Front brake dust shields, replace or delete? (1 Viewer)

[Pippylongsausage]

I've seen some conflicting info about these when I searched and I am wondering if there is a consensus as to whether I can leave my front brake dust shields off when I do my knuckle rebuild/rotor caliper swap this weekend. Mine are rusted to heck and pretty much useless, and since Im getting bigger rotors I dont think they will work anyway. New ones are a bit pricey and I would rather leave them off if I can. Do I need to add a spacer of some sort in its place?

 

[quasi]

trim the backing plate down to just the spacer section, you will be good. ran my mini-truck that way for years, in rain/snow etc. people will tell you the cold water on a hot rotor will warp it, they lie!

 

[Flank]

My $.02:

If you are using your truck frequently on highway / daily driving - replace them with good used from part-out section. They keep a lot of road crap out of the brakes and contribute to safety by protecting brake components. You don't want gravel and rocks mixed with mud getting in there at high speeds.

If it is primarily a trail rig, then makes no difference, delete them.

 

[pandathrust]

I'd get rid of them. Plenty of trucks out there running without them. Last year at GSTMR a few small rocks got in between mine and the brake and it was hard to get them out. Ended up driving home with one or two still in there and it was squeaking like crazy all the way back. Just take them off and cut them down with a cutoff wheel and put them back on. I haven't had problems without them so far and many others haven't as well as long as you keep your truck maintained you'll be fine.

 

[Pippylongsausage]

These things are so rusty, I dont know if there is anything left to trim down. If I just leave them off, will the gap cause a problem? Anyone care to measure the thickness of theirs so I can make a shim? Ideally I would replace them but at $60 a pop, I'll save my money for a winch.

 

[gofast]

I'm running shieldless - needed to remove them for the Marks ABS kit. I've run that way for a year and half with no issues