Brakes Upgrade "change rear drums to disc"

[Mannyb Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Mannyb]

Hi to all,
I have a 2000, 90 series Prado with rear drum brakes, just wondering pro's and con's of changing the rear to disc's.
Is it worth the change over ?
thx,,,,,,,,,,

[croozza Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close croozza]

Re: Brakes Upgrade "change rear drums to disc"

Hi to all,
I have a 2000, 90 series Prado with rear drum brakes, just wondering pro's and con's of changing the rear to disc's.
Is it worth the change over ?
thx,,,,,,,,,,

Drum Brakes on a Prado, 1st time I heard of that, thought they were all disc on the rear, maybe it is just a Dominion Republic spec thing. However the hand brake is drum in disc, are you getting confused with that.

[Mannyb Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Mannyb]

Re: Brakes Upgrade "change rear drums to disc"

No Croozza,
They are most definitely drums in the rear! I understand that in rear disc brakes "for the 90 series Prado" the emergency brake is a small drum brake.
We probably do get the cheap version of the Prado, we do not get many accessories, for instance, I rarely see a 2nd fuel tank on any 90 series prado here.
Thx, for the input,,,,,

[croozza Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close croozza]

Re: Brakes Upgrade "change rear drums to disc"

No Croozza,
They are most definitely drums in the rear! I understand that in rear disc brakes "for the 90 series Prado" the emergency brake is a small drum brake.
We probably do get the cheap version of the Prado, we do not get many accessories, for instance, I rarely see a 2nd fuel tank on any 90 series prado here.
Thx, for the input,,,,,

fair enough then, so this would be a fairly easy conversion then, look at ebay (australian site (www.ebay.com.au), I was on it this morning) there is someone selling a complete rear axel (disc to disc)for the 90 series if you can't locate one in your country, just make sure you can get the brake pads or you may have to source them from ebay as well.
You may find it useful to source all of your accessories from Australia, as there are heaps of options.

[teza h Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close teza h]

Re: Brakes Upgrade "change rear drums to disc"

Yeh! I realy like my 4 weel disc breaks,they work great,but the hand or emergency break is not so great I recon. If your rear drums are working ok for you,and I'l bet that your emergency break is stronger than the disc ones as well,I'd stick with the drums.The real pluss for disc's though is that they dry out quick if your in water a lot.
cheers Teza.

[glen_ep Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close glen_ep]

Re: Brakes Upgrade "change rear drums to disc"

I'd consider it.

I drove quite a few Hilux's and Prado's before settling in on a Prado. I found the brakes are MUCH better on the 3.4L Prado (4 discs) compared to the 3.4L 4x4 Hilux (drum rear). I don't know if the rest of the braking system is the same - haven't researched it - but they're very similiar vehicles so I assumed it must be due to the rear discs. Given that the Prado is heavier (1950Kg vs 1700Kg), I was surprised to see so much difference.

I'd say research the brake caliper & discs between those two vehicles (VZN167R, VZJ95R). If the front configuration is the same between them, then a rear disc makes a big difference.

[4X4Africa Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close 4X4Africa]

Re: Brakes Upgrade "change rear drums to disc"

I have had several Landcruisers with drum brakes in the rear and now I have a Prado with discs.
My experience is that the Toyota drum brakes do not work well at all. If you need to do an emergency braking
with drum brakes in the rear, you most likely will find that your front wheels are breaking and even blocking , but the
rear wheels are still moving on. You can easily loose control on slippery surfaces with that. The braking distance with drum brakes is
much longer and the automatic self adjusters of the drum brakes normally fail frequently, so that after some time your pedal
goes far down before breaking . If you want to survive well with your cruiser, choose disc brakes front and rear. They really work well.