Disc Brake Upgrade - PRICELESS

[Ford truck guy]

This is just a PSA -

As you all may or may not know, I upgraded to Disc brakes 3 fifth wheels ago and will not look back...

The upgrade can be expensive at first, but to me it was priceless..

Coming home from he beach Monday on I95 south of Philly, I was in the right lane, minding my own business and there was a car 2 in front of me that was obviously lost..

Once we got to the I95/476 split the lost car split the exit and STOPPED.. the car in front of me made a panic stop not knowing what the one in front was doing and not aware he had people behind him, and I had nowhere to go.

I stood on the brakes, closed my eyes and puckered for impact..

YUP, we stopped with a few inches to spare.... I will never go with out them.... NEVER..

There is nothing like the feeling of the trailer pulling you back when braking.....

[drj564]

Agree 100%. It would be laughable if it wasn’t such a serious safety issue. It’s scary what the factory puts out with drum brakes.

[hoosierguy]

Originally Posted by Ford truck guy

This is just a PSA -

As you all may or may not know, I upgraded to Disc brakes 3 fifth wheels ago and will not look back...

The upgrade can be expensive at first, but to me it was priceless..

Coming home from he beach Monday on I95 south of Philly, I was in the right lane, minding my own business and there was a car 2 in front of me that was obviously lost..

Once we got to the I95/476 split the lost car split the exit and STOPPED.. the car in front of me made a panic stop not knowing what the one in front was doing and not aware he had people behind him, and I had nowhere to go.

I stood on the brakes, closed my eyes and puckered for impact..

YUP, we stopped with a few inches to spare.... I will never go with out them.... NEVER..

There is nothing like the feeling of the trailer pulling you back when braking.....

I agree completely. I had disk brakes and upgraded wheels/tires added on the factory order in 2011.

I had a similar experience on the way to Florida in November 2018. I was following about 5 or 6 car lengths behind a large tandem axle dump truck on I-75 when suddenly he locked up his brakes in a cloud of black smoke. Without the disk brakes, I might have ended up in the bed of his truck. I was able to control things and once I realized I could safely pass I found that traffic had backed up on an off ramp and stopped on the highway in front of the truck.

Afterwards, my son-in-law who was accompanying me on the trip, says "whew, that was some pretty good driving". I said "I'm sure glad I had those disk brakes".