I am planning on a complete overhaul of my braking system and need some info. After countless struggles with the RWAL system, be it bad connections, faulty modules etc. I have decided that it is time for it to go. My reasoning for this is simple, I have never owned a vehicle with any form of A.B.S. therefore learned early not to panic and slam brakes, and also my truck sees mud and brush when four wheeling and this is not friendly to wires and connections plumbed from my Diff. My question is, if I eliminate the RWAL valve and wiring and run my brakes conventionally, will I encounter any problems??. Can anyone tell me if my proportioning valve located on my Brake vacuum booster can operate as a stand alone unit, or if I need to use an early model proportioning valve??. I also remember hearing something about upgrading rear wheel cylinders to Chevy 1 ton or something for better braking?


Thanks in advance for any info.
Mad Mikey.

 

Not sure about the Anti-lock brake part, and yes, they do $uck. But upgrading brakes can be done getting the 1 ton Dodge larger wheel cylinder's and brake shoes (3" size). The drums (unless worn) should be okay with this upgrade. I have not done this yet as just last year (before reading all of this) I replaced both rear whell cylinders. I hear just this upgrade does make a big difference in STOPPING our trucks. We also try to BOMB them to make them go faster.

 

I know when my anti-lock wasn't working and I had to panic stop the back of the truck locked up in a heart beat and started to come around on me. Not to assuring

I promptly got it working. All that weigh on top of rotors works better than an emtpy bed over drums..that's for sure. I know that weird feeling when it free wheels for a split second when the ABS kicks is strange. I'd rather have that then going towards incoming traffic while the **** is going down the shoulder.


Den

 

I'm not so sure that is a good thing unless you have air bags. Anti-lock brakes just let you hit whatever head on instead of sideways. It is better though to still maintain steering control while braking to possibly steer around something but RWAL won't do that since the front wheels can still lock up.

Basically on dry pavement they would be good but on snow or ice RWAL is not as useful.

I have 4 wheel ABS on my S-10 blazer which allows me to steer while I have the pedal down hard but otherwise they will lengthen the stopping distance usually when you need to stop fastest, sideways or not. In a low speed < 5mph panic stop they will actually unlock the brakes and you'll hit it. They don't cycle back in soon enough for me and I'd rather have the decision to lock all 4 wheels in a panic stop.

When ABS first came out there was a story about an LAPD who hit a kid in a crosswalk because he was going very slow and the kid ran out in front of him. If the ABS hadn't unlocked the brakes at this critical time he might have been able to stop.

If you don't believe me just try it on dry pavement. Go to 5 mph and then stand on the brakes. Now get out and look at your skid marks. You'll see that you have about 3 feet of marks then a big bare spot and then more marks. If whatever was in front of you is in the bare marks guess what? BAM! Lawsuit!

Edwin

 

Years ago, when the Cops in my town got cars with antilock brakes there was an immediate rash of low speed collisions.
So many that they suspended use of the new cars until all the Officers could get a crash-course(actually non-crash) in how to drive with anti lock brakes.

Vinny

 

With the abs removed the rear brakes will lock up badly when you are unloaded. You can install a manual proportioning valve in the cab.
Dean

 

Nuttymopar,
I have read about the wheelcylinder upgrade but not the 3" brake shoes. You can't put 3" brake shoes on 2 1/2" drums, can you??

 

yes the drums are the same and some of the 250s came with the larger wheel cyl.mine did check yours not sure anymore but i think 11/8 " are the 350s

 

I too would prefer to get rid of antilock in certain offroad situations, but there's a catch to this other than proportioning valves: it's illegal in many if not all states, and in all of Canada. It's the same with airbags. If safety system came on the vehicle, it's illegal to disable or remove it.

I'm sure that realisticaly, no cop is going to go under your vehicle and find what you've done, but if you're in an accident, and they inspect the vehicle, you're in deep doodie. If your insurance company gets wind of it, you're not likely to be covered either. I guess it depends on where you live whether they would look at it that closely, and the severity of the accident situation/legal situation. In my neck of the woods, they'd do anything to nail you and not cover you.

I'm not saying don't do it, but just know what risk you're assuming in doing that.