Those look like old Eldorado calipers to me...

 

Yeah, I used to own a 76 El Dorado and I don't remember them looking like this, but the guy said that they manufacture them based on the Cadillac design. I sure like how they look and can't wait to get them installed...Mark
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All it takes is a couple special adapter fittings that can be purchased at NAPA. The part numbers are on this site somewhere that is what I did.

 

There are different cadillac calipers.

Early Eldorado

http://tsmmfg.com/3121.htm

Late Eldorado

http://tsmmfg.com/3110.htm

Fleetwood/seville

http://tsmmfg.com/3120.htm

Those look similar to the Late Eldorado or fleetwood/seville, not sure if they are the same though.

 

That is the place that some of my kit shipped from. The Fleetwood ones look close, but I believe that all of these are after market. I am going to look close for a GM stamp on it anywhere...Mark

 

The only marking on them is sw1a. The funny thing is, is that the brackets, bolts, nuts and spacers cams from Streetrod mfg. The rest came from EGR. He told me that they (egr) make them. Looking at 320 bucks plus shipping for just the calipers, I think that 940 bucks is a fair profit for them and worth it to me to have everything I need sent to my house. I am going to go climb the mountain here in a few minutes, then I am going to install it. I hope its hot enough!!!! Mark

 

I've always been curious about improving the performance of my brakes. I just don't know enough about just how the entire system functions. A friend once told me that replacing the rubber lines with a good stainless braided hose can improve braking performance as the rubber lines tend to swell from the pressure. Are there any good kits that are readily available for us 2wd guys, mainly for the front? I would like to think that kits for the rear would be easy to come across being that it's a well known axle.

I just noticed on EGR's site that they now have a disc brake kit for DRW rear ends that will work with stock 16" wheels. Not sure which of these would apply to our Dana 70 'cause they both show different axle hole spacing...

GM 14bolt and Dana 70
http://www.egrbrakes.com/pdf/GM14_Da..._RDConvKit.pdf

'94-'01.5 Dodge
http://www.egrbrakes.com/pdf/DodgeRa..._RDConvKit.pdf

 

Here is one aswell:

http://diy4x.com/cart/index.php?rout...product_id=149

 

My own personal truck will put you through the windshield. It just takes a good stomp on the pedal to do it. These brakes do not respond to a gentle tap at all.

BTW> . . .this is simply stock front & rear brakes with nothing special for pads.
I also replaced all rear adjuster hardware when changing the shoes.
The RWAL is still working fine too.
I did have to adjust the master cylinder push rod however.
This system is also hard to bleed.

If set up right these brakes stop very well.

 

That is great for you and you have the right to be smug about it, but what you say is not true in my, and other's i'm sure, case. I refuse to keep throwing money at the stock brakes, because I simply cannot trust them not to go to the floor without warning. I hope it never happens to anyone, but it has happened to me too many times..Mark

 

I got my braided stainless lines purpose-built from Classic Tube, I think it was.

They used to always advertise in all of the popular 4x4 magazines.

I just called the guy, told him what truck I had, and he made them up and sent them right out for as little expense as I had been quoted other places.


Besides the swelling factor, old twenty-year-old flexible lines will separate and the inner layer will collapse and suck together, thus causing the calipers to not release quickly and fully; sometimes they won't release at all.

Many is the caliper that has been un-necessarily replaced due to a collapsing line.

The way the story usually goes is that the consumer gets a new caliper at the parts-house; the new caliper also hangs, so it too must surely be bad; the parts-store replaces it under warranty and this second new caliper is installed --- same story; this goes on and on, until some old wrencher guy leaning across the counter waiting for a box of spark-plugs asks the guy if he also replaced the flex-lines and explains why.



I have also seen quite a few flex-lines burst under braking pressure.

 

I'm thinkin Bearkiller is on the right track! I have wrenched on stuff for 50 yrs,but!! I do not claim to be an know-it-all. You learn something new every day. I do know that as rubber parts age,they will separate, sometimes in very small chunks that will plug/restrict lines and/or valves in the system. Would this explain the "hard to bleed problem"? Did the brakes work properly when the trucks were new? By the way both of my trucks brakes are crappp!!

 

I believe him.

If everything was replaced, with NEW parts (Not rebuilt MC's. Pay extra here), and bled, bled, bled till the pedal feels good then bleed some more, I can bet I can replicate this on EVERY persons truck.

Some of the problems come back to the rebuilt MC. All they really do from what I have researched is an acid bath and a re-hone. Now the bore is ever so slightly bigger that the piston sometimes is not sealing 100%. Like honing you cylinder and not putting in .010 over-sized rings in.

He is not being smug. Plenty of people have kept the RWAL and kept up on the expense of replacing it, for peace of mind.

I have burst a front brake line, twice actually. The 1st was the rubber flex line for the front right. Replaced everything but didn't put the line under the engine into the clips and it vibrated enough on the pan to create a pin leak. I got lucky both times to not hit the car in front of me.

While you are replacing the rear hardware, get the parking brake done. BC847 has an EXCELLENT write-up on renotching the star wheel. The parking brake is vital to the rear shoes keeping adjustment.

 

That's great please tell me where can I buy a brand new brake booster, mated to a brand new MC? Also, how could any of you know what I have put into it. Search my posts and you will see me trying FOR YEARS to fix these stock brakes. I would also like to know where to buy a BRAND NEW RWAL modulator valve. I say you both have been lucky, nothing else. Oh yeah, IMHO you're both being smug or crass or something, certainly not helping us less lucky ones, by lecturing us on how we need to buy new, non-existent parts...Mark




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Good advice, I will try to mount the star wheel on my new DISK brakes, then adjust them according to the sticky....very helpful...