[dmjlambert]

That is a bunch of very good technical info here, I like reading it.

When I had the original 4-wheel manual drum brakes on my 1969 truck, the braking worked very well except my self-adjusters were not the best and needed work. One side would differ from the other after a few hundred miles and the truck would swerve in an emergency stop or slow down. Instead of working more on the drum brakes to fix that, I had the opportunity to change all 4 wheels to a great condition stock 1971 setup due to a posting in the parts section.

With disc brakes I noticed some things changed. 1) the swerving problem went away. 2) the pedal braking effort reduced. 3) the total pedal travel reduced such that with full application of the brake the pedal no longer went down as far, a difference of about 1 inch. 4) the brakes have a better feel and are very smooth.

When I drive my truck with manual front disc brakes, it makes me wonder why there appears to be a great amount of interest in power brakes for a C10. I can't imagine having the desire to add power to mine.

But who knows, I could change my mind in the future. I wonder if the majority of posts dealing with brake problems are related to booster failure and vacuum or hydroboost problems, and we just don't hear from the manual brake crowd very much because the systems are simpler and less prone to problems and therefore superior. Or maybe there's only a dozen people left with manual brakes and we're just missing out.

So, anyway, it appears I'm long-winded, my point is I'm not just running manual disc brakes, I'm liking them a lot and would recommend them. Specifically I recommend manual front disc rear drum brakes for a half ton truck.