Today, I had my local garage install a set of rear wheel cylinders and 3" brake shoes from a 93 Dodge 350, in my 250. WOW!!!

I pulled out of the garage, got up to about 30 mph, tromped on the brakes and nearly slid off the seat. I think I bruised my chest with the seat belt. I have always about the brakes on my truck - well this fixes them. Best improvement since I installed the 3200 rpm governor spring.

It took the shoes and cylinders from the 1 ton, and new retainer springs from a 1 ton since the shoes sit further away from the back plate. Total cost about $90.00 from NAPA. Second best investment I have made so far.

John

 

You bought all parts needed from NAPA?

I need to replace my rear brakes since the pass. cylinder is leaking and likes to lock up when the fluid gets low. My truck stops like junk so this might be the answer,

Do you have part numbers by any chance? The local parts store employees should be working in McDonalds rather than selling car parts.

 

Way I did it was to start at the Dodge Dealership and have the parts guy run my VIN to see what drums and shoes came with my truck originally. My year had a few different ones. Note I am a 2 wheel drive. Don't know whether there would be a difference or not if you have 4 wheel.

11" X 2-1/2" no upgrade available.
12" X 2-1/2" can upgrade to 3" since the drums are the same.
12" X 3" the 93's even had some come with the larger brakes already.

Mine were the 2-1/2" wide ones, so the parts guy then confirmed the part numbers for the drums between the D250 and the D350 were the same.
I then went to NAPA and bought the shoes, cylinders and a 1 ton spring kit. Note NAPA insisted that the drums between the D250 and the D350 were different, since they had different part numbers in their catalogue. I said it would be OK, so they looked all the parts up in their catalogue. They even let me handle a set of D250 and D350 wheel cylinders to compare lengths, stand offs etc.. The D250 cylinders measured 7/8" dia. The D350 cylinders measured 1-1/8" dia.

You can run a search on this site for "brakes", and get all the part numbers, however, if you still need me to, I can get you the part numbers from the receipt later today when I get home.

Final thought, some have advocated putting the even larger 1 ton GMC cylinders on our trucks, I believe these were 1-1/4" dia. They might work on a 1 ton, but I wouldn't put them on a 3/4 ton, I think they would lock up too easily.

John

 

I too put the larger 1 ton cylinders on my "99" and it made a world of difference in stopping. I just put the larger cylinders on and not the larger shoes. You might want to try that first and see if it works okay. Mine did. The rear brakes accually do something now. Also, you'll need to manually adjust the the rear brakes. The auto adjusters just don't work. If you notice any shuttering after you install the larger cylinders it will disapear after a few hundred miles. On mine the shoes seem to need to "seat" in.

No problem with locking up that I can tell. If they do I'd rather have the rears lock up than the front brakes.

 

P/N's would be great. im sure i can jockey with the counter jocky at my napa but direct P/N's would work alot better. looking to do this asap myself. got carried away with all the go fast goodies and need to stop the ol girl as well.

jiMMy

 

Do a search for the P/N's, or do like I did and just ask the counter guy for 1 ton rear GMC wheel cylinders. They do not have to be NAPA, any parts store will do.

 

I had my truck for 2 days when I decided to replace all the brakes. Mine already had the 1 ton drums and parts..I think it came factory that way, but I had a lot of trouble finding the right parts. None of the supposedly correct parts matched up.
Finally my son (who worked at a Goodyear at the time) brought home a big box containing 3 sets of brakes and drums...everything the parts store could find that related to Dodge 3/4 or 1 ton rear brakes.
Jay

 

NAPA Part Nos.
Wheel cylinders 4636057 & 4636058 $12.49 each
3" Shoes TS-358 $33.99
$13.50 core charge on the shoes.

John