always have. That's why you will never see a non-power-assisted disk brake system, whereas power-assisted But power-assisted brakes were simply an extra-cost option in the days of 4-wheel drum brakes.

Other plusses are (a) most of the braking effort is from the front brakes since the rear end "unloads" under heavy braking while the front wheels develop a heavy load due to weight transfer; (b) drums have a much larger contact area than discs. They will fade more under heat, but they will stop better on a one-time hard application.

I, too, prefer to work on disc brakes. But what we have works pretty well. Particularly when towing.

 

GM had an early design flaw with the parking brake shoes inside the rotor. They went back to drums in 2005 on the half ton, but continued disc on the heavy duty trucks, because the parking brake shoes were a better design (much larger and looked like regular brake shoes). In 2014 the half tons went back to 4 wheel disc. Drum brakes do work fine, but I personally prefer disc. Especially after I had a drum brake freeze on my 2008 Tacoma and had to find a ride to work.