[98C]

I have a 1998 front axle and Dana 70 with rear drums. On the front I have yellow stuff pads and napa premium rotors, raybestos pro grade calipers and new brake lines in the rear all napa premium stuff. It is all brand new and adjusted, I also have the Chevy master cylinder upgrade and my braking is so poor it is unreal. The fluid is brand new throughout all the lines the point is the brakes suck! I'm thinking about getting disk brake brackets for the rear with wilwood brakes and as for the front since I can't do much more can I get an axle from an 02 and put it under the front of my truck and do the 3rd gen brakes on it?

 

[Off-road]

WHAT SIZE TIRES? they play a huge role in the quality of your brakes...

did you properly bleed the system? if so how did you do it?

 

[thatguy69]

honestly i have 35's and my truck stops on a dime and i have a really good firm pedal.im just running the powerstop pads and drilled/slotted rotors from rock auto and i couldnt be more pleased with them. i pulled 10k the other day without trailor brakes and it stoppped it just fine

 

[Off-road]

i really think its that he has too much speed+tire+air in the brake lines= soft/ spongy brakes.....

 

[thumper 549]

I have a 1998 front axle and Dana 70 with rear drums. On the front I have yellow stuff pads and napa premium rotors, raybestos pro grade calipers and new brake lines in the rear all napa premium stuff. It is all brand new and adjusted, I also have the Chevy master cylinder upgrade and my braking is so poor it is unreal. The fluid is brand new throughout all the lines the point is the brakes suck! I'm thinking about getting disk brake brackets for the rear with wilwood brakes and as for the front since I can't do much more can I get an axle from an 02 and put it under the front of my truck and do the 3rd gen brakes on it?

What exactly is the problem?

 

[nickg]

you say they are adjusted in the rear properly?? if so how did you do it?
do a couple simple tests...slower speeds on a dirt road and see if the rears are actually locking/skidding.

engine running veh in park, apply brakes, note distance from pedal to floor, release and apply brakes again, note the distance from the floor to pedal, , apply the brakes the 3rd time...if you notice as you pump the brakes that the pedal seems to climb higher the rears are out of adjustment even if you think they are adjusted.

best way to adjust is to remove the axel, adjust brakes till they lock up, then back off, pump brakes a couple times and recheck drag when the wheel is spun by hand. note leave the wheel on

 

[Mopar1973Man]

WHAT SIZE TIRES? they play a huge role in the quality of your brakes...

did you properly bleed the system? if so how did you do it?

Need to know... Because leverage forces play a role in braking performance and life expectancy. Larger the tires the more leverage force there are to over coming the brake system so smaller tires tend to perform better than larger tires.

 

[thumper 549]

Need to know... Because leverage forces play a role in braking performance and life expectancy. Larger the tires the more leverage force there are to over coming the brake system so smaller tires tend to perform better than larger tires.

" unsprung weight" is a KILLER

 

[Junkman]

"so poor it is unreal"

isn't very descriptive. Is the pedal soft, hard, what?? We have almost no information to base a reply on.

 

[24hrsparkey]

May have to adjust your driving habits , its a very heavy truck not a sports car .
Not trying to make you mad , it's just you can't expect to roll 40 mph right up to a stop sign and expect the brakes to snub up to a stop in a short distance Like a corvette can do easily . It's heavy with mediocre braking system .
IF everything brake wise is tip top and running oem sized tires they stop ok . And ok is about all you get .
Add big tires to the equation ...... Heck my son just bought 35's for his truck and they weigh in at 87.9 pounds each ( plus the wheel ) . Yes 87.9 ,, hello increased stopping distance ..... !!!

 

[bwdt]

Just do a third gen front brake swap.

 

[Off-road]

3rd gen swap will not work on the 98 trucks. they have inboard rotors and different knuckles. only works on the 01-02 trucks for sure, heard rumor the 2000 trucks can use it too... but not anything older.

 

[Off-road]

May have to adjust your driving habits , its a very heavy truck not a sports car .
Not trying to make you mad , it's just you can't expect to roll 40 mph right up to a stop sign and expect the brakes to snub up to a stop in a short distance Like a corvette can do easily . It's heavy with mediocre braking system .
IF everything brake wise is tip top and running oem sized tires they stop ok . And ok is about all you get .
Add big tires to the equation ...... Heck my son just bought 35's for his truck and they weigh in at 87.9 pounds each ( plus the wheel ) . Yes 87.9 ,, hello increased stopping distance ..... !!!

im runing 305/70-17 tires, they stand approx. 32-24 inches tall (cant remember the exact height and too lazy to remeasure). and my truck stops nicely. i plan on doing the 03 upgrade only to have the best brakes i could find.

 

[bwdt]

Actually the 3rd gen will work on 99 and later. You must have the removable front discs to do it. If I had an earlier truck I would swap the diff instead of paying for the expensive rotors, calipers and pads. I did this the first time and the performance gain was really negligible, but the 3rd gen upgrade was a significant improvement.

 

[98C]

My pedal is firm, the brakes work, everything is adjusted and new. It brakes good like you guys are saying it should, but not good enough for me. I am on 35/12.5/20's. This is why I was asking about swapping axles because the 3rd gens have way better brakes. Im not going to go in depth on how I bled the brakes, there is no air in the system, the drums are adjusted. If I was on stock tires sure these brakes would be okay, but IMO they suck for a truck. All I want to know is what front axle should I find, fabricating is not an issue either.

 

[thumper 549]

In what way is NOT stopping good enough??
Generally better brakes will not fade as much after some hard stops. Most anything will stop your good enough at 1st.
If you are comparing your 8 to 10000 lb truck to car...........well that just is not a good comparison.

 

[98C]

No Im not comparing a car to my truck. I want better brakes, Ive driven many trucks with 35s or 37s and they have way better brakes than my truck! It doesnt stop good enough at all under any circumstances.

 

[thumper 549]

Still , you are not describing what it is or is not doing.
Bigger brakes do not stop the wheels any better, just more times Br they over heat.
B4 you fix the problem you have to know what you are addressing , dont you?

 

[comotionman]

Do you have all wheel abs? That could be the problem.

 

[Off-road]

i have all wheel abs, and 305/70-17 tires and they stop amazingly strong. but i have disc rears too......