Disc brakes on the front first?

[billy]

I found a fellow MVO that is willing to install discs on my m43b1.
Going to get the ugly truckling kit.
Is it possible to just do the front axle first and then when funds allow.
Do the rear?

[billy]

I sure hope helitool/uglytruckling still sell the disc brakes conversion kits and I noticed that the the cut off date for the kits is 1964.
I have a 65 m43b1.
I sent ray an email but i think he lives in Thailand now.
Fingers crossed.

[Jess]

Ray still has some kits available, but they are the last. He has just posted over on Dodgepowerwagon.com regarding what he has left. Your other option is to source your kit from Charles Talbert at MSeries Rebuild. Charles has posted about availability on this forum. Both kits do require some welding and machining on the hubs to mount the rotor. At one time Ray Suiter of Uglytruckling had a machinist in Oregon that could do his, but I think now its in the east somewhere. I don't think either have hubs you can purchase outright and would convert yours if they are in good shape. MSeries does their in house or with a local to them business in NC.

[isaac_alaska]

To add to this, it is possible to do to the front axle first and the rear axle later. For me at least there was a bit of confusion initially, as i was under the impression that drum brakes have a natural "boost" effect caused by the rotating drum grabbing the primary shoe and forcing the secondary shoe harder against the drum. Turns out...this is true, but in reality the disk brakes grab harder; since the pads only move a fraction of the distance as shoes, the pistons are a much bigger diameter.

[W_A_Watson_II]

I found a fellow MVO that is willing to install discs on my m43b1.
Going to get the ugly truckling kit.
Is it possible to just do the front axle first and then when funds allow.
Do the rear?

YEP. Assuming you are also installing the proper dual circuit Master Cylinder. With the residual pressure valve in the rear circuit and a proportioning valve (installed and adjusted) for now, then when you do the rears remove the residual pressure valve and re-adjust the proportioning valve.

[billy]

Well slap me silly and call me suprised.
The bone stock brakes will after careful adjustment .
Skid all 4 tires.
Takes some leg strength but
Those brakes work fine.
My drums have never been turned and the previous owner installed new master and wheel cylinders.

[Cal_Gary]

I did my complete brake overhaul a couple of years ago and mine (stock setup) are working well (includes oversized shoes and turned drums).
Gary

[billy]

Oversized shoes?
Sounds like a good idea

[isaac_alaska]

"Oversized" just means thicker lining to account for wear in the drum. You don't actually get any additional shoe surface area. To know if you can fit oversized shoes you would need an accurate way of measuring your drum diameter to determine how much it has worn.

[reallylongnickname]

anyone have any info on Ray Suiter's status? The ugly truckling site is still up. Last August Ray said he was developing a simpler design and have brother in-law take over. I'm looking for a front disc conversion kit. Dodge W300

[John Mc]

Are you going to do power brakes as well, or stick with the manual brakes?

I'm in the process of having the front brakes converted to disk with a power brake kit on my M37. With my drum brakes all adjusted properly, my truck stopped well, though I really noticed it when I had a load of firewood in the back. I was a bit concerned about brake fade coming down longer hills with a load in the back or a trailer in tow. I was thinking of going to 4 wheel disk brakes, but Tim Holloway (Distinctive Restoration, Inc), who is doing a bunch of work on my truck suggested that after the front disks, a power brake system would do more for stopping than going to disks on the rear (and would be less expensive). I can always add the rear disks down the road, if needed.

Greg Coffin made the power boost kit, which includes the dual master cylinder. It's a new design for M37s, but based on a design he has used for Power Wagons. One advantage of Greg's design is that it does not require conversion to hanging pedals, as some other brake boost designs do.

I forget who Tim said modified the hubs for disks.

If you can't find contact info for Ray. VPW sells a 4 wheel disk conversion kit, but their kit does not appear to include the W300 model. Charles Talbert at M-series rebuilds also sells disk brake kits. I believe his kits also cover the W300 (?)

[vit16]

you can always add electrical brakes to your trailer too

[John Mc]

you can always add electrical brakes to your trailer too

I set up my truck with a trailer brake controller a little over a year ago. My truck is currently a 12/24V hybrid, but is in the process of returning to fully 24 V system. All of my trailers are 12V. I found a brake controller that will accept either 12 or 24V input, yet provide an output suitable for 12V trailer brakes. Check out the Red Arc Tow Pro Elite (you can find it at eTrailer or on Amazon, or directly on Red Arc's website). Two things I liked about this controller: (1) the controller is remote mounted, with only a single knob mounted on the dashboard, minimizing altering the look of the dash. (2) It offers two different braking modes: proportional braking ("inertia sensing" - which is the best on-road) and user-controlled mode (which works better off-road, since proportional/inertia-based controllers can be confused by rough terrain.) Both modes allow manual trailer brake application.

I also found a converter which will run 12V trailer lights off of the truck's 24V system: XM381.com 24 volt military truck to 12V trailer lighting converter

Both have been working well for me

[vit16]

yes! I love that kind of controllers!
I want to add one of them to my RV and put duals!!
that would be a good solution for billy