It's one of those things that gets easily overlooked; you get some 37-inch tall tires wrapping some 22s, bolt them up to your super heavy Duramax with the Allison tranny, and next thing you know you're sliding through an intersection. The problem? Stock brakes.

The 99+ Chevy Duramax is a popular truck to build because of the ungodly amounts of torque available. But once you start modding it up with heavier wheels and tires, it's really time to consider an upgrade. Larger wheels mean a heavier rotating mass. Without getting into too much of the physics of it all, that just means that it takes longer for you to stop the bigger and heavier the wheel/tire combo gets. Getting bigger and better brakes cures that problem, and leaves your truck safe and sound at the stop light.

SSBC has an easy fix to this problem. They have a kit out now for the '99-2006 Chevy Duramax that upgrades the size of your rotors and calipers, while still using the factory spindles and hardware. The front calipers are a quick-change style, and made out of aluminum. The calipers are the Short Stop slotted rotor upgrade kit, and both of these can be used with factory rims and tires.  Follow along as we install a set of these brakes on a 2004 GMC crew cab.

Sources

SSBC (Stainless Steel Brakes Corp.)
11470 Main Road
Clarence, NY 14031
(800)448-7722
www.ssbrakes.com

Autostyle
8615 W Kelton Lane
Peoria, AZ
(623)815-8999
www.autostyleinc.com

Once the truck was on the lift and the wheels were off, our installer, Ryan from Autostyle, started by unbolting the tie rod. This would make it easier to access the caliper bolts.	Then the two bolts that hold on the caliper are undone and the caliper is set on top of the upper control arm temporarily. With the caliper free, the rotor slides right off of the hub.	A line clamp is used on the brake line, and then the brake line is unbolted from the caliper. This is to keep spillage of brake fluid to a minimum, as well as make bleeding the brakes in the end easier.
Next, the new SSBC rotor was slid over the factory hub.	The caliper was moved to the workbench, and then Ryan unbolted the caliper from the bracket that holds it to the spindle.	The tired stock caliper was then swapped out for the new SSBC one, and the pads were installed.
Once everything was complete, Ryan installed the caliper onto the rotor and spindle assembly.	SSBC provides a special adaptor block with the kit to allow you to use your factory brake line connection. It was mounted to the caliper and the stock line was connected using new copper washers.	The front was finished up by bolting the tie rod back onto the spindle. Just like that, the front end is all bolted together.
Next were the rear rotors, which couldn't be much easier. First, Ryan unbolted the caliper from the axle. With a couple of whacks from a hammer just to break it free, the stock rotor comes off.	Then the new rotor slides on in its place. Seriously. It's that easy. With the stock caliper bolted back on, all that was needed next was to bleed the brakes and bolt on the new wheels.	The Autostyle crew got the new 22-inch wheels and tires ready for the truck. All done!