Rear Drum to Disk Conversion

[indiglosolara]

Ok this junk yard next to my house offered me 250 for all of the parts that i need for this conversion.

The parts are coming off of 1997 Toyota Camry XLE (4 cyl, ABS) 70K



Is this a good deal or what?

Steve

that is not a bad deal.. when me and richard from this forum when to look for the conversion parts thats the price we were quoted around.. even tho i haven't done this conversion yet i go for it..

[Solaradude]

Ok this junk yard next to my house offered me 250 for all of the parts that i need for this conversion.

The parts are coming off of 1997 Toyota Camry XLE (4 cyl, ABS) 70K



Is this a good deal or what?

Steve

that is not a bad deal.. when me and richard from this forum when to look for the conversion parts thats the price we were quoted around.. even tho i haven't done this conversion yet i go for it..

So what is a good deal? Should I talk him down to 200?

Steve

[Turbosolara]

There is no 4 cylinder camry come with rear disc brakes. that price is acceptable. 200- 250 sounds right.

[Kocho]

depend on your luck to find the right parts for good price

uhmm would you be able to give me a range? how much would it be if i got all the parts for FREE? how much would it be if i got the parts for a decent price? how much would it be if i paid FULL PRICE for the parts?

sorry for all the Qs..


confused..

Steve

It ran me about $250 for all parts from a junk yard form a '00 v6 with 14K miles on them. I used all original parts, including pads, shoes, rotors, cables...

I messed-up one of the caliper's rubber parts while cleaning it, so I had to buy a $30 caliper kit from Toyota to just replace this small piece of rubber. Plus you will need brake fluid, brake cleaner, caliper grease, some paint to cover the rust, and all the tools to do it.

If you choose to pay for installation, labor should be 2-5 hours I estimate at a good shop. If you replace the whole assembly (including axel carrier and hub) you'll pay a bit more in parts, you save an hour or two on labor, you will need an alignment, so it evens-out pretty much.

If you buy new parts from a dealer - could run you up to a $1000 bux...

If you get new pads and shoes for the parking brake - this is another $80 - $100. If you get new rotors - another $60 (for cheap aftermarket) to $xxx (for expensive fancy rotors)

Thats incorrect. I think not to swap the axle carrier is the fastest and cheapest way. you just need to take out the disc/drum and take out 4 small bolts, then the whole brake unit will come out. If you are going to swap the axle carrier, you are going to deal with 4 or 6 pain in the butt big bolts and bad alighment.

There are a lot of small pieces in the rear brakes. If one can get a rear brake assembly WITH the axel carrier, backing plate, hub, disk, all brake parts, caliper, parking brake cables attached etc., that DOES NOT NEED to be disassembled - this makes things very easy (liquid wrench helps with the "nasty" bolts).

But I do not think anyone would sell this as a complete "take-off" - most likely they would have removed the hubs, disks and calipers and lost half the brake hardware in the junk yard. I had to collect brake springs and some bolts from several cars to put together a full set . So this pretty much decided it for me - no tinkering with the axel carrier since I had to take apart everything to the last nut, so I did as Steve describes it.

But just in the rare case one gets a complete set, I still think it is somewhat easier to take the axel carrier off, then put the new assembly in, even if one has to pay the $60 to do an alignment later. All you take off are:
- the two bolts holding the the strut
- the bolt on the strut rod
- the bolt on the lower suspension arm.
- ABS sensor cable (if you have ABS)

Of course, one also will need to disconnect the parking brake cable from the front and remove the old brake flex hose; Then put the "new" assembly in place and go for an alignment...

Anyways - are you still liking the disk setup on your turbo i4? Mine is holding-up great - did all I needed it to do and more (got rid of the annoying vibrations, stops better, looks better )

[LOO_SILL]

I want to get the drum to disc conversion done, but I am leery about performing the work myself, seems too complicated. How much would a job like that cost at a shop?

[SolaraT]

O no you didn't just dig up this old thread and not read page 1! They said about $500.00 at a local shop.

Good luck!

[krook]

can someone post a real DIY step-by-step instructional post for this conversion please?

[SolaraT]

Yeah that would be nice. . .

[Solaradude]

im SOOO getting this done no matter what, i hate when my car vibrates (steering wheel also) when i slam on the brakes on freeways. f**kin drum brakes plus it looks retarded

Steve

[SolaraT]

yeah especialy when they look orange from rust.

[Solaradude]

yeah especialy when they look orange from rust.

i spraypainted my drums black but yea...ultraslowsolara was right. if you get the whole axels then the shop will charge less for the installation. they wanted to charge me 400 bucks for the installation but they said about 100-150 if i bring the whole axels

Steve

[Solaradude]

I have been discussing about this rear disc conversion with Jason Cline who is a well-known technician (earned the TDM award last month) and I suggested him that if I could get the rear disc from 97-01 CE v6, LE v6, XLE V6 or 99-02 solara v6 and he thinks it's just way too much $, time and risk.

"And yes, about the brake conversion.... That sounds like a lot of work.
I feel that there can be many unexpected problems that could come with a
job like that like bolts not lining up and brackets for various tubes
and harnesses not fitting. Not to mention you are changing the whole ABS
setup which probably has a different ECU and definitely a different
harness.

I still feel that if you took the parts from a Solara with disc brakes,
it still would be a lot of work and $$. The harness that runs from the
rear speed sensors to the ABS ECU near the right front fender alone
would be tough to swap. Also, there are 6 different ECU's for different
configurations. I don't mean to try to talk you out of it, but I think
it would be more work than you think."

man...is he just being a typical "lets-keep-it-safe" technician or what? Hey ultraslowsolara, where did you get your rear disc from?

sTEVE

[Turbosolara]

He just talks like my pro tunner friends, basically they dont want to get involved with the trouble and they think it is stupid to mess around with the family car. Usually they will end up the conversation "sell the damn car and get _____ (usually are 240sx, WRX....etc)

People already done, then that's means it is impossible. Also i think you misunderstood my statement, Axle carrier and Whole Axle are different. Axle carrier is the nunit on the hub that has thread to lock the axle, so it will spin with axles. You need to seat down and study the brake assembly for a while before you go talk to those shops. Be honest i dont think the swap is hard thanks for kocho's instruction. Brake master cylinder and brake booster dont need to change. Most of tunner or technician i talk to all concerned about to swap those two part will take lots of money and effort. But without change the booster, the padel feeling still like before high and stiff. (i never drove v6 camry, but i think most of disc brake feeling should be light and soft?)

anyway, with right tools and right person ( who know how to use tools and bleed brakes), this task can be done within 2.5 hours max if you have the axle carrier.

[Solaradude]

He just talks like my pro tunner friends, basically they dont want to get involved with the trouble and they think it is stupid to mess around with the family car. Usually they will end up the conversation "sell the damn car and get _____ (usually are 240sx, WRX....etc)

People already done, then that's means it is impossible. Also i think you misunderstood my statement, Axle carrier and Whole Axle are different. Axle carrier is the nunit on the hub that has thread to lock the axle, so it will spin with axles. You need to seat down and study the brake assembly for a while before you go talk to those shops. Be honest i dont think the swap is hard thanks for kocho's instruction. Brake master cylinder and brake booster dont need to change. Most of tunner or technician i talk to all concerned about to swap those two part will take lots of money and effort. But without change the booster, the padel feeling still like before high and stiff. (i never drove v6 camry, but i think most of disc brake feeling should be light and soft?)

anyway, with right tools and right person ( who know how to use tools and bleed brakes), this task can be done within 2.5 hours max if you have the axle carrier.

..............ok im totally fu*kin confused now lol

Steve