Disc Brake Conversion??

After having them on a tractor trailer you'll see why the popularity is rapidly growing.
Drums flat out suck for braking performance amd maintenance as compared to Disc brakes.

My trailer brakes have been upgraded to 8-5/8" drums (Stock is 7") with 30k custom linings (stock is 20k) and they finally stop like discs but are still terrible at shedding heat and are so much heavier.

Discs stop like you're driving a modern car and you can change pads in 20 minutes or less when needed.

 

Disc are what's used in every articulated off road haul truck that I've used on job sites.
Never had any of our trucks prior working in mud daily have a single issue with the Disc brake setup.

Not doubting maybe somebody has had something happen but discs and mud bogger trucks, off road vehicles go for decades and this is the first I've heard this complaint about mud.

Drums would make more sense with mud getting trapped inside the drums and stacked on the pads chewing everything up killing them

 

Not a direct apples to apples comparison but juice disc brakes on Topkick/Kodiak trucks would last about 5-7k kilometers in spring. Mud just destroyed them.

Maybe the tech has gotten better in the last decade but 15+ years ago you could not give away a truck with air disc brakes. Nobody wanted them.

 

The only way it make financial sense to me is if you get a good deal on low mileage axles. To piece it together would be super expensive. When I got my new trailer last year I wanted disk but there just weren’t any available on the lot and it’s like a $5k upgrade when ordering a trailer.

 

I get it that a lot of people think disc are better, but are they worth that much work?

 

Well my whole back 1/2 had over 1 million miles in it AND I was looking to change gear ratios AND looking for a bit more catwalk. Came across a 3.08 airliner setup with only 60k miles in it I was hooked. Having disk brakes made it all the better.
I spent some money over the years trying to improve the drum set up it had. But nothing compares to having disks there now.
I wouldn’t of done it just for the disks but super glad it was part of the package. my next trailer will have disks without question.

 

You need a new salesperson if they tell you it's 5K upgrade for discs.

 

Man you are so talented lol.

You'll love the disc's. Night and day just like a car.

 

Could we get some close ups of the splice please?

 

Well that makes a little more sense. I've swapped cut-offs before, heck of a lot easier than adding new axles and all the hardware to your existing frame.