Dialing in drum brakes - I want safe stopping. What have you done?

Thank you for the link BigChief

 

Thanks for all the responses. It's motivated me to do some research on good braking, and on what I have. Here's some of what I found out.

60-0 stopping times
Supercars - <100'
Most modern pickups 135'-150'
1969 Lincoln continental 109' with 4 piston calipers in front and 15" drums in the rear 109' (pretty impressive)
A tri-five chevy with bias ply tires ~315' !!!

The single biggest factor in stopping distance is tires.
Suspension plays a significant role in stopping distance (weight transfer, dive, etc)
Modern pad material put drums on par with the stopping power of discs.

Venting drums (strategic holes drilled in the drum itself) helps reduce heat soak and fade and really helps drum effectiveness in the wet. However w/o a lot of significant venting mods for airflow to the drum, they will still fade more easily than discs.

Drums take more effort to make sure they are set up and functioning correctly, discs are pretty plug and play.

I learned from experience in downhill mountain biking that two bikes could have exactly the same brake specs (same rotors, calipers, levers, lines, fluid) and one would feel great and provide one finger braking at the lever while another would require two fingers on the lever for any decent braking. It was all in the setup (getting perfect pad contact, adjusting the reach etc.)

I need to dig into my drum brake setup so I know what I've got, see how far off things are, and how much it will cost to bring it into line. If it isn't too much I will likely bring everything into line, then test my stopping distance in the spring. If it is expensive, I will do the disc swap on the front.

Oh, and new tires will be in the budget

 

Many brake suppliers out there, I have had awsome help from ECI ecihotrodbrakes.com
I installed disk on my delivery and it was the best thing I did, it stops and it stops straight
ECI supplied the parts and any info I requested /needed for the job
4000 lbs plus a trailer what is your life worth

 

I've worked on many old cars and disc conversions that wouldn't stop well. The top 3 causes I see over and over for rebuilt drum brakes not having the stopping power they should are: drums that aren't resurfaced smooth enough to allow good shoe contact : drums turned too far oversize which results in only contacting a small area of the shoes (shoes need to be arced a/o drums replaced) : cheap formula lining material.

Common causes for poor disc conversion performance are : master cylinder bore too large for the calipers used : pedal leverages wrong : no booster : cheap pad material, rough rotors .

Local Auto Parts stores are the worst place to have rotors/drums turned. They often turn them too fast, with dull bits, and not mounted straight. And the kid doing it just "goes through the motions" he dosen't have to deal with the results. Take them to a shop that does brake work.

 

Thanks Brizo, this is a helpful guide