Rear axle swap ideas

[Big_Mark]

That's a sound plan, avoid mucking with disc brake conversions, if possible, it's just another level of "custom" to content with.

Post pics from the trip otherwise it didn't happen! 

[ghetdjc320]

Rear disks are nice for mud and can be a performance upgrade, but not always. 10” drums have significant shoe to drum contact surface and more of a true emergency brake vs just a parking brake. 

[Torq_Shep]

On 9/8/2026 at 9:52 AM, ghetdjc320 said:

Rear disks are nice for mud and can be a performance upgrade, but not always. 10” drums have significant shoe to drum contact surface and more of a true emergency brake vs just a parking brake. 

I hate the "parking brake" on my disc swapped D44. Can't ever get it to work right. Currently, it locks up tight in reverse and basically does nothing in the forward direction.... 

 

Honestly considering converting back to drums. I didn't install the swap kit but it annoys me so much. 

 

All that being said, maintained rear drums are perfectly fine and discs aren't necessarily an upgrade. 

[pizzaman09]

On 9/8/2026 at 12:52 PM, ghetdjc320 said:

Rear disks are nice for mud and can be a performance upgrade, but not always. 10” drums have significant shoe to drum contact surface and more of a true emergency brake vs just a parking brake. 

Fully agreed.

 

I have found one issue with the drums on my d44, they were particularly challenging to source, I couldn't find any store locally that sold them and the one I ordered online, Raybestos brand, were so poorly fitting that they didn't work.  I ended up getting my original 280k mile drums turned and fitting them back on the truck with new shoes.  They now work awesome and I have a  strong working parking brake!