My Warranty is up and so are my exhaust temps. My truck pulls my dump trailer with 8.5 ton in it's bed just great. (it's pretty flat terrain) BUT...........Stopping the load.............thats scary.
I have elec. trailer brakes and they help. But at 22, 000 miles and one set of padssince dealer replacement I need new brake rotors. Never turned but wore out of tolerence during one set of pads!!! Their has to be better braking hardware out there for towing.......harder rotors or larger or something. Rear disk conversion? I am curious whats out there.

 

My 01 already has disk's on the back along with drum's, and of course disks up front. That would be 3 sets of brakes and I tow heavy fertilzer loads of up to 6.5 tonne and have no problem stopping I would take a look at the whole brake system or learn to use the engine as a brake when slowing down, maybe lastly buy an exhaust brake. I have put 90,000 km on mine since I bought it and I still have lots of room before the specs say to replace them.

 

I went through 6 sets of pads on the front of my 99 before I installed GMC 1 ton (larger diameter) slave cylinders on the rear. Best $30 I ever spent and I have no problems braking now. NEVER install "lifetime" brake pads. They are very hard and the WILL wear out your rotors ($$$) fast, well before you wear out the pads. Buy the cheapest pads you can buy and replace them when the wear out. About 20K miles is about all I could get on a set of pads before I installed the 1 ton rear cylinders.
The larger cylinders on the rear are the way to go for $30. IMHO

 

Do yourself a favour and remove the arm from the proportioning valve to the rear axle on the rear brakes then turn the shaft on the proportioning valve all the way up as if the truck bed was fully loaded and silicone in place. This will give you max brake application from the rears and help in preventing the premature wear on the fronts.

The front rotors are good for two sets of pads and that is it!! After that the inners start wearing at a rediculous rate compared to the outers caused by a thin rotor and the inability to get rid of the heat .


The rotors are easy to replace on the 2001 and up since it doesnt require you to pull the hub assembly off.

There are some really good pads out there and at the moment I am running the wagner severe duty pads without any troubles.


Good Luck


Jason

 

Do you think that there is a possibility of having the rears lock up in a panic stop, etc.?

 

If you hammer on them with an empty bed they will grab but the rear anti lock kicks in and all is good but you have to hit them pretty hard before that happens.

Set mine up like this over the winter and the brakes have been pretty good since then.

This isnt as extreme as putting the larger wheel cylinders in and it doesnt require alot of work.

Jason

 

If you are regularly hauling this kind of weight, I think along with top quality brake parts, an exhaust brake should be in your near future.

 

Is there a such thing as harder rotors or slotted rotors? Lifetime pads are hard on rotors....because they are hard.....wouldn't harder rotors be the awnser for longevity of both. Or is heat dissipation the problem there. I would rather replace my pads then my rotors. But I often put 1200 miles on a week. And cheapo pads last me a month or so. Jake brake....Maybe the next truck or after a overhaul but I have 1/4 of a million miles of hard work on this motor. I just want to upgrade my rotors to better or hardened slotted or real steel or something like that. Maybe it's just a pipe dream.


MY TRUCK PULLS LIKE A LOCOMOTIVE STOPS LIKE ONE TOO!!

 

You can get Brembo brake rotors on www.tirerack.com. They don't always show everything they carry, so give them a call if you don't see what you are looking for. I don't know about their "hardness" but they are a top quality rotor. They compare well to auto parts stores as far as price and are often LESS expensive.

 

Check out http://www.egrbrakes.com. They have some extreme duty rotors/pads, and some good deals going on right now.

Also, consider an exhaust brake (Jacobs/PacBrake, etc.). IMHO, the best solution for those who need to slow them heavy loads.

Craig

 

NAPA sells rotors for the 2500 & 3500 that are around 110.00 bucks. They are directional,high performance rotors, with slots cut in them.