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Rear disc brake Kits
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Old_Ben_Gun
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 6:23 pm    Post subject: Rear disc brake Kits Reply with quote

Im looking for information and an evaluation of the rear disc brake kits. I want to replace the drum brakes with the least amount of down time. Has anyone done the Burley kit ? any recomendations. "Burley Motorsports" I have a 1989 Camper. Just kits noting else.
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insyncro
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 6:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've mounted a bunch of Burley's rear kits.
The parts are new and the adapter is perfect.
I do not use the provided spacers for the emergency brake lines and have custom length cables made for a much better brake hold on a Syncro weighing 4500+lbs.
The spacers work well if you do not need to hold the Van on steep inclines offroad.
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m_goerzen
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 6:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have Burleys rear disk kit for the last 2 years and wouldn't drive without it. I had it installed by my local mechanic. Easy to maintain and I haven't had any problems with my e brake like other people have. When we came down Snowqumie pass last weekend it nice to know the the van will stop when I want/need it to.
85 weekender. Mike
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Wildthings
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 6:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don't expect to see much of any improvement over a set of stock drum brakes in good condition. Either increasing or decreasing the rear braking force will upset the front/rear brake bias and cause worse braking. The reason proportioning valves are added to the rear brakes is to reduce the braking effort of the rear brakes so that you can maintain steering contol during a hard stop.
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insyncro
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 6:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Since the subject was brought up, with my dual and quad piston calipers in the front and disc conversions in the rear, I use an adjustable brake bias requiring additional plumbing, but really helps dial in braking during various different scenarios.

If the rear kit and front kit are matched, like Burley's, the stock pvalve will do just fine.
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furrylittleotter
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 7:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Personally, I don't think the rear brakes do enough of the braking to justify upgrading to disks (nor do most car manufacturers, who until recently still ran drums or disks with parking drums inside, even on huge SUVs and trucks) but if you are certain you want rear disks I highly recommend Burley's kit. It's impossible to build your own for the time and money involved. I have seen his in person and they are first class.


Burley builds great products and offers exceptional customer support.

Neil2
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Turk.380 Premium Member
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 8:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I used the SmallCar rear brake kit on my Syncro and have been happy with it. E-Brake holds better than the old drums did in my application, but my drums / backing plates / etc were rusted out really bad.
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hans j
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 8:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

furrylittleotter wrote:
It's impossible to build your own for the time and money involved.
Neil2


You should know first hand not to believe anyone who says it's impossible Wink

I built my kit with a few hours and less than $200. 276mm vented rear disc brakes that hold on what ever surface the tires will stick to.
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JPrato
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 11:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wildthings wrote:
Don't expect to see much of any improvement over a set of stock drum brakes in good condition. Either increasing or decreasing the rear braking force will upset the front/rear brake bias and cause worse braking. The reason proportioning valves are added to the rear brakes is to reduce the braking effort of the rear brakes so that you can maintain steering contol during a hard stop.


You might want to qualify this statement. Brakes stop a vehicle by turning mechanical energy into heat. Disc brakes do a superior job of doing that. So depending on your driving conditions it is quite true that you might not see much of a difference. Running around town going to the store doesn't tax the brake system like mountain or high speed driving. Repeated stops from speed would start to show the difference. The heavier your vehicle the more mechanical energy needs to be converted to heat and the greater the difference.

So like everything else with our vans the answer is, it depends.
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furrylittleotter
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 12:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

hans j wrote:

I built my kit with a few hours and less than $200. 276mm vented rear disc brakes that hold on what ever surface the tires will stick to.


You built the entire kit with all new parts and how much did you figure for your time to come up with "Less than $200"

Not being combative, I just honestly do not see how that is even remotely possible. I did the math when I was considering rear disks and my numbers always came up higher than Burley's well thought out kit.

What did I miss? Question Used parts? Free water cutting (or flame cutting) on the brackets somewhere? Nothing figured in for time?

Neil2
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ShootingFish
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 12:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have the Burley kit on my 2wd full westy and it will hold solid on my steep driveway. I would but it again in a heartbeat… even for my heavy syncro doka (5000#).
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hans j
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 12:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

furrylittleotter wrote:
hans j wrote:

I built my kit with a few hours and less than $200. 276mm vented rear disc brakes that hold on what ever surface the tires will stick to.


You built the entire kit with all new parts and how much did you figure for your time to come up with "Less than $200"

Not being combative, I just honestly do not see how that is even remotely possible. I did the math when I was considering rear disks and my numbers always came up higher than Burley's well thought out kit.

What did I miss? Question Used parts? Free water cutting (or flame cutting) on the brackets somewhere? Nothing figured in for time?

Neil2


Nope, used parts, I never said mine was brand new. You didn't use new parts on your subaru a/c install right?

Cut out my own brackets and welded them to the wheel bearing housing, used B5S4 rear calipers, good used URS6 276x25mm rotors and barely used brake pads I found laying around the shop (probably squeaked on a customer car) and I bought brand new park brake cables from a Mk4 VW. It's all in my thread I think...

No, I don't account for time spent on it. If I did, the labor I have spent doing everything on my van would be near $100,000 (1,000 hours at let's say $100 hour shop rate?) I would probably sell it for that if someone was dumb enough to pay for it!

But again, as you know, most of the time you don't get your own labor out of what you put into it. You do it for fun. You do it to save money. You do it because you love it. I only did rear discs because I could and because all my stuff was so rusted away I didn't want to pull stuff off parts vans to swap over. My new van will retain rebuilt stock drum brakes Smile
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Zeitgeist 13
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 2:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't expect a performance boost from a rear disc swap, since the rears aren't doing much stopping anyway. What I expect is simplicity of maintenance...and of course the visual bling that accompanies such an endeavor. I loathe working on drum brakes, and they just plain look old fashioned and clunky. Obviously my priorities are all effed up
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dobryan
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 2:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Zeitgeist 13 wrote:
I don't expect a performance boost from a rear disc swap, since the rears aren't doing much stopping anyway. What I expect is simplicity of maintenance...and of course the visual bling that accompanies such an endeavor. I loathe working on drum brakes, and they just plain look old fashioned and clunky. Obviously my priorities are all effed up


Mine too. Wink
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https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

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j_dirge
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 3:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

dobryan wrote:
Zeitgeist 13 wrote:
I don't expect a performance boost from a rear disc swap, since the rears aren't doing much stopping anyway. What I expect is simplicity of maintenance...and of course the visual bling that accompanies such an endeavor. I loathe working on drum brakes, and they just plain look old fashioned and clunky. Obviously my priorities are all effed up


Mine too. Wink

Mine three... heh..

A while back I swapped out drum brakes for disks on my sailboat trailer. The difference in brake control around town was night and day, better.
And on long hauls it took considerable pushing of the tow vehicle out of the equation.

Disks are on my list for the van..
And Burley's current kit is no. 1 on the list.. unless he develops his next generation kit.. then that will be no. 1 on the list.

My understanding of disks on the rear is that if you drive long grades all loaded up they will work considerably better than the drum.
They shed heat far better which takes pressure off the front brakes.. and biasing can be dialed in manually if you are up for that... by adding a manual biasing valve. No biggy... right?
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danfromsyr wrote:
those are straight line runs with light weight race cars for only 1/4mile at a time..
not pushing a loaded brick up a mountain pass with a family of 4+ inside expecting to have an event free vacation..
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furrylittleotter
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 7:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Zeitgeist 13 wrote:
Obviously my priorities are all effed up


X4

Cool
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unknownhell
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 8:34 am    Post subject: Re: Rear disc brake Kits Reply with quote

hi
what length stud I need for the rear brakes kit for my Vanagon syncro?
thanks
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