89 Break Issues

I am new to the AF.

I have a 89 v2500 4x4 with the 5.7 350. I love the truck, but it goes through front breaks like it goes through gas. I don't do alot of towing, but am up and down from the local moutanins twice a month. I don't drive the truck hard coming down and try and stay off the break by down shifting, but the breaks still smell overheated by the end of the trip.

I heard that Chevy always seems to install small breaks on their trucks. Is this the case or do I have break issues?

I was looking into replacing the stock front disk breaks with larger ones and the rear drums with disks.

Any suggestions on brands would be great!

Thanks

Colby

You may need to adjust your rear brakes on a more frequent basis. They may call them "self-adjusting" but I've never been witness to it. The rears can account for up to 30% of your braking power. If it hasn't been done in a while, I'd disassemble, clean, lube and readjust the rear drums.

I'd also recommend buffing the glaze off of the shoes and inside drum. I like to use a power drill with a 3M paint and rust removal disc and give the surface a good crosshatch pattern. Where you can't reach to get the angle right (right up against the hub face surface), just hone it radially, but the important thing is to get an even buff on the entire drum braking surface. Hope this helps!

these rear drum brakes need frequent adjusting...also the drums if old should be replaced..if the drum is over sized [cut] this means its too worn..

when the shoes are smaller than the drum face you will get no rear braking...only a small portion of the shoe will contact the drum face...

removal of drums and cleaning and adjusting will help but new parts will stop the front from doing all the work..

exercising the park brake helps to self adjust...the shoes..

on your vehicle the rear shoes should be doing a larger braking effort than other vehicles as the weight distribution is even..

thanks for the words of advice.

i will check out the rear breaks.

colby