So our famous “All New rear park brake conversions” are officially over with- Yes GM discontinued the LH rear backing plate we used to make these wonderful set ups. I am actually surprised that they made them as long as they did, last production was 2015 model year and we just ran of out these a tad before the 10 years they promise to keep replacement parts….they probably didn’t plan on me using a few hundred of these over the past 8-9 years either though. So I have looked at newer plates to try and cobble a new set up together and they all have hurdles that make them less than attractive for this straight rear axle conversion I offered. So as all things come to pass, we have to adapt and adjust, the nice thing about new is I did not have to prep anything, just modify assemble and send it.
I’m still going to offer these rear park conversions because frankly there is still nothing out there that compares and accepts so many different late model brake set ups- So that’s the good -we can still make them with reclaimed backing plates, – that’s the right word right? I’d be showing my age saying “used”, “salvaged” or “junkyard” wouldn’t I?
The process- I ran over that in the last paragraph “mod,assemble-send it” With the new plates. I took some time this week to figure out exactly what I need to do to make a respectable looking product- don’t get me wrong, “If” I could sleep and night just modding, assembling and sending out used plates – well, I would but I cannot be proud of that work nor would I want to offer a substandard set up- I do offer the parts to build your own, so you’s that want to save a few bucks and put your own elbow grease (kids- you’ll need to google that probably) basically invest your own blood sweat and tears into creating a rear park conversion for yourself- which, if I may say- is very rewarding and exactly why I offer all the core components but I digress…What I have to do to make these acceptable in my eyes is refurbish or re-manufacture these “reclaimed” plates.
This process is pretty simple starting with a decent example, I`ll be removing the anchor block for the shoes and then stripping the E-coat and as much as possible try to work out any bends or dents from the plate, then off to sand blast and then to the powder coater. That is a lot of time compared to what I am used to spending, even though re-assembly is rather quick its all the prep- like a good paint job, its not the paint, it’s what’s under it that counts. So a lot of these plates have tiny dings from road debris pelting them as you go down the road, some come with rust that leave pits or small imperfections in the surface, some come potato chipped from the dismantlers. Rest assured I will always select the very best of the next two plates I am working over to send out but in reality, these plates although probably more durable than new now will still have some degree of evidence of a past life. The General built near 3/4 of a million 5th gens over those 5 years, granted not all of them had the rear plates we use but a lot of them did- the bad thing is none of these dismantlers will sell just the backing plate, they make you take the knuckle and bearing too- for the extra cost of weight (think shipping) and the scrap cost of those extra parts are not worth the space they take up- so downside again. To Top that off, they get the same or more than what a new plate cost us- so another swing and miss, But none the less seems like 5th gen owners didn’t take out the RH rear knee assemblies often, they tended to favor wrecking the side that GM discontinued of course so- RH rear- you get the pick of the litter, LH- rear your lucky to find one LOL…. So we have a deep well for the RH rears and actually I found a lot of take offs so those are pretty nice once I process them, the lefts I have to drag in one by one, painfully hoping it won’t be a strikeout when it arrives. So what’s all this typing and baseball analogies for anyway you might say ? Basically this is to spell out that yes, you will still be able to get these, will they be less $ now that we have “reclaimed” plates- ? I wish I could say they would be but like a lot of things over these past few years- I am for the time being going to be absorbing the extra time and hold cost where they are.
What I am going to do on the product pages is open ordering for them as long as I have some stock of all the parts (like usual) BUT they will say “available for back order” Yes you can still place and pay for the order and yes it will go into the cue right away in line with any other orders but because the process to complete these will take longer now- I don’t want anyone thinking they will click and ship like amazon or something, I typically took 3-4 work days to get one of these out (built when you purchase) and now we may be 5-7 days on a good week but like most orders I don’t let them hang around long enough to collect too much dust- Thanks for your time and understanding!