is it worth it?

[boardmanMJ]

my dad did a drum to disc brake conversion on his rally race mustang and ever since i found the how to thread on cherokee forum, ive wanted to do the same to my XJ. its a 2000 with the chryco 8.25 rear end with 33inch swampers and he said since most of my stopping is done on the front brakes, doing the swap on the rear wouldnt make a difference. so just the other day i was browsing the local CL and i found a complete 8.25 out of a wrecked 03 liberty and i started thinking about it more and more but the question is, is it worth it? do disc brakes really help?

 

 

 

Josh

[jimoshel]

If you want to do it, then it's worth it. Disc will help a little but in my opinion not enough to justify the cost or trouble. That's assuming your brakes are working OK now. If you need new brakes then do it.

[boardmanMJ]

the back brakes for now are fine, its the front ones I'm starting to have trouble with. when braking, it pulls to the right really badly. ive replaced the caliper more than once but it still continues to do it. now that i finally have some money to dump into the old girl, i want to fix the front and upgrade the back that way it can be done all at once.

 

 

 

Josh

[jimoshel]

If you've replaced the caliper more than once then you may have another problem. Bad brake pads, slave cyl. or just maybe a loose suspension part.Suggest you jack it up, front wheels hanging free, and give it a thorough eyeball , shake, pry inspection.Look at all mounting points for wear, rub marks. Wheel bearings for proper adjustment.

[87Warrior]

I have found that a well adjusted and functioning drum brake will work better than a Disk Brake. Simple really, the drum brake has a whole lot more pad surface area contact. However, I have always had much more difficulty maintaining a drum set up vs disk.

 

The advantage with disk brakes is much better cooling and (in my opinion) they are much more reliable and don't require near as much maintenance. They stay 'adjusted' and don't fill up with mud/water. I think they are a worth while upgrade.

[Abyx]

87Warrior is pretty much right all the way around; there's a reason that big rigs don't use disk brakes, although their systems are much different from a daily commuter.

 

It doesn't take a whole lot to keep drum brakes functioning right; you pretty much just need to keep them adjusted by hand every so often. I don't trust the auto-adjusters in the Jeep vehicles, they've never worked for me in any Jeep I've ever worked on.

 

However, it is true that if a drum brake fills up with water/mud, the pads are pretty much toast since the pads kinda soak up the crap, so I suppose it depends on your application.

 

Is it worth it to you? Personally I don't mind maintaining drums, although a tricked out axle with shiny disk brake kits are sexyyyy... :drool:

[buxmj]

Thanks for posting this question, I was wondering that myself. Since I don't take it off road and get it wet too often I think that future project just got taken off the list. Sorry for the hi-jack but thanks for the input.

Buck.