https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/R2055.html reviews?

[Sidewinded_idi]

Unfortunately poor mechanical practice will follow you with whatever brakes you decide to run. Properly setup drums require little to no maintenance and like stated will stop better than those kits listed. You have a mechanical issue. Fix that first

 

[Macrobb]

Unless the drums are out-of-round, why would you need to replace them? Drums can be turned if needed.
Brake shoes are only $30-ish, and again, unless they are oil-soaked or down to the rivets, they should work just fine.
You might need to go through them, make sure the wheel cylinder is good(or replace it), then adjust the star-wheel while spinning the tire by hand and occasionally pumping the brakes until you have something that doesn't drag without pressing on the brakes, but stops nicely with the pedal.

That being said, while I haven't had much trouble adjusting them myself, I once took it to a shop for an axle seal and pads. They screwed up the adjustment royally - first time, no E-brake; second time they tightened it up so far that it was smoking within 3 miles.
(I just loosened it up a bit in a parking lot, then fixed the e-brake adjustment later)

I've had more trouble with front disk brakes sticking on me than rear ones, except for when it was well below freezing and the e-brake cable didn't want to move on one side and stayed stuck on until I found enough traction to break it loose...

 

[jaed_43725]

OP: Sounds like you know more than anyone else here. Why are you asking for advice? And then when you get advice you sneer at it. Maybe if no one else has used that kit, it's because there are people that know how to make drum brakes work properly....

I've had the drums professionally rebuilt. And a year later they started smoking. And I am not sneering at advice. I asked if anyone here used the RuffStuff kit, or at least conversions in general.

 

[jaed_43725]

Unfortunately poor mechanical practice will follow you with whatever brakes you decide to run. Properly setup drums require little to no maintenance and like stated will stop better than those kits listed. You have a mechanical issue. Fix that first

I've had the drums professionally rebuilt. I've literally had everything replaced, everything checked to make sure nothing was bent, warped, broken, odd, etc.

 

[Thewespaul]

Then you need to take your truck somewhere else, they obviously don’t know how to put drums together.

 

[jaed_43725]

Then you need to take your truck somewhere else, they obviously don’t know how to put drums together.

2 different places had to rebuild them a yearish apart. And these are both really good places. It seems to me that drums are very failure prone. In fact I had a VW Jetta that I converted because it had so many issues.

 

[jaed_43725]

If people here are saying drums are so much better then why did every manufacturer move to rear disc? And they are rated to tow much higher loads than our trucks.

 

[79jasper]

What people are saying is the disc conversions aren't what they should be.
Get a axle that came with disc, that's a different story.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[Macrobb]

The question is why it "started smoking". Is the E-brake cable jammed? The hydraulic cylinder rusted?

It's not the drums or the shoes, that's for sure. Just fix it yourself. Not a big deal. Pull the drum off and take a look.

 

[IDIoit]

https://lugnut4x4.com/product/sterling-10-25-disc-brake-conversion-kit/

 

[jaed_43725]

The question is why it "started smoking". Is the E-brake cable jammed? The hydraulic cylinder rusted?

It's not the drums or the shoes, that's for sure. Just fix it yourself. Not a big deal. Pull the drum off and take a look.

No idea why it started smoking other than something is hung. Wouldn't be the e-brake as I never use it.

I dropped the thing off at a shop as I don't have the time to work on it.

 

[jaed_43725]

https://lugnut4x4.com/product/sterling-10-25-disc-brake-conversion-kit/

Is that the kit you have? If so what options did you get and how do you like them?

 

[Sidewinded_idi]

If people here are saying drums are so much better then why did every manufacturer move to rear disc? And they are rated to tow much higher loads than our trucks.

Look at semis. Only drum and they’re much higher rated than any disc. They work great when functioning correctly. I highly advise you to use a different shop. You are having a serious issue. My drums on my last truck never failed over 25+ years. A lot of new trucks and cars still use drums. You seem to not want to admit your Truck has an issue. Could be a bad rabs, brake lines, or mid adjustment. Don’t just throw parts at something because you think it’s better. Disc is great too but your having a mechanical issue unrelated to the type of brake used.

 

[jaed_43725]

Semis are also using air. While the systems are similar they are not the same.

How do people think a bad brake line is going to make them hang? It would be the opposite, I wouldn't have brakes.

If it were rabs it wouldn't cause them to hang either. It just wouldn't pulse.

The mid is possible I suppose, but it's flexible hose so that would cause no brakes.

The day before the brakes were fine. I drove less than 50 miles and they hung up. It was both rears and only them. The fronts were fine.

 

[Hydro-idi]

Sometimes the brake lines will swell up when they get old, and that’ll cause all sorts of problems. I bet your problem is something simple that the other shop looked over.
But hey, if your set on doing a disc brake conversion, do it. I don’t think it will stop any better, but it’ll certainly be easier to work on them after they are installed.