Why do American trucks still use drum brakes?

They will win everywere.

The real advantage of disk brakes - safety. And we have to pay for additional safety

 

What do you mean there's no brake fade with disks? Disks will fade just as easy as drums. Pretty much any type of brake that uses contact friction will fade when they get hot.

 

Now I've also heard that discs won't fade like drums cause they're out in the open air unlike drums that trap all the heat that they build inside themselves, which is also why high performance vehicles use slotted and cross drilled rotors-dissapate heat alot better than drums...

 

disk brakes crack overheated. Have you seen truck running down a hill with red glow disks, I've seen.

what is good I can easily test brakes immideatly after truck stops - with cheap chenese temperature gun. I compare temperature of disks to find bad caliper

 

Interesting topic, thanks for all the information

 

no fade with disc when drum brakes get hot, geuss what happens,the drum expands making the shoe having to travel farther. disc the rotor expands toward the pads ths less travel for the pad. thus no brake fade!

 

They aren't really out in the open air, atleast not enough to make a difference. They will still fade.

We're not talkin about high-performance vehicles here; we're talkin about big trucks and I highly doubt the rotors are drilled and slotted. Besides, high-performance rotors require high-performance pads because of the increased wear that drilled and slotted rotors inflict because of the increased abrasiveness.

Unless there's something majorly different between passenger car/light truck disk brakes and big truck disks, they will still fade. I don't know how many times I've noticed brake fade in both my car and my pickup while usin'em too much and they both have four-wheel disk brakes. The only thing different between big truck and car/pickup disks is one uses a screw inside the caliper which is actuated by a brake chamber to apply force to the pads and the other uses a hydraulic piston to push the pads against the rotor.

 

your probably confusing abs in a car to brake fade.a whole different ball game. never known a car to be able to haul 80000lbs unless its a largecar.

 

Side by side comparison.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v57K1WW41K8

We always buy the better grade of brake shoes which are harder on the drums (not an issue for me since we always replace the drums anyway) but it was amazing how much of a difference there is between just the normal and high performance shoes. They even seemed to do very well when compared to air disks. I would like to try a set of disks on a combo unit. I'm not even sure what the up charge is vs drums. I'm sure they're probably better than drum brakes but are they enough better to justify any added cost. As someone said earlier, no about of brakes is going to overcome a stupid driver.

 

Newope....... what I'm saying and what you are assuming have nothing in this world to do with abs...... even though most big trucks have abs. One of the biggest notices in brake fade is overheating which means the pads or shoes lose their grip and can't slow down the wheel, plain and simple.