1997 Jeep Wrangler Brakes

[BigChevy17]

my dad has a 97 wrangler that hes been working on and the brakes suck
we put new pads in the front and shoes in the rear and its a little better but still takes alot to stop it
how hard would it be to convert the drum brakes that are in the rear to disk
thanks

[Underpowered]

disc conversion would be pretty easy, bolt on actually. the ZJ (grand cherokee) came with the same rear axle, D35, and came with factory disc. all you would need is the whole brake setup off a Zj and it would bolt right up to your TJ.

but have you checked everything out on it? did you have the rotors and drums turned? or replaced? checked wheel cylinders? master cylinder possibly going south? vacuum to the booster clogged? many things would cause poor braking.

[Mantovanelli]

Did you bleed the brakes? Also check to make sure the master cylinder is good.

[BigChevy17]

we replaced the master cylinder and bleeded the lines and that didnt help but the brake pedal was never soft and never sank so i dont think thats it
and the brake booster is supposedly new according to the po

and when we replaced the rear shoes whoever did it before put the two big pads on the driver side drum and the two small ones on the passenger side drum
could that damage it?
i am so stumped by this
i dont know what else it could be

[99silveradoguy]

take it to a shop and get an "estimate" they will look at whats wrong, and give you an estimate which should show what they need to fix, this should all be free unless you decided to do the work there sounds like somethings off. rear brakes adjusted correctly ? grease on any of the rotors ? what kind of pad material ? were the rotor's turned or replaced when pads were put on ? what did the rotors and drums measure out at ? My stock brakes on my 99 jeep slow my jeep down fine and will lock up my 35's if i brake hard enough.

There are kits out there to convert the rear drums to disc, but thats not going to help braking much. Drums actually stop very well in the rear of vehicles, the swap to disc is more for convenience etc. They do sell a very nice "big brake upgrade" kit for wrangler's front brakes but its about $600 i believe