Brake Pedal Travel

I'm posting for a friend. He has an '88 Cherokee that is having a few issues. One is the brake pedal has to travel almost to the floor before the brakes grab. When they do grab they stop fine, even able to hold the Jeep still on a 45 degree slope. The speed at which you press on the pedal seems to make no difference.

We have not tried anything yet. First order of business will be changing the fluid and bleeding the brakes. Anyone have any other suggestions? It doesn't seem like a master cylinder or brake booster problem, but we're pretty new to this and he's a little reluctant spend money throwing parts at the problem.

If the pedal gets higher, when you pump it, the system most likely needs bleeding.
Possible the adjusters in the rear are fozen, fairly common. A good coat of grease on the threads usually cures this.
As long as your trouble shooting, it would be a good idea to check the shoes and pads.
Also take a look and see if the only the fronts are working, if the rears are only working, you usually notice quick.

8Mud said:

If the pedal gets higher, when you pump it, the system most likely needs bleeding.
Possible the adjusters in the rear are fozen, fairly common. A good coat of grease on the threads usually cures this.
As long as your trouble shooting, it would be a good idea to check the shoes and pads.
Also take a look and see if the only the fronts are working, if the rears are only working, you usually notice quick.

Click to expand...

Yeah...what 8Mud said...

My brakes get like that about every 6 months, so I get underneath and adjust them up. No biggie.

The Master Cylinder will also cause this. If bleeding and adjusting doesn't work, its probably your MC.

Dean

The pedal doesn't seem to get higher as you pump it, the brakes always seem to grab at the same point.

We did ujoints and the pads up front looked good, we will check the drums when we bleed the system.