Had a whole damn DIY written up for this and somehow I got logged out when I went to post it. Lost it all. Can't write it again right now, but basically I used 10" backing plates (along with parking brake lever and cross-strut) from a 1978 Dodge (D100?) which bolted to my 8.25 axle perfectly. Then I got the hardware for a 1st gen Dakota with 10" brakes and everything went perfect. Zero Frankensteining here really, it's like it came that way.

Purchased from eBay. $140 shipped. Seller had painted them, absolutely zero rust because it was a Cali truck.

 

So you are going from a 9in to a 10in? Sure is purty!! You went to some extra work there!

 

Yeah I had 9" brakes. This was actually a really easy swap! And the reason why I think it's useful is because old Mopar backing plates are actually easier to find on eBay because people need them for restorations. And few people restore Dakotas, so I think demand is too low to make it worthwhile to sell.

This is just my alternative to a disc swap...which I don't discourage anyone from doing. I just wanted to not have to mess with proportioning.

 

Sweet job. Looks like it would be a lot easier to handle the brakes with the hub off. How do you remove the hub? I never took one off and I see no bolts etc? Is the new drum from and older Dodge too?

 

The hub is part of the axle shaft, so you gotta disconnect it from inside the differential. Which entails pulling the differential cover and removing the little bolt you see here(the one in the middle and the only one you can see that goes crosswise from this perspective) . Then you just push out the cross piece (by hand) that the bolt threads into. Once that's out you just push the axle shaft in from the hub end, and a c-clip will reveal itself at the end of the axle in the differential. The c-clip you can remove by hand and half the time it just falls off when you push the axle inward. With the c-clip off the whole axle just slides out. If you're not replacing axle seals/bearings, it's best to be very careful pulling the axle out so as not to damage the seals.



It's all really easy to do, the hardest part is reinstalling the differential cover which just requires a little finesse so as not to smear the new liquid gasket too much.

Nope, new drum is a parts store replacement for a 1st Gen Dakota with 10" brakes and a 6x4.5 bolt pattern. Everything, drums, hardware, shoes, is for that matter for a 1st Gen Dakota! And it all works perfect! Nice to have drum temps below 300 degrees...thing was smoking before! The parking brake definitely holds the truck easier than the old 9".

 

If you are going to pull the axles, replacing the seals wouldn't be a bad idea. It ain't gunna get any easier.

 

Too true. I'd already done mine before this about 12000 miles ago so that's why I didn't do them now. But it was a good opportunity to inspect them and I gotta say these timken seals and bearings are looking mint! Highly recommend the timken repair style bearing.

 

Is there a certain model that came with the 10's? I have a 92 Le extended cab 4x4 with the 3.9l and not sure if it's an upgrade or just a clean up

 

I honestly don't know. I'd think they'd be maybe available in a V8 towing package? No idea. It seems to me that 9" brakes were the majority by a very large margin.

For future reference I have a 93 LE extended cab V6 5-speed 4wd.

 

My 1988 came with 10" rear brakes, but it also came with the highest weight capacity of the Dakota for 1988.

Just a note; like tbugden said, 9" was more common, according to the parts vendors.

RwP