horselady

I have the window sticker on my truck and was just curious what this option was? HD brakes??? Personally I find the brakes a little lacking. i was very interested to read the post about putting a 3rd gen front axle in and swapping over to those brakes. truck is in the shop now for the trans upgrades, so brakes will be one of the next things in line.

gmctd

'97 still had the vacuum-assisted brake booster with RW-ABS - the HD option and all '98's got the hydraulic hydro-boost unit, operated off the power steering pump, along with true 4W-ABS - the '01\'02 front axle with twin-caliper brakes will swap right in, as will the '02 rear axle with disk brakes, and you'll need the 17" wheels to clear those brakes - most all the 2nd gen stuff will directly interchange - most of the 3rd gen stuff will not, having wider frames, wider spring mounts, and other inconsistencies.

Exception in 2nd gen is the RW-ABS system uses standard SAE brake lines and fittings thruout, where the 4W-ABS unit uses the Mitsubishi-derived metric brake lines and fittings to the distribution blocks for the axles - the lines to the axles remain SAE thru '02

3rd gen is another story.................

horselady

thanks,
sounds like I'll have to swap to the 02 axle, then I think i read the 03 rotors and calipers will bolt in.

offroad

My 97 has the booster operated off of the PS pump but I don't remember and HD brake option listed on the window sticker. The sticker also seems to imply it has ABS on the rear wheels only.

horselady

Mine does have the four wheel abs, ive seen the sensor wires.

CTD NUT

Believe it or not, the 3rd gen front axle will bolt into a 2nd gen - it has been done. Compared to sourcing out all the brake parts for the swap individually, the swap is actually somewhat cost-effective.....the only stumbling block is that you need 17" wheels to clear the 3rd gen brakes.

All that said, the 3rd gen brakes really are a large improvement in breaking power.....the difference is profound.

horselady,

If you do a lot of heavy towing, always consider an exhaust brake....regardless of how good the service brakes are, there isn't much of a substitute for an exhaust brake. I take it you probably tow a large horse trailer?

Dave Miller

My 97 dually has RW-ABS with Hyrdoboost brakes. The 3rd gen brake swap does sound applealing tho.

horselady

check out my sig, already have 18s so no worries there.

gmctd

There's more breakdown than I went into on the '94-'97's, so yeah, you '97 guys are correct - I used the '97 hydroboost from a cab\chassis with RWAL (RW-ABS), to upgrade my '96, used the '02 front axle for the dual caliper brakes and the improved steering links, and am installing the rear dual-caliper disk setups on my D80 DRW axle, since it is anti-spin 3.54 and noise-free - already have the '05 dually seventeen inchers.

FYI - 16" wheels fit the dual-caliper front brakes, but cannot clear the rear dual-caliper castings - also the bolt pattern and hub diameter is identical '94 to '07, the studs are 9/16-18, the early nuts are 15/16ths, the late are 7/8ths

And remember: WYSIWYG always applies to pre-owned vehicles and parts - DCJ stamps the p\n and date code on each oem part - f'rinstance, 1201, like on my front axle, would indicate it was built in a.) 120th day of 01, or b.) 201rst day of 2001 julian date, or c.) 12th month of '01 (could also be first month of 1912!) - that would make it a 2002 model year unit, rather than an '01 - model year of donor vehicle helps in determining julian date code or standard date code - in this case, the truck was 2002.

patdaly

LOL, Some of the 3rd gen guys are talking about bolting the D60 from a second gen in to alleviate balljoint issues, so I guess you just can't win.

I thought about putting a 3rd gen into mine when I first got it, but the consensus then was it was far weaker than the D60.

gmctd

Yep -that's what I mean by WYSIWYG - whatever the PO (or you) put on the truck is what you got on the truck - that's what makes it fun - bigger toys for bigger boys, etc

xtoyz17

Is the third gen really that much worse? What about the rear axle?

CTD NUT

Just so we are clear, the 16" wheels will not fit over the 3rd gen front brakes. The rotor is 13.9" and the 17" wheel just squeaks by the caliper.

As to the ball joint issue......well, anyone who says the 3rd gen is worse hasn't owned a 2nd gen. Balljoint design is nearly identical.....and they are both undersized for the application and both wear out prematurely....bring back king pins!

gmctd

Correct - specifically, 16" wheels fit 2nd gen front dual-caliper disks, but not rear 2nd gen dual-caliper disks

3rd gen yer on yer own - I lost interest when Dodge started switching from Dana to corporate.

But, still I got 3rd gen 17's on my 2nd gen...................