Rear Discs conversion worth it?

[land864]

As the post suggests. Is the increase in stopping power that much more noticable after the drums have been converted to discs?

[Blknight.aus]

nope, barely worth it other than you dont have to adjust the disc brakes.. .but then you also loose the nice self activating leading shoe that lets you do some traction control imitation while offroading...


and changing the discs is a lot harder than changing the drum and shoes.

[isuzurover]

Huge increase in stopping power after a creek crossing - otherwise minor increase. However:

No adjustment
Changing pads is a lot quicker and easier than changing linings.

Only downside IME is that pads wear out faster than linings - especially when driving the canning stock route after 84 mm of rain!!!

[p38arover]

and changing the discs is a lot harder than changing the drum and shoes.

But how often does one change discs? Pads in the RRC/Disco1/County/Defender are dead easy and quick to change - a few minutes each.

I don't have all the details but was speaking to Merv Vessey of the LROC last Saturday and he converted his.

I thought one needed a full Defender rear end swap but Merv said one uses front hubs/stub axles from County/Defender and the conversion can be done using the County axle housing.

[rar110]

I think discs are an improvement over drums, also less hastle.

I did a Cape York trip in my first 110 which had drums. The snail cams kept adjusting off and had no brakes for most of the trip. Had them fixed in Bamaga only to have no brakes again 100 or so ks later. That trip killed any tolerance I had for drum brakes. It was probably easily fixed by something like new cams. However no one seemed to be able to get them working well. The double adjustment seemed to confuse them.

[isuzurover]

But how often does one change discs? Pads in the RRC/Disco1/County/Defender are dead easy and quick to change - a few minutes each.

Exactly!

I thought one needed a full Defender rear end swap but Merv said one uses front hubs/stub axles from County/Defender and the conversion can be done using the County axle housing.

The main housing and diff centre is the same on a disc or drum sals. So no need to swap housings. There are two different bolt-on conversions: (a) you can either bolt the hubs, stubs and brakes from a defender on - in which case you need a 13mm drive flange spacer as county halfshafts are longer (or change to defender halfshafts) (b) you can use perentie disc hubs and brakes, like Rar110 and Bearman have done. This option is designed for the longer county halfshafts, so no spacer, however the hubs for this option are rare as the proverbial.

The only reason people change axles it it is often easier/cheaper just to buy a complete axle instead of all the bits.

Maxi-Drive also used to sell a disc conversion of his own design.

[rar110]

I am still looking to find a second hub (bearing carrier or spindle as Mal Story would call it) to do the army disc brake conversion with larger discs - or an alternative hub that will suit the County length shafts.

I put a 300tdi rear in the Perentie during the re-build. I've been happy with that.

[p38arover]

.......or an alternative hub that will suit the County length shafts.

I thought that was why Merv used front hubs from a County on the rear.

[JDNSW]

The advantages of discs over drums are:-

1. Largely immune to water
2. Don't need regular adjustment
3. Easier to replace friction lining.

In good condition there will be no difference to stopping power, so unless your rear brakes are not working, do not expect a perceptible change.

Up to you whether these advantages are worth the effort and cost of changing.

For what it is worth, I have relined the rear brakes once and replaced the front pads once in 510,000km, and both front and rear are still in good shape. Adjust the brakes every service, but often no adjustment needed.

John

[isuzurover]

I thought that was why Merv used front hubs from a County on the rear.

You can also use county front hubs on the rear, however from my measurements they will put the disc in the wrong place for off-the-shelf caliper brackets, so a custom bracket is needed. Perentie rear disc hubs look completely different to county/perentie fronts.

This is a perentie rear disc hub compared to a defender rear disc hub. The county front hubs look closer to the defender type than the perentie type.