Chevy & GMC Vans

Having to replace the hub before I get it aligned got me thinking, as long as I'm in there...

I've always felt that the Astro brakes were pretty marginal, just barely adequate.
I found a pair of brand new rotors while rooting around in the junk yard a few weeks ago for $20, the rust is just from the rain. Had brand new pads and calipers too...
I walked around the yard for a while and found a 1994 2500 Suburban with the bigger calipers. I pulled them and walked back to the Astro and bolted them on. Perfect fit! Paid $10ea.

I ordered a new pair of Akebono brake pads and a pair of rebuilt calipers for $30 each using my junkyard units as cores...





I replaced the hubs, installed the new rotors and bolted on the 2500 calipers and bled them out.




Took it for a test drive and had it aligned by 14:30!

Went for a drive in the mountains today and they feel significantly better. I'll feel a lot better when I'm towing or crawling around it he mountains!

Great A'Tuin is a very happy van

john

That is good to hear.

But I have a question...
Did you only bleed or did you fully flush your brake fluid?

Thanks, Jim

Edit: I have just gotten home and see the assembled pic. Tell me you cleaned off the rust off of that rotor before you used the brakes and bedded in the pads... Please.

I only bled them for now. I flushed the system last summer, plus I was trying to get the the shop before they closed. I'll flush again later this summer.

Glad to hear the flush. Proper maintenance that so many miss.

Thanks, Jim

thanks for posting, great article!...its inspiring for me because i have to say that around town, my brakes are good, but on I95 and the turnpike form high speed, they arent up to much!

I know my back drum brakes are good, my fluid has been fully flushed, depending what happens, i might start looking to do this job in a low cost way like you did.

How do you come across brand new rotors at a junk yard?!

oldsmoker wrote: How do you come across brand new rotors at a junk yard?!

Pure blind luck as far as I can tell.

Thank you for the post and pictures. I have had this done before. I was just about to put up a post asking about this very upgrade.

Are the pads also for a 94 2500 Suburban?

I did this on my 94LT.Although this caliper is a lager piston,the real upgrade is the larger pads.When it comes to this upgrade on my project van,I'll be looking into matching the master from the 2500,not sure which boost system,line size,etc from a 2500 so I can insure I get the pressure and volume of a 2500 brake system.Really swap the total 2500 brake system to the Astro.Guys have "tried" aftermarket rotors with varying results because the upgrade still leaves you with the stock rotor size.Because I will build up from the ground up a sub frame,I am going to look into how far back I would have to swap parts to upgrade to a OEM larger rotors.Example:swap the spindles to the Astro ball joins or the ball joins too or the a-frames and all the other parts to the Astro sub frame.Because I intend to use a custom Ford 9",for me to use a 8 bolt rwd front rotor,I can dictate matching bolt patterns for the rear as well.

Sorry I got carried away with this answer.More directly the answer is yes you use the lager pad too.

1Gary wrote: More directly the answer is yes you use the lager pad too.

Most of the local junkyards I dig through have plenty of older (90's) Chevy/GMC trucks and vans. Our vans have a caliper w/ a 2 3/4" piston, the 2500 4wd Chevy/GMC trucks have a 3 1/16" piston. I just walked around until I found one w/ the best looking calipers and grabbed them. It just happened to be a Suburban.
You need a 3/8" Allen to remove the yoke bolts and an 11mm wrench to remove the brake line. I noted the year and model and ordered the appropriate pads.
It really didn't look like GM had too many brake caliper options, small and large. In fact, the larger pads would fit fine but for the retaining clips. Larger pads may not be automatic either. In the pics, the Akebonos bigger, but the yoke pad from a donor caliper is exactly the same size as one I pulled off my van.

While this isn't an optimum solution, the increase in pad surface area is a plus (about 10% bigger) but the increase in piston diameter allows a lot more force to be applied (I'm not going through the F1A1=F2A2 calculations here)
at the expense of a somewhat longer pedal travel...

john

John-I am agreeing with you that this upgrade does make a big difference.What I posted was just "maybe" taking that one step farther and compounding the results.

Gary: I know you already did this upgrade and figured you would be adding your experience, so say whatever you want.
I have V8s in both my Astros, a little more stopping power would be helpful. This upgrade doesnt look to be too expensive and in my budget.
I like you idea of bigger rotors, but bigger rotors mean bigger diameter rims and may limit what rims will fit.

badassastro wrote:Gary: I know you already did this upgrade and figured you would be adding your experience, so say whatever you want.
I have V8s in both my Astros, a little more stopping power would be helpful. This upgrade doesnt look to be too expensive and in my budget.
I like you idea of bigger rotors, but bigger rotors mean bigger diameter rims and may limit what rims will fit.

The parts for this really isn't much more than the stock replacement parts.I'll make sure to do a thread about a swap for bigger rotors if find one.A scratch
build mod is always the first one being the toughest.I think it is a matter of finding the right combo.I am doing a 3" pipe spacer lift which should help on larger rim/tires.I in-vision maybe having to machine harden taped spacers to make up a difference in ball joint diameter sizes from the stock Astro ball joints and the spindles of a larger rotor as one example.Not that I know that yet,but I do have a friend that owns a full machine shop to do that kind of work.I am also taking into account the tie rod size differences.