SSBC Rear Drum to Disc Brake Upgrade Kit, Front Calipers and Master Cylinder Replacement
March 2018
This page describes the process I went through to order and install two SSBC Performance Brake Systems kits on my 1993 Chevy C1500 Indy Pickup:
- SSBC Kit A126-2 – Upgrading the stock 10″ rear drum brakes with the SSBC Rear Drum to Disc Brake Conversion Kit
- SSBC Kit A186-1R – Upgrading the front calipers with the SSBC Super Twin TK Quick Change Caliper Upgrade Kit
I began the process with some online research. There are a few companies that offer brake upgrade kits for the 1988 – 1999 Chevy/GM trucks. The SSBC kits seemed to get a lot of positive reviews.
I placed my first call to SSBC on March 19, 2018, and was connected to Dave. He told me about 2 kits they offer (A126-1 and A126-2) and the differences. He told me that to decide which one I needed, I had to confirm that I had the 10″ rear drums with an axle end flange that had 4 bolt holes. The top 2 bolt holes needed to be 3.5″ c to c, and the distance from the top set of holes to the bottom set of holes (vertically), should be 2.83 ” c to c.
I confirmed these measurements some weeks later and called SSBC to place my order on May 24, 2018. I was connected to Tony in sales who confirmed that I needed kit A126-2 (which includes the “Firm Feel” master cylinder). I also inquired about what options SSBC offered to upgrade my front brakes in a way compatible with the rear brake kit. Based on his descriptions and help, I decided to add the A186-1R – SSBC Super Twin TK Quick Change Caliper Upgrade Kits to the order.
Finally, because I already have slotted rotors on the front of the truck I decided to upgrade the rear rotors in Kit A126-2 as well. I was told that this custom option created a 3-week wait on the order to allow time for those rotors to be made. This meant that the order would be shipped around June 19, 2018.
June 25, 2018
The kits arrived at my mechanic’s shop on June 21, 2018. Based on reported times to do this conversion, I booked 2 days at my mechanic’s shop for June 25-26, 2018.
Problem #1
The first problem occurred when my mechanic discovered that the new rear rotor stud holes were not large enough to pass over the studs on my truck rear axle! How could that be? A call to SSBC tech support confirmed that we had the “correct” rotors for our kit, but that “we must have a truck where the studs were upgraded to a larger size at some point.” I had no knowledge of this kind of upgrade ever happening on my truck but accepted SSBC’s explanation as “reasonable.”
We obtained a $15, 9/16″ dia. titanium drill bit for our drill press and bored out the rotor stud holes without any issues.
June 26, 2018
After solving problem #1, the second problem occurred when my mechanic had removed the axle and OEM drum brake and started fitting the new caliper mounting bracket on my OEM axle end flange. Amazingly, the bracket bolt holes did not align with the 4 holes I had measured to confirm what kit I needed!
Problem #2
This discovery lead to the 2nd call to SSBC Tech Support where we learned that we had received the WRONG KIT!
Sure enough, when I checked the shipping boxes more closely, I saw that we had the received kit A126-1 instead of A126-2! Further inspection revealed we did not have the master brake cylinder, which was to be included.
I had waited 3 weeks to finally receive the wrong kit! A really bad initial customer experience!
SSBC took responsibility for the mistake and shipped out the necessary parts for kit A126-2 the following day. I had to pay for overnight shipping (!?) to receive those parts on June 28, 2018. Again, not a great customer experience, but I was in a jam because my truck rear end was all apart and on a lift in my mechanic’s shop!
June 28, 2018
The package from SSBC arrived in the early afternoon via Fedex. I was able to mockup the right rear brake and ascertain that we appeared to have all the parts needed to complete the project. The rotors from the previous kit appear to be a good fit.
July 1, 2018
Due to the delays caused by the SSBC shipping debacle, and a busy week at my mechanic’s shop, he could not finish up the brake conversion project until Sunday, July 1, 2018. Once he had the time to focus on this project, Keith was able to:
- Mount the rear calipers and rotors and attach the emergency brake cables.
- Plumb the rear brake lines and hoses.
- Replace the stock front single piston calipers with the new SSBC double-piston, billet aluminum calipers and add new stainless steel brake hoses.
- Under the hood, replace the OEM master cylinder with the SSBC “Firm Feel” master cylinder, plumbing the OEM proportioning valve to fit.
Finally, with my help, the brake lines were bled, tested for leaks, and everything cleaned up before we put the wheels back on and took it for a test drive.
July 1, 2018
After driving the truck for 50 or so miles, I realized that the “firm feel” was not firm at all. In fact, the “feel” was less firm than the stock master cylinder with drum brakes! Obviously, not good!
Problem #3
It feels like the rear brakes begin to engage first when pressing the foot pedal down about 1″. It then feels like the front discs engage at about the 2″ mark.
I am wondering if this has something to do with the discrepancy we discovered in the master cylinder installation instructions. My OEM master cylinder proportioning valve does not look like the one in the instructions.
I sent off an email to SBCC Tech Support to see if they could shed some light on this last remaining issue.
July 18, 2018
Between my last post and today, I went through a major relocation from Illinois to Wisconsin. Once through that process, I was able to focus on finishing this project, focusing on Problem #3 above. Based on a phone call and some email information provided to me by Chris at SSBC since my last post, I tried a couple suggestions:
- I purchased a pneumatic-powered brake bleeder tool (designed for a one-man operation) and went through the process of bleeding the brakes again (left rear, right rear, right front, left front). This improved the firmness and pedal feel maybe a little bit.
- I also pulled the new SSBC “Firm Feel” A0463 master cylinder off of the power booster (2 large nuts on studs) and inspected the push-rod pin in the center to see if there was a way to adjust its length. I was told by SSBC that there would be a nut that I could loosen and use to adjust the gap between the push rod pin end and the contact area inside the new master cylinder. I could not find a way to do this. There did not appear to be any adjustments designed to this pin. I also researched online to see if I was missing something, and could not find any information, videos or instructions on adjusting this pin. So, this suggestion turned out to be not applicable to a 1993 Chevy C1500. You would think that a brake system manufacturer would know this.
Summary
Here is how SSBC and their various online vendors describe the SSBC A0463 “Firm Feel” master cylinder.
“Tone your brakes to match your big rig with Firm Feel master cylinders from SSBC. These master cylinders rid your truck of that mushy pedal feel and increase brake pressure on your rotors. Firm Feel master cylinders include a dual bowl reservoir and cap. Eliminate that spongy pedal feel in your heavy truck–install SSBC Firm Feel master cylinders.” (Summit Racing website)
Did not meet advertised expectations at first.
After everything I’ve described above, I would call my brakes “mushy” at first and not anywhere near “firm feel.” There was little or no improvement in the pedal feel and responsiveness over the stock OEM master cylinder. The new rear disc brakes and front calipers do work better than the original drum brakes, stopping more firmly, and in a straight line, however, the pedal feel was not what I expected nor what I would call “firm”. However, after driving it for some time, the feel improved. I think that there was just some air in the system that needed to work out over time.
I was not impressed with SSBC from a customer experience perspective.
SSBC may make a good product or kit for my specific year and model of truck, but they made many mistakes in the order and project process. I felt like a small fish dealing with a company that viewed me more as an annoyance, rather than as a valued new customer, who might influence more people to become SSBC customers. They were happy to take my money but were not able to deliver appropriate value for what I spent.
After this experience, I realized that SSBC must have been going through a huge business change – maybe even a bankruptcy or some other reorganization. Their kits and parts disappeared from Summit and there was no website. However, they seem to have come back in a new way. This probably explains why my experience was so poor and why they made so many mistakes.
Look for an alternative, or seek out others who have more recently dealt with the company.
I am not sure I would recommend the SSBC solution and kit from a customer experience perspective, however, the products are solid. You may need to deal with some disappointments, mistakes, poor communication, and unmet expectations where you’ll need a ton of patience and perseverance.
November 2021 Update
After driving this truck on these brakes for a couple of years, it came time to replace the front disc brake pads. There were no instructions with the original kit on what pads to use or how to replace them. So, I did some online research and discovered that the former SSBC company had been disbanded and/or changed to SSBC-USA under a new website and address. Even so, they had no information on their website about the pads needed to replace their A186-1 Front Quick Change Caliper Upgrade Kit.
Summit Racing
Since I purchased this jit from Summit, I contacted them about what pads were required. They had to do some digging around and eventually told me I needed this product: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-BP-03690C which I ordered.
Installation and problems
However, once I started the project, and had the old pads removed from the calipers, I discovered that one-half of each new disc pad set from Summit had a clip riveted to it that did not match the pads I removed from the original calipers. I contacted SSBC through their website contact form for clarification and further help. All I got back a day or two later was that I needed to get “D369 from NAPA.”
All of the search results at NAPA produce results exactly like the pads I received from Summit. They all have clips on them that do not match the pads I removed from the SSBC caliper.
So, I went ahead and ground off and removed the clips from these 2 pads so that they matched the ones that I had removed. They did fit and I did install them.
However, these new pads with the alterations I made, will rattle and make vibration noises at low speeds. There is still something not right. I have had ongoing emails with SSBC support and they still have not come up with a solution or explanation as to solving this issue.
To be continued…
NOV 2021 – The pads I removed from the original calipers. The top set are matched by the new pads I received from Summit, or the ones you can find at NAPA under D369. The bottom pads do not have any clips or rivets on them, yet the ones from Summit and all the sets from NAPA have clips and rivets in the back that will not fit this caliper.