Rear disk brakes

It's about time for me to replace my rear brake shoes, so I called my local parts house today to find out if the 10" brake shoes and drums were avaiable. They checked with the manufacturer and then told me that the 10" drum and shoes are not being made any longer. I thought about converting over to the 11" drums, but even those parts are hard to come by. I was told by the same parts house that the drums are still available, but no longer being made. I'm keeping this Jeepster for the long run and was wondering if it would be better to just go ahead and replace the drums with disc brakes front and rear. Has anyone had experience with this?

 

Your parts store is way off about the 11" brakes. Lots of vehicles used the Bendix 11" brakes, and everything except the backing plates and e-brake lever is still available new from several sources. I expect the 11" brakes will be easy to maintain for the next couple of decades or so.

The 10" brakes are hard to find parts for, but not impossible IIRC. Ask on the Early CJ forum if you're having trouble.

There's an article on the tech pages about converting the fronts. For the rears, I expect you'd have to weld brackets to the axle tubes to make it work. The rears don't supply much braking force, so most people would keep the 10" brakes or convert to 11" - I'd say there's not a lot of advantage to converting the rears.

 

I'd second that on the rear 11", same as what Ford truck used for years, right down to the wheel cylinders. And as long as they were used on anything Ford, they'll be available for a long time.

 

Thanks for the advice guys. There's no need to get drastic if I don't have to by converting the rear to disk. I guess I will have to start looking for backing plates for the 11" drums. What vehicles am I looking for with the plates I need? Finding parts Jeepsters is next to impossible where I live.

 

www.rockauto.com has both the 10" and 11" shoes and drums listed. The 10" drums are a non-stock item and are delayed up to 12 days but they are still available. The wheel cylinders and brake hardware is also listed. I've had very good luck using Rockauto. I really like the "more infd" button with each part since it brings up a picture of the item which makes it easy to see what you are getting.

Nick

 

i got my 11 inch backing plates off a 1973 full size jeep station wagon.i imagine full size jeep trucks would work also.jeep cj"s from 1972 to 1975 would also work.

 

All '72-73 Commandos came with 11-inch drum brakes. You will need the rear parking brake arms and spreaders for the swap as well as a new 72-73 parking brake cable (clip type mounts though the rear backing plates). Ford backing plates can be used on the front axle. I am still working on my 10- to 11-ich swap, but I may need to move the brake pivot forward on the crossmember to use the later brake cable. You also need new front brake hoses to match the 11-inch cylinders. Try R&P or the Jeep Guy, both in Oregon, for good prices on the swap parts. Overall much cheaper than going to discs and looks more stock in a resto. Brian

 

10" brake drums and some of the parts are available from 4wd hardware. I bought 2 brand new drums last year from them. I got my shoes at NAPA.
The brake drum from 4wd #994306, brake shoes from 4wd #991525
Napa # for the shoes is TS326