BCM Community

Is it possible to convert front drum brakes to disk brakes on an mci5c?
Thanks
Chris

I have looked into that four our DL3. Talking to MCI, they said there is no way. I even talked to the Bendix guys, and they said they didn't know of a way. Of course, anything is possible. Just how much pain do you want to go through, is the question.

John

I'm in the Bendix class right now.  Bendix The instructor doesn't recommend retrofitting air disk brakes if not factory equipped.  The stress points are different and things can break.

If you have a straight I beam front axle, you can just replace the front axle with a disc brake equipped axle.  Really no advantage to it, except that disc brakes do not fade with heat.  You got to figure that the vast majority of over the road trucks, school buses, trash trucks still use drum brakes.  Why-because they are cheap and still work very effectively.  The most important issue with braking is that you have the proper brake linings to your kind of driving (many different types of brake linings are made).  And surprisingly, the kind of tires you use.  Low rolling resistance tires, with their better fuel mileage, won't have the friction that a good regional tire will.  Also, a heavy lug drive tires will not have the stopping power compared to a mud and show tire like the Michelin XDN2 (really expensive though).
Stick with your drums, and make sure you have a well adjusted Jake brake, and you'll be fine. Good Luck, TomC