Over the years I've fought the battle between working rear drum brakes vs non-working drum brakes. They are a pain. The drums stop fine...until they get out of adjustment. Along with not working properly, pedal feel goes out the window, and so does parking brake function. I've grown tired of this problem, and keeping them adjusted is required every 1,000 miles or so for me, so it's just not worth it after a while, in my opinion.
Take note: your braking will not improve one iota if your drums are working properly. But, maintenance will be easier, you'll have your pedal feel forever, and the only thing to ever get out of adjustment from now on is the parking brake, which is easily adjustable and at much further intervals (multiple years) as per what @mrblaine told me.
Also note that if your brakes suck, don't buy this kit first. Buy the Vanco Big Brake Kit from Black Magic Brakes instead which upgrades the front brakes where power really counts. I already have that kit so I'm now messing with the rear stuff since mine was so badly out of adjustment.
So, this past week I decided to pull the trigger on the disc brake conversion kit that Blaine sells at Black Magic Brakes. The cost was $455 shipped, which you just can't beat. The only things it doesn't come with are parking brake cables and metal hard lines which means you'll have to cut and flare the old lines. Not too bad to do. This is in comparison with the Teraflex kit which also doesn't come with the parking brake cables and requires flaring the lines, yet the cost of the kit about $630. No thanks.
I'm not going to post a write-up on it or anything, since it's pretty easy to figure out, but I will make some pointers.
1. Make sure the bleeders for the calipers are upwards on both sides, which means make sure the correct caliper is on the correct side.
2. Wash the rotors with something like Simple Green and water before installing them. The box even mentions this so that users hopefully won't miss it and install greasy rotors.
3. You don't need a fancy new combination valve or anything. None of that adjustable stuff sold on the market is necessary. The factory used the same valve for both disc/drum and disc/disc setups, so you can use the same one with no problems whatsoever.
4. Welding is preferred for the brake line tabs. The tabs are pieces of L-shaped metal that hold the connection from your new soft lines to the old hard lines. I don't know how to weld, so my friend I had help me install the kit welded them onto my tubes. Took him about 10 minutes per side to fully weld each bracket all the way around.
5. Bleed them properly. I'm not going to write out Blaine's procedure for bleeding, but I'm sure if you called him and asked, or searched any forums for posts he's made about bleeding, you will find out the procedure pretty quickly.
For the line flaring, we cut and bent my current lines up to where we welded the tabs. It was a non-issue.
For parking brake cables, I bought the lines that Tera sells because I know they fit. There aren't a whole lot of options out there, brand isn't really critical anyways.
I'm recommending BMB for the kit because I know Blaine will sell quality parts, and the price is better than the other kits out there. It comes with everything the Teraflex kit comes with yet for about $170 cheaper. That's a deal in my book. Everything was packaged nicely too which is a plus, knowing that nothing was damaged in shipping.
I actually had a small hiccup where I didn't get the line retainer clips for my tabs, but a quick phone call to Blaine and that was resolved. I'm currently driving around with them unclipped which isn't a problem, as soon as I get the clips I'll install them and it'll be as if it never happened.
In closing, I'll say the kit was worth it to get rid of the nasty drums and to fix any lack of adjustment problems that the drums have. The bonus is that my parking brake finally works and works well. The price was fair. If you have rear drum problems, AND have fixed your front brakes by either upgrading to Black Magic pads (generally good for 33's and smaller), or have upgraded to one of the fantastic Vanco Big Brake Kits, take the plunge and go for the rear disc kit from BM simply for a better overall setup with easier maintenance.
Here are some pictures from the install. I apologize for the first one as I took it on Snapchat and could only save it after I had written on it.
Here is where I will be adding the clips when I get them.
This picture is to show how the setup looks behind the wheel, but ultimately reminds me how much I hate those ugly clip-on balance weights.
Take note: your braking will not improve one iota if your drums are working properly. But, maintenance will be easier, you'll have your pedal feel forever, and the only thing to ever get out of adjustment from now on is the parking brake, which is easily adjustable and at much further intervals (multiple years) as per what @mrblaine told me.
Also note that if your brakes suck, don't buy this kit first. Buy the Vanco Big Brake Kit from Black Magic Brakes instead which upgrades the front brakes where power really counts. I already have that kit so I'm now messing with the rear stuff since mine was so badly out of adjustment.
So, this past week I decided to pull the trigger on the disc brake conversion kit that Blaine sells at Black Magic Brakes. The cost was $455 shipped, which you just can't beat. The only things it doesn't come with are parking brake cables and metal hard lines which means you'll have to cut and flare the old lines. Not too bad to do. This is in comparison with the Teraflex kit which also doesn't come with the parking brake cables and requires flaring the lines, yet the cost of the kit about $630. No thanks.
I'm not going to post a write-up on it or anything, since it's pretty easy to figure out, but I will make some pointers.
1. Make sure the bleeders for the calipers are upwards on both sides, which means make sure the correct caliper is on the correct side.
2. Wash the rotors with something like Simple Green and water before installing them. The box even mentions this so that users hopefully won't miss it and install greasy rotors.
3. You don't need a fancy new combination valve or anything. None of that adjustable stuff sold on the market is necessary. The factory used the same valve for both disc/drum and disc/disc setups, so you can use the same one with no problems whatsoever.
4. Welding is preferred for the brake line tabs. The tabs are pieces of L-shaped metal that hold the connection from your new soft lines to the old hard lines. I don't know how to weld, so my friend I had help me install the kit welded them onto my tubes. Took him about 10 minutes per side to fully weld each bracket all the way around.
5. Bleed them properly. I'm not going to write out Blaine's procedure for bleeding, but I'm sure if you called him and asked, or searched any forums for posts he's made about bleeding, you will find out the procedure pretty quickly.
For the line flaring, we cut and bent my current lines up to where we welded the tabs. It was a non-issue.
For parking brake cables, I bought the lines that Tera sells because I know they fit. There aren't a whole lot of options out there, brand isn't really critical anyways.
I'm recommending BMB for the kit because I know Blaine will sell quality parts, and the price is better than the other kits out there. It comes with everything the Teraflex kit comes with yet for about $170 cheaper. That's a deal in my book. Everything was packaged nicely too which is a plus, knowing that nothing was damaged in shipping.
I actually had a small hiccup where I didn't get the line retainer clips for my tabs, but a quick phone call to Blaine and that was resolved. I'm currently driving around with them unclipped which isn't a problem, as soon as I get the clips I'll install them and it'll be as if it never happened.
In closing, I'll say the kit was worth it to get rid of the nasty drums and to fix any lack of adjustment problems that the drums have. The bonus is that my parking brake finally works and works well. The price was fair. If you have rear drum problems, AND have fixed your front brakes by either upgrading to Black Magic pads (generally good for 33's and smaller), or have upgraded to one of the fantastic Vanco Big Brake Kits, take the plunge and go for the rear disc kit from BM simply for a better overall setup with easier maintenance.
Here are some pictures from the install. I apologize for the first one as I took it on Snapchat and could only save it after I had written on it.
Here is where I will be adding the clips when I get them.
This picture is to show how the setup looks behind the wheel, but ultimately reminds me how much I hate those ugly clip-on balance weights.