I hate them almost as much as I hate Hillary. I hate them with a fierce animal hatred that only the deepest of loathing could produce. Drum brakes are the work of the devil. Drum brakes are a disease, and when funds are sufficient, I shall be the cure.

Fawk drum brakes :mad:

okay, okay, don't hold back any more. tell us how you really feel.
:flipoff2:

what's the story? i don't like mine but they do work damn well as
long as one isn't afraid of stompin' hard.

Can always convert!

Thought the FJ62's had disks (at least on the front).

Hijack starts here
Anyone need a FJ40 front disk axle?

EDIT: 7 people are in line for my buddies axle. If none of them end up buying it, I'll get it posted for sale.

Originally posted by yoda
Can always convert!

Thought the FJ62's had disks (at least on the front).

Hijack starts here
Anyone need a FJ40 front disk axle?

maybe if you weren't located where you are :D /endhijack

Originally posted by yoda
Can always convert!

Thought the FJ62's had disks (at least on the front).

Hijack starts here
Anyone need a FJ40 front disk axle?

Oh I'll definately be converting. That's the cure to the disease :D
Plan on getting a full floating rear axle and putting Toyota discs on it (once I find out how).

And yeah, 62s have front discs, but evil evil drums in the rear :mad:

What is rong with reear drums? 70% of the braking force is the front anyway.

Originally posted by goldenarrow
What is rong with reear drums? 70% of the braking force is the front anyway.

Yeah.

After all, there are probably 100 million people running around with drum brakes in the US and maybe 10 million are aware they are even drums. :eek:

What makes your situation so unbearable? Do like the 100 million Americans do and take your drum brakes to a mechanic and have them fix them so you can forget about them. :D

I don't like drum breaks either (my 8 ton FJ80 stops like a freight train with them).

I have a line on a rear disc axle outta a later model 80 (with locker...score!).

Anyone know if the brake line is in the same location and if the earlier model (1991) valving/lines will hook into the later model?

I would've stuck with drum brakes in the rear but my brakes were all jacked up so I thought it would be better to spend the money on disc brakes than drum... it was :D

Originally posted by goldenarrow
What is rong with reear drums? 70% of the braking force is the front anyway.

Just about every aspect of 'em. Even though the rears only have 30% of the stopping contribution when braking, discs will reduce the overall braking distance even more. So say I only knock 15% off my total braking distance, I'd much rather stop the 5% before hitting soemthing than at the other 10% after hitting something.

Plus they're expensive, an overall pain to work on, and have terrible brake fade (yes, even the rear drums).

When I did my conversion I used a weld on braket. the bolt on ones that some people buy are like $90 for a set. I went to AA Manufacturing (http://www.aa-mfg.com) and bought their GM caliper mounting brakets for $6.00 each.

Just an FYI. :D

Originally posted by BumperJumper
I hate them almost as much as I hate Hillary. I hate them with a fierce animal hatred that only the deepest of loathing could produce. Drum brakes are the work of the devil. Drum brakes are a disease, and when funds are sufficient, I shall be the cure.

Fawk drum brakes :mad:

Breathe easy my friend, I have your solution...

http://jtoutfitters.com/product/TLCRDB8190 :eek:

Now go get 'em!!!!!!!!!! :D

**Soon to replace mine as well[COLOR=limegreen]

Originally posted by fj40_rico
When I did my conversion I used a weld on braket. the bolt on ones that some people buy are like $90 for a set. I went to AA Manufacturing (http://www.aa-mfg.com) and bought their GM caliper mounting brakets for $6.00 each.

Just an FYI. :D

Did you still have to use GM parts? My preference would be to use Toyota parts, mostly for consistency.

Originally posted by BumperJumper


Did you still have to use GM parts? My preference would be to use Toyota parts, mostly for consistency.

I used GM parts. a lot of people use the Montecarlo calipers, but I the conversion I found online used a 77 GM truck 1/2 or 1/4 ton front calipers.

the have a variety of caliper brakets (i.e. for the GM ones they have 5" and 7" from hole to hole, for the truck ones I needed the 7" ones).

but I think for $12.00 is worth a try.

Originally posted by BumperJumper
Drum brakes are the work of the devil. Drum brakes are a disease

Fawk drum brakes :mad:

I agree 100%! Break that rear drum brake axle on a hill and see how much they suck! There's a song that comes to mind....Rollin, rollin, rollin rawhide!

:flipoff: Drum brakes!

I just got my FJ40 a month ago, after adjusting all 4 drums up properly I've noticed a HUGE improvement in the braking. How often will I need to adjust these things? They are better then I thought they would be.

Originally posted by yoda
Can always convert!

Thought the FJ62's had disks (at least on the front).

Hijack starts here
Anyone need a FJ40 front disk axle?

How much do you need to get for the front? Also what year is it?

Originally posted by joostio
I just got my FJ40 a month ago, after adjusting all 4 drums up properly I've noticed a HUGE improvement in the braking. How often will I need to adjust these things? They are better then I thought they would be.

I've heard that drilling drums dramatically increses their braking ability (when all else is adjusted correctly), but I sure as shit wouldn't wanna try it. I'd rather just buy slotted rotors for my discs...

Drum brakes actually have greater stopping power than disk brakes. It's just that they heat up, when they get wet they work like crap, they collect mud, and they need constant adjustment. But when you factor all of those out, they can actually work better :)

Originally posted by dieselcruiserhead
Drum brakes actually have greater stopping power than disk brakes. It's just that they heat up, when they get wet they work like crap, they collect mud, and they need constant adjustment. But when you factor all of those out, they can actually work better :)

Ahhhh, on the contrary, the pressure needed to take enough advantage of the greater amount of surface area would result in cracking/breaking the drum. Discs can operate at a MUCH higher pressure. So much so that it's beyond a drum's strength to even come close to competing with a disc setup. Then you factor in specialty pads (like the Metal Masters that I use) and extra venting through slotting or drilling (or both), and discs can beat the drums (pun intended) hands down.

sorry guy, but bendix style single cylinder rear brakes are very easy to work with and have excellent stopping force for a wagon- the only better being the 3" european drum which sadly the shoes are discontinued. The dual cylinder systems are a bit suspect and in my mind create more of a fragile nature to the entire brake system. Rear disks are a nice addition, but certainly not needed.

..and I still can't figure out the 'hate' associated with drums. If anything, put 80 (1993+) series calipers on your front axle and skip the crossdrilled BS. Otherwise go full bore with the rice boy thing, big muffler exhaust-air foil wing and decals

...I'll bet $5 your dream conversion won't stop your rig any faster.

Originally posted by rick d

...I'll bet $5 your dream conversion won't stop your rig any faster.

I gotta agree here. My rear drums on my FJ55 have been fine for 3 years...I have not even pulled the drums in that time and only adjusted them two or three times... It stops great. I helped a friend do a rear disc conversion on his '55 and it does not stop any better that before. A properly adjusted rear drum setup with non warped rotors works just as well as the discs. My drums lock up the back with no trouble...

No easy way to do rear discs on a S/F rear alxe using Toyota parts...

Here is what I run on my FJ40 and it has brakes that are too good.
94 4-runner booster and master
t-100 calipers in the front
rear discs

Originally posted by rick d
..and I still can't figure out the 'hate' associated with drums. If anything, put 80 (1993+) series calipers on your front axle and skip the crossdrilled BS. Otherwise go full bore with the rice boy thing, big muffler exhaust-air foil wing and decals

...I'll bet $5 your dream conversion won't stop your rig any faster.

Even though you CAN get good drums that do work (hell I know ours do a decent job), I still stand by my opinion that discs are far superior.

I wouldn't put cross-drilled rotors on a truck unless it was a road-only vehicle. Too easy to get mud and grit into the holes and really bugger up the works. Better way to go on our rigs would be slotted rotors instead of cross drilled. I know John (Landpimp) uses 'em and if they can reduce the stopping distance on his 80, they're good.

And no way would I put on a tailpipe that makes the back of any vehicle of mine look like the goatse.cx Receiver.

Your mention of putting 80 series calipers on my rotors intrigues me though. Are they better than the minitruck calipers, and if so will they bolt right on?

Originally posted by cruiserbrett


I gotta agree here. My rear drums on my FJ55 have been fine for 3 years...I have not even pulled the drums in that time and only adjusted them two or three times... It stops great. I helped a friend do a rear disc conversion on his '55 and it does not stop any better that before. A properly adjusted rear drum setup with non warped rotors works just as well as the discs. My drums lock up the back with no trouble...

No easy way to do rear discs on a S/F rear alxe using Toyota parts...

Here is what I run on my FJ40 and it has brakes that are too good.
94 4-runner booster and master
t-100 calipers in the front
rear discs

Was the 55 front drum / rear disc? Doing that isn't really worthwhile, since the majority of the braking is done with the front brakes. I'd do front disc first of all, and that makes a HUGE difference. I've driven a couple old Mopars that were built for racing and there is a large difference in feel and in distance.

Originally posted by BumperJumper


Was the 55 front drum / rear disc? Doing that isn't really worthwhile, since the majority of the braking is done with the front brakes. I'd do front disc first of all, and that makes a HUGE difference. I've driven a couple old Mopars that were built for racing and there is a large difference in feel and in distance.

It was a 79, disc front, drum rear and we converted it to disc/disc and it is no better.

As for putting on the later, bigger calipers, they need only a bit of trimming on the backing plate and they bolt up. I got mine form a t-100, but they are all the smae on mid 90's pickups, etc. they are huge, but fit under the stock wheels...
-Brett

Originally posted by cruiserbrett
As for putting on the later, bigger calipers, they need only a bit of trimming on the backing plate and they bolt up. I got mine form a t-100, but they are all the smae on mid 90's pickups, etc. they are huge, but fit under the stock wheels...
-Brett

How much trimming was needed? Do you have a pic of where you had to trim the plates? I've heard some pretty good things about using pickup calipers, so perhaps that'd be a good place to start.

And are the T-100/pickup calipers the same as FZJ80 calipers?

Originally posted by cruiserbrett


It was a 79, disc front, drum rear and we converted it to disc/disc and it is no better.


maybe it's an hydraulic pressure issue, since discs need more pressure than drums, you might not be using the rear discs at their full potential ?