Brakes brakes brakes...

So I have tried some searching, and have found some stuff, but figured id try to get some advice. I have a 1999 2 door, 4.0 D30/8.25 axles 4.5" lift. Just put 33s on it, and the brakes are utter crap. now before I put these tires on my brakes have been strange. The pedal has a lot of travel to it, and it had a hard time locking the tires up. I replaced both front calipers, pads, rotors and rear wheel cylinders. new brake lines, including hard lines. Any idea why all the pedal travel, and the not so stellar brakes? it was like this before the 33's and I understand the bigger tires don't help the issue.
If anyone can chime in I would really appreciate it.
:helpme:

Make sure rear brakes are adjusted properly

As Jeep Ride mentioned, firstly, check the rear brake adjustment. They CONSTANTLY need to be adjusted. And if the rears are properly adjusted, the brakes work pretty good considering what you have to work with. I've always had rear drums on my vehicles and NONE required more constant adjusting than on my rig. Check to see if everything back there is in good shape, especially the self adjusters-which should be greased well and spin very easily. Then simply adjust them about once a week by going in reverse roughly 5 mph and jam on the brake. Do this about 5-6 times. That tightens up the shoes to the drums. Then every 6 mos. make sure you pull off the drums and blow out all the brake dust. This is not so inconvenient if you do it when you rotate your tires. Simple. You didn't mention your flex lines. If you don't already, get some stainless braided flex lines, it helps with these weak brakes. Finally, make sure you are bleeding the system correctly and efficiently, I think the old two-man method works best, never fails. Start with the farthest brake from the master cyl., (right rear) and work your way to the closest (left front). Bleed all four until all bubbles are gone, then do it two more times, brake fluid is cheap.

It has the crown 5 layer flex lines on it, and if I wanted to manually adjust them, do I need to spin the adjusters clockwise or counter clockwise through the port?

Once you get the brakes working, they still will be inadequate, IMO, for 33's, if you drive at high speeds (freeways, expressways).
The larger diameter and increased weight of the tires and wheels overloads the marginal stock brakes.
Consider upgrading to WJ or Vanco front brakes, along with ZJ rear discs.

Got the rear brakes adjusted, it helped a lot, but ill agree with that, they still arnt the best

Anyone mess with the powerstop calipers? they are nice and pretty red, but look suspiciously close to the stock ones

sinat01 said:

Anyone mess with the powerstop calipers? they are nice and pretty red, but look suspiciously close to the stock ones

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Yes, they are most likely rebuilt, stock calipers with nice, pretty red paint

I have had decent experiences with Powerstop pad and rotor kits.
AFAIK, there are no caliper upgrades that fit the stock XJ knuckles, they are all the same size piston, no matter the color.

jeep ride said:

Make sure rear brakes are adjusted properly

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Randomly trolling this just saved me a ton of headache!

Didn't know you could adjust drums without taking everything apart.

I knew I loved you guys