Hi, does anyone know why Chevy has went back to rear drum brakes on the 2005 model? Isnt this a step backwards? My friend told of this so I had to run down to my local dealer and see for myself!!!

That is correct, the 1500 series trucks have drum brakes on the rear for 2005. I believe that the Quadrasteer may still have 4-wheel discs.

They also put in a 145-amp alternator (instead of the 105 amp in the '04), removed the airbag switch in reg/ec models, and changed up the wheels a bit. I like the wheels on the '04 more personally.. but I'm a bit partial, as that's what I drive =).

if you cant engineer succesfully take two steps back...JJ

In the states where salt is on the road in winter really rusts the rotor faces bad,And if you drive too much on dirt roads the right inner brake pad wears very quickly. also there have been problems with the parking brake shoes wearing quickly due to rust build up in the drum part of the rotor.

The reason why they went back to drum brakes in 05 is because they couldnt develop A good emergency brake for the rear disc brakes. Major problems and tons of law suits on emergency brake set ups. I should know. I sued chevy when my emergency brake failed and slammed into another vehicle. The law suit was settled and GM admitted that they had A problem with there emergency brakes on the silverado from 99-04.
They said it was going to be taken care of in 05. So thats there solution.
Back to drum brakes..

as i said...JJ

I had the exact same problem with my 02 1500HD.. The right rear inside pad wore out and stopped pressing against the rotor and the rotor rusted and flaked. The left side wasn't wore as bad but it still jammed up because of dirt and the rotor rusted and flaked. I had both rotors cut and cleaned and sanded all parts and put a light coating of ign. grease on the parts. I then spent and hour "fitting" the new shoes so they slide and moved freely. Brakes are great now even feel better then new. I guess I need to add a trailer flush kit to the rear to keep the things clean.. I heard that one of the reason for this is that the rear brakes are too big for the application and the bias is very low on the rear brake feed back thus not working the rear brakes hard enough to keep everything moving the right way..