[FC] Re: <VV> FC brakes

[Chris & Bill Strickland]

Bryan wrote:

 > Everyone who doesn't have an FC keeps saying they need better brakes,
 > but I can lock 'em up loaded so I don't see an issue.

I'd sort of agree with Bryan -- in several hundred thousand miles of FC 
travel, frequently with a herd of goats inside, I never felt a *real* 
need for better brakes, although I do fall into the 
you-always-need-better-brakes camp.

Maybe that's why there aren't any kits -- no market. But it is no big 
deal if you want to do it -- change the front spindles to something with 
bigger brakes, disc or drum (remember they are 60ish big Chevy parts - 
lots of stuff will fit, including most of the drop-spindle hot rod stuff 
for '57 Chebbies), and similar with the rear end, just change backing 
plates and everything that goes with it for something else with the 
brakes you want and Chevy bolt pattern drums (or even others, if you 
want to get your axles redrilled) -- yes, you might need longer studs 
and a spacer under the brake drum and wheels that fit under the fenders, 
but we're still talking about stuff that just bolts on -- yeah, ya might 
need to fine tune the wheel cylinder size or the master cylinder bore to 
go with those nice new big brakes, but remember, what you want is 
maximum stopping -- locking the wheels up is 'Not Stopping' (ie, you 
want more pressure w/o lockup or fade - think disc brakes). Think about 
what ABS does -- it unlocks a locked up wheel, primarily to improve 
stopping distance, but it also helps  to maintain control.

As Lon pointed out, *fade* is really the problem on an FC, especially 
loaded ones or if you drive in mountains or both.

mo,

Bill Strickland