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Old Faithful
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Newbie Here :)

Post by Old Faithful »

Inherited 1993 b190 and Drove Old Faithful all the way from Louisiana to Arizona. What a trip! Excited but have lots to learn! I'll look into the topic forums but for now we are working on converting the rear drum brakes to disc brakes. Any expert advice or words of wisdom? Happy to b here.
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skater
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B190 Year: 1991
WBCCI: 13270
Location: Annapolis, MD

Re: Newbie Here :)

Post by skater »

Congratulations and welcome! I haven't heard of anyone doing that conversion, but presumably it'd be the same for any E-350 of the same era.
1991 Airstream B190 - bought, 2005; sold, 2011; bought 2017
1995 Airstream Excella 30' trailer

WBCCI #13270, Washington, DC Unit
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con5
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B190 Year: 1998
Location: Fort Worth, TX

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Post by con5 »

I saw some people get disc brakes by replacing the whole axle with a more modern one, typically when they want to change the gear ratio when they do a 4x4 conversion.

Rear drum bakes are really not that bad and are pretty low maintenance.
Old Faithful
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Re: Newbie Here :)

Post by Old Faithful »

Thank you for the feedback. We are hoping to use the b190 to pull our travel trailer so I think that is what my DS initial thought about switching to disc brakes. Happy to have this forum so helpful and entertaining!
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con5
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B190 Year: 1998
Location: Fort Worth, TX

Re: Newbie Here :)

Post by con5 »

It seems the process to convert w/o an axle swap is definitely doable but still not trivial.

Here is the first of a three-part series on a conversion (and some maintenance) from drums to disk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR8rhcb8el8

If you have the money you can pick up a Sterling rebuilt axle from U-joint that is already built for disk brakes and towing heavy loads.
https://www.ujointoffroad.com/product/s ... e-stage-3/
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skater
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B190 Year: 1991
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Re: Newbie Here :)

Post by skater »

When rear disc brakes were introduced, there were quite a few people that didn't like them because they didn't have as good of pedal feel as the drums did.

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with drum brakes - older tech, but they still stop the vehicle. I'm not sure this swap would be worth the effort.

Does your trailer have brakes? How heavy is it?
1991 Airstream B190 - bought, 2005; sold, 2011; bought 2017
1995 Airstream Excella 30' trailer

WBCCI #13270, Washington, DC Unit
Old Faithful
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Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2021 6:59 am

Re: Newbie Here :)

Post by Old Faithful »

Thank you! I think we have decided to just replace the drum brakes. Thanks so much for responding. ;)
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