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My rear drums had been dragging for some time and I thought robbing power. I could feel the heat from the driver's rear drum at times on the trail (with the doors off) and frequently struggled to get it moving from a dead stop.
The ebrake didn't work so well, either.. so it was time to do something about it.
Oh, say, rear discs.
1991 K1500 rotors are cheap. $15 each? But need redrilled.
F150 rotors are $30-ish but require you to grind down the axle flange, making replacements difficult in the field.
Late model (1999-ish) Dodge rotors were $45, but required no machining of the axle flange and no drilling.
AA Mfg supplied the caliper stands years ago, and the calipers are 1975-ish vintage GM front Dana 44, like a lot of other things I have around here.
Hoses wound up being GM D44 fronts IIRC.
Caliper stand had to be clearanced for my caliper a little.
Caliper stand was also re-radiused for a better (and shorter) fit.
I used a spare (cracked) wheel to check clearances - but it turned out that the spare wheel had more clearance than the wheels with tires on them did and ultimately required more grinding. Great.
Axle-tube roughed up.
Double check everything after tack welding.
And then finish weld.
And finish up one side.
Looking up from the axle tube.
Found part of the driver's side brake problem..
And the finished driver's side bracket assembly - the rest looked the same.
Rear wheel studs could stand to be a bit longer.
These wheels use long-shank wheel studs, so I'm running it like it is for now.
Photos