I am prepping a "new to me" TV and looking for some pre-season advice. My tow vehicles have always been trucks I bought new, so was very aware of prior maintenance etc. My new TV is a 3500 Silverado (06) 8.1 with 6 speed Allison auto trans, and this will be my first season with it. I have not owned either a dually or any vehicle this large. I am concerned with the brakes, not because they don't stop me, but because I have not tried with a vehicle in tow. Vehicle is going it for full fluid changes, transmission flush and replacement filters this next week, and I will be having the brakes checked (which nearly always means, "buddy, you need a brake job")Is there a reason to shop up some hard core aftermarket HD brakes, or are the OEM on a vehicle like this already maximum heavy duty? It has 4 wheel disc brakes. Fifth wheel is about 9K fully loaded.

If you want to spend the money, you can definitely get stronger brakes.At a minimum I would have the brake fluid flushed.Someone will be along to tell you the brakes stop the truck and the trailer brakes stop the trailer. According to GM that is not the case. The brakes on the truck are part of the whole stopping package and have a dramatic impact on stopping the trailer.Frankly, when an emergency arises you wont care what brakes are doing what. You only care that the whole package stopped you before you hit that heard of elk (my case) or what ever. I have kept mostly stock parts with Bosch rotors and Hawk brake pads. They have a better bite that stock compounds. They also cost more than stock stuff but your getting a better product.

I expect brakes on my trucks to last the life of the truck. I had to do the brakes on my 03 Duramax but I think it had a bad caliper that caused premature wear. Stock brakes have always worked for me.

I don't know what you mean by heavy duty?Brakes for different applications do different things.I can put street brakes on my race car but they would not do a very good job. I can put race car brakes on my street car but again, they would not do a very good job.The best brakes have to do a balanced job. They have to do a good job in many areas. If you have brakes do a great job in one area you don't have very good brakes. Another thing. All OEM brakes are programed into their ECM for the type of pad material they have. IOW's it's best to stay with OEM material. All OEM do a great job with balancing their brakes for the job they need to do. My advice is to stick with that.

Turtle n Peeps wrote:I don't know what you mean by heavy duty?Brakes for different applications do different things.I can put street brakes on my race car but they would not do a very good job. I can put race car brakes on my street car but again, they would not do a very good job.The best brakes have to do a balanced job. They have to do a good job in many areas. If you have brakes do a great job in one area you don't have very good brakes. Another thing. All OEM brakes are programed into their ECM for the type of pad material they have. IOW's it's best to stay with OEM material. All OEM do a great job with balancing their brakes for the job they need to do. My advice is to stick with that.For the sake of discussion, let's assume that the intended purpose if said brakes are to ensure the best performance when pulling a recreational vehicle (note this is not is racers-r-us forums but an RV forum) and it is unsurprising that OEM brakes do what they are expected to do. Define heavy duty? Really?? Consider managing steep and windy grades without overheating, and without fading. Like heavy loads, expected to handle additional heat buildup on long grades.Thanks for your condescending response to a legitimate question. For the most part I have found friendly and honest advice, not colored by some misdirected sense of superiority.

Much of my braking on grades is handled by my tow-haul transmission mode. Your Allison trans could be equally Impressive. I use the best over the counter brakes on hand although this is the first year I will be trying ceramic pads. I pull my brakes apart each year to inspect because I’ve had brake problems on the road before and the maintenance seems to help-but that may just be me and/or my particular truck. Don’t forget to check out your tires too-they are part of the stopping package and older tires that are carrying more weight might not take the strain and heat of a steep grade very well. Overall I think you will enjoy those 1-ton brakes over your smaller trucks, especially when towing less then 10K.

Heavy Duty Brakes? | Good Sam Community

ktmrfs
Explorer II
Apr 09, 2018
On several vehicles I have gone with aftermarket pads. German cars get swapped to Akebono's ASAP to get rid of the black dust. Gets rid of the dust with no noticeable difference in brake performance or life.

But on vehicles with no dust and good stopping, I just stay with OEM. On my s-10 which had terrible pad life, 15K-20K miles or so, the tradeoff for longer life was worse brake performance. Tried one set, didn't take long to realize performance was sub par, So..... back to OEM.

On my two 2500's OEM is just fine. great braking, no dust, very very long life. I figure the one I passed on to our son will likely go 250K miles before it needs new pads. Just do a fluid flush every year and check the pins. Thankfully out here corrosion is a minor issue.
Ron3rd
Explorer III
Apr 09, 2018
Paul Clancy wrote:
GM brakes on the HD trucks have a real reputation for lasting forever and working extremely well. As with any they can suffer from rust in caliper pins if in heavy salt. As t/p said - oem is best on these for several hundred thousand. An inspection is always wise as is fluid change.

You could be right and it could apply to other GM vehicles. Wife's Traverse has over 70K on the clock and the front brake pads look like they'll go another 20K.
BurbMan
Explorer II
Apr 09, 2018
Ralph Cramden wrote:
Freaking salt.....and that liquid chemical they spray prior to a snow event I believe to even be worse than salt.

AMEN! We lived in Louisville for 4 years and I swear I got more rust down there than the prior 10 years the truck lived in NY!

Good point about trucks from the south. OP lists his location as "Ozarks", but the truck is new to him so no telling where it originated. You are 100% right the lines may be a non-issue, but at a minimum he needs to check and confirm that.

FWIW, I just had the LF caliper lock up so replaced all front brake hardware. I found AC Delco OEM parts online, and now they have zinc coated calipers and rotors that are corrosion resistant.

AC Delco Ceramic Pads
AC Delco Zinc-coated rotors
AC Delco zinc coated reman calipers
Ralph_Cramden
Explorer II
Apr 09, 2018
BurbMan wrote:
FYI, OEM pads on these trucks are ceramic. Lots of fluff floating around on this thread...some vehicles do benefit from upgraded brake components, the Tahoe and 1500 series trucks included. The GM HD trucks have excellent brakes and there's really nothing on the market better than the OEM stuff.

What the OP needs to look at more than the pads/rotors are the LINES...GM trucks from this era are known to have uncoated steel brake lines that rust out. I changed my lines to stainless and went to braided stainless hoses as well.

I agree 100%. The truck already has heavy duty brakes when compared to the 1500s.

As far as the lines, trucks whose life was spent in the south will not typically have the brake line rot issue seen in that generation. I went through the total replacement of brake lines, trans lines, fuel lines on a 2000 Silverado. That was after about 10 years and at 200K+ miles of PA road salt. I have seen some trucks of that generation that were from the southern states, and came through auctions ending up on used lots in PA, and the lines were almost like new. I've also seen plenty of Ford's and Dodges of early 00 vintage that needed new lines also, and shock mounts, exhaust systems, some even frame repairs. Freaking salt.....and that liquid chemical they spray prior to a snow event I believe to even be worse than salt.

I replaced trans lines on a 13 F150 last fall due to rot from the road salt. **** thing left me stranded to boot when it blew apart. No transmission dipstick or fill tube, at least of you don't feel like crawling underneath. What a great feature it is.
PAThwacker
Explorer
Apr 09, 2018
BurbMan wrote:
FYI, OEM pads on these trucks are ceramic. Lots of fluff floating around on this thread...some vehicles do benefit from upgraded brake components, the Tahoe and 1500 series trucks included. The GM HD trucks have excellent brakes and there's really nothing on the market better than the OEM stuff.

What the OP needs to look at more than the pads/rotors are the LINES...GM trucks from this era are known to have uncoated steel brake lines that rust out. I changed my lines to stainless and went to braided stainless hoses as well.

I redid my brakes lines after I almost lost my sub into lake. Put boat on trailer, attached winch and chain. Return to truck, remove e brake, shift to drive poppped. Floored it out of sloped launch and thanked god nobody was walking in front of truck.
BurbMan
Explorer II
Apr 09, 2018
FYI, OEM pads on these trucks are ceramic. Lots of fluff floating around on this thread...some vehicles do benefit from upgraded brake components, the Tahoe and 1500 series trucks included. The GM HD trucks have excellent brakes and there's really nothing on the market better than the OEM stuff.

What the OP needs to look at more than the pads/rotors are the LINES...GM trucks from this era are known to have uncoated steel brake lines that rust out. I changed my lines to stainless and went to braided stainless hoses as well.
time2roll
Nomad
Apr 09, 2018
Keep the truck stock OEM. Spend your money installing disks on the trailer.
4x4ord
Explorer III
Apr 09, 2018
ScottG wrote:
4x4ord wrote:
I'm happy to tow at 62 mph. Likely towing at 70 mph will increase your kinetic energy by about 35% and your fuel consumption by 15%. If you're worried about safety you could just slow down a little.

People who want to stop better don't just want to do so at 70. They want to stop better at all speeds.

Then they should change their tires not their brakes.
Planning
Explorer
Apr 08, 2018
mapguy wrote:
Planning wrote:
mapguy wrote:
pin and pad fitment maintenance is where most fail....on these trucks.

What is your regimen for these items?

IMO most shops that push free brake inspections do poor on the fine points of a top notch brake service. Just replacing the pads/rotors is not a "complete" brake service.

If a 4lb. hammer is needed to get brake pads out of caliper -they are not working properly and a large amount of work will be necessary to get everything moving freely again.

Thank you for the detailed response.
Grit_dog
Navigator
Apr 08, 2018
ScottG, not going to convince him.....but you're correct. I've never heard of such a thing and yes some aftermarket brake products are much better than OE....and some are not.
It's OE legal speak like you said.
I have a preference for ceramic pads in recent years. Would OEs still stop the vehicles? Absolutely. But I like doing it with less pedal effort, more braking power and less brake dust!