99 and older Suburban K2500 wide brake drums - corrosion.

[staatsof]

None of the conversion kits have a backing plate. This is used all winter long and I'm still dealing with the fallout of some front end frame damage from that. I did have the truck undercoated and touched up every year but that wasn't enough at the very front.

I have a very healthy respect for damage salt can do. My rear backing plates look like Godzilla fire breathed on them. Yet my rear brakes do still function and if I have the parking brake slightly set on to take up the slack they do work a bit better so I think that backing plate is doing it's job.

 

[JayTheCPA]

I have a very healthy respect for damage salt can do.

If it were only salt . . .

Am not so sure that NJ uses only salt in the winter as I see references to brine as a pre-treat.

That stuff is commonly more than just a mixture of salt and water where the result is an even more corrosive element that remains active at lower temperature and humidity than salt. Have read where States are not quick to identify the contents of brine and they usually fess-up after somebody runs it through a lab. States love brine as it is apparently less expensive than rock salt, can apply it days ahead of a winter storm, and it stays in place.

While undercoating helps, so will an underbelly bath after each snow event. A friend of mine has the same generation of 3/4 SOB truck where neither of us did undercoating. He went to a car wash that did the undercarriage after every snow event and I did not. His truck is in much better shape from a rust perspective than mine.

Since I learned about brine, each vehicle gets a good belly soak after each winter storm. This has helped, but still not a cure. The better cure is for businesses to adapt good telework policies so that people do not feel the need to go out in winter storms . . .

 

[Twisted Steel Performance]

I'm sure the drum setup will work just fine and by the sound of it would be the better choice in your situation. A little etching or sand blasting or wire brushing and a coat of poor15 then regurlar paint would seal things up for a while and be treatable when necessary to freshen things up down the road.. And jay has a good point about the belly wash to help remove some if the junk when needed...

 

[Will L.]

If the only problem with the kit is the backing plate, couldnt you just have a fabrication shop make them? When I owned the truck equipment shop, we had to make all kinds of custom brackets, accessories, etc. a simple chunk of 16 gauge aluminum or heavy plastic could be done eliminating future rusting of the new one.

Mounting off the axle tube even if needed could be accomplished by split band clamping for the bracket to be supported at a distance.

 

[staatsof]

Thanks for all the replies.

On the salt here are two Ideas I'd love to be able to utilize but I'd need a vendor close enough to me to do that.
I don't know of any.

https://www.fluid-film.com/

http://www.salt-awayproducts.com/

But the salt doesn't disappear for quite sometime after a snowstorm and the salt dust is relentlessly deposited in a cloud everywhere you drive. I do go through the car wash with a "chassis wash" once the roads clear up but that can be weeks or even longer around here.

I wish there was a top flight car wash here that incorporated these products into their system. Probably a pipe dream ...

If you have a big lift in your home garage with a drain well great but that's not my situation nor a lot of people's out there.

On the brake kits. I'm just not comfortable with having that odd duck 3 year run caliper from the mid 70's as my rear and parking brake. The rebuild market for them is beyond tight. Yes there are brand new ones out for however long that lasts. If you start looking into adding a second mechanical caliper for the parking brake on the rear discs that's also a really exposed to the salt bath location. On the transfer case might be better but while these aren't horrendous modifications they are beyond my doing them myself in my current situation and the dollars begin to add up.

The later disc/drum Ebrake setup is a lot more appealing if I could find one that would slip on and bolt onto my hubs. Modifying that for an additional bracket for the caliper might be the best solution were it even possible? Maybe from a 2001 Suburban 2500 with that same 14 bolt rear end? I'm way out of my knowledge base on this ...

But for now, I have a much more pressing issue with this truck.

I have a bind in the steering that happens as you return to center and it's preventing the car from self centering.

This appeared after some front end frame welding plus a new set of upper ball joints. I'm pretty confident that it's not the welding that caused this and after three sets of shops looking at I'm going back to the shop that did the welding and installed the upper ball joints thinking that perhaps one or more of them has an issue. They've agreed to disconnect everything to try and find out where the bind is occurring.

We've replaced the steering box though it had no binding but it too much slop.
Pitman arm because we were there.
Tie rod ends because the boots were torn and one side felt tighter with some grit in it.
Hydroboost system got well flushed.

The steering is much more precise yet the bind is still there.

We can't really think of what else it could be BUT a problem with the upper ball joints or how they were installed? All suspension pieces are Moog.

 

[Big T]

I looked at the kits with the El Dorado Calipers and they were close to $500. I went and got a GMT 800 14 bolt FF axle from the pick a part bone yard during one of their 40% off Sales for $200. The GMT 800 axle is about 2” wider so you have to cut off the spring perches and weld new ones in place. Also need to fab a weld new perches for the jounce snubbers. You’ll need to use the yoke from the GMT 400 axle. I have th GMT 800 all prepped to go on my son’s truck, but have not installed yet. Just too busy. This will be a winter project.

http://www.thetruckstop.us/forum/threads/project-rear-disc-brakes.45238/page-2

If you really want stopping power in your Suburban, I would first do the GMT-800 front brake conversion.

 

[staatsof]

Thanks. That sounds like quite an undertaking.

 

[Will L.]

Yeah but worth it.

 

[Big T]

Yeah but worth it.

And cheape that than either the disc brake kits or new drums and shoes.

 

[Will L.]

If you dont know how to weld, having the new rearend and you old one out, taking them both to a welder, he can cut them off and move over or just fab new ones and match up to original location. Also many mobile welders around. $100 or so should cover that.

Then you can Craigslist your old axle to offset the cost.

 

[staatsof]

Nothing is quite that cheap to get done and done right around here. I'm not in a position to do any of this I go back into the shop tomorrow for what I beleive is a botched installation of one or more upper ball joints that are causing my steering to not center. We tried playing with the alignment and it had no effect.

No what exactly am I getting with the wrecking yard axle that I don't have already? This is a 14 bolt 10.5 inch full floating axled with the G80 option and the drums slid on over the hub and are not mounter behind the hub.

My drive-train also seems pretty tight now. No noises and no leaks. With a junkyard axle how would I know?

Thanks.

 

[Big T]

Nothing is quite that cheap to get done and done right around here. I'm not in a position to do any of this I go back into the shop tomorrow for what I beleive is a botched installation of one or more upper ball joints that are causing my steering to not center. We tried playing with the alignment and it had no effect.

No what exactly am I getting with the wrecking yard axle that I don't have already? This is a 14 bolt 10.5 inch full floating axled with the G80 option and the drums slid on over the hub and are not mounter behind the hub.

My drive-train also seems pretty tight now. No noises and no leaks. With a junkyard axle how would I know?

Thanks.

14 bolt full floaters are million mile axles