Hand brake disc conversion worth it?

Jeff Blake

Well-known member
May 6, 2016
429
16
Pacific Beach, San Diego
My transfer case brake is acting up and I came across this: https://www.britpart.com/parts/performance/braking/handbrake-conversion-kits/da5526

Looks like an X-Eng product, supplied by Britpart. Would be nice to have a sealed brake and reduce some weight on the driveline. The factory drum brake must weigh at least 45 pounds. Every pound helps. But the question is, is it worth $400? Not finding many examples on the 'net of people using this
 

AfiRover

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2004
934
5
48
RACE CITY INDY IN
I have them on all the rovers love em simple and easy to maintain worth it ? well I'm a rover lifer so I can't answer that . hope it helps
 

kennith

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2004
10,891
172
North Carolina
I've thought about it a few times just for fun, but my parking brake has never even needed service.

Hell, after all the time it's spent sitting recently, I was surprised to find that it still works precisely as it always has. I'm just paranoid about drum brakes. I keep looking for a reason to service the thing but never finding one.

I'd like to hear what sort of benefit a disc parking brake conversion provides over the drum, or what sort of environment/use might cause the drum to become unreliable or not ideal in practice. I've wondered about that.

Obviously, the disc setup is more simple, but is there another benefit?

Cheers,

Kennith
 
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fishEH

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2009
6,927
201
Lake Villa, IL
The drum on the TC is pretty simple to rebuild. I think all new internals and a new cable will run you less than $100. Save the $300 for something else you'll need to fix.
 

Jeff Blake

Well-known member
May 6, 2016
429
16
Pacific Beach, San Diego
Yeah, I rebuilt my drum with new shoes, springs, and hardware when I rebuilt the transfer case, half a year ago. I can't find the right combination of cable and drum adjustment to make it work properly. I have it set right now so if its any tighter, it will make contact, but it doesn't hold the drum tight enough to stop roll on a hill.

For now I'll keep fiddling with it I guess... Better to put that $400 towards my axles, lockers, and tires project in the next month. The disc brake clearly looks like a better option, honestly mostly for the ~15-20 pound weight reduction, but $400 better is a stretch. Plus shipping and a D1 style cable, closer to $500
 

fishEH

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2009
6,927
201
Lake Villa, IL
Where do you source pads for that disc style? My concern would be pad availability 5, 10, 15 years down the road.
 

robertf

Well-known member
Jan 22, 2006
4,778
354
-
I done get it. Stock brake works fine if you keep it adjusted and arent puking gear oil. I believe the go-kart brake conversion has the same requirements
 

chris snell

Administrator
Staff member
Aug 15, 2005
3,020
152
I love mine. I had already rebuilt my drum twice and was sick of dealing with it. I have little kids and didn't trust the drum to hold the truck on my inclined driveway with them running around, so I bought the X-Brake. It's fantastic.

The instructions, however, are not fantastic. They are terrible, mostly because they switched to a second-generation design that uses different brackets but they did not update the instructions for it, so nothing makes sense. I finally figured it out and it went together very easily. I could do another one in 30 minutes easily.

One hint: there's a good chance that your cable will appear to be not long enough. Don't sweat: you can back off the Torx nut on the caliper arm about 5mm and rotate the arm about the splines. One spline to counter-clockwise is enough to get the arm in the right place for your cable.
 

pdxrovermech

Well-known member
Jul 3, 2009
1,807
57
Portland, OR
i think they're garbage. in my experiences with them they gunk up, wear prematurely, and constantly need adjusting. Not exactly sure how a parking brake with less holding surface area is supposed to be an improvement.
 

ezzzzzzz

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2010
604
7
SE Va
I get the idea of changing for the sake alone or to say looky what I've got. Short of the shoes getting contaminated the factory parking brake works fine. Unless you're setting that brake and driving off there is no wear. In 27 years I've never had an issue with the stock setup. In extreme cases of incline where that brake might not be sufficient then a strap to a tree or another vehicle would be in order. I've done this to help hold a truck while swapping a tire or other issues so no one got hurt. How often does that happen though?
 

jymmiejamz

Well-known member
Dec 5, 2004
6,008
361
35
Los Angeles, Ca
i think they're garbage. in my experiences with them they gunk up, wear prematurely, and constantly need adjusting. Not exactly sure how a parking brake with less holding surface area is supposed to be an improvement.

I think disc brakes work pretty well considering the surface area of a brake pad vs the surface area of a brake shoe.