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Brake Troubleshooting

bigalpha

bigalpha

Moderator
Location
Tucson, AZ
I have some pretty serious shudder going when braking in my 88 MJ.

Is there a way to isolate the front brakes from the rear for diagnostic purposes? What about left side to right?
 
clamp the brake lines.
clamp the soft line on the rear to test front. then clamp each side individually..
the issue is most likely front end not rear, you do not HAVE to clamp the rear while testing each front side, you can clamp just one side at a time and leave rear open...
 
Thanks - that's what I was thinking of doing but wasn't sure if it would be bad to clamp the lines.

What is the best way to clamp them - vise-grips?
 
Does the shudder feel like it is coming up through the steering wheel or through the seat of your pants? Typically front brake issues can be felt through the wheel and rear brake issues can be felt through your butt.
 
When slowing down quickly from a higher speed, the whole truck shudders and the brake pulsates. If I slow down slowly, it hardly shudders at all. At low speeds, though, the truck doesn't shudder but it does feel like a warped rotor or drum.

Just driving around, it *seems* like the problem is caused from the rear end.
 
I would hazard a guess that the pulsing pedal and shudder is the front. Warped rotor most likely, and possible unit bearing issues.

As to the brake flexible lines--to your knowledge have they ever been replaced? If not, chance are when you clamp them damage will be done to the lines--like anything else they get weak with age.
 
you "can" use vise grips i wouldnt. they sell cheap line clamps, and are good to have around anyway.
like joe said, this is as good a time as any to replace the lines, they are cheap, and its an eas swap, well worth the little bit of time and money.
 
before you go clamping down on the already aged hoses, try applying the parking brake while at speed (obviously not enough to lock the wheels). If you get a smooth, gradual decrease in speed, you've eliminated the rear brakes as a suspect.
 
AFAIK, the soft lines have never been replaced. I'll look into replacing them. No point in getting all the kinks ironed out if I can't stop this thing :D

I'll go pick up some line clamps - I didn't know they made things specifically for that purpose. I assume that's a generic thing I can get at an auto parts store?

I need to adjust the parking brake properly, first :D
 
AAHHHHHHH!!!!

The upper bolt that holds the caliper on stripped completely round on the driver side. I really shouldn't be surprised that nothing goes my way, but what should I do now?

I was thinking of taking it to a brake shop and having them replace it.
 
Hex or allen key? On an 88 it'll be allen key unless you or someone else swapped the front axle at some point.

Grab the sucker with vice grips and crank it off. If that does not work, find someone nearby in the SEC who can weld a nut onto the head of the bolt (I'd go with a larger nut and weld through the hole in the center) then crank the sucker off. If that fails, sawzall the caliper off, buy a caliper and knuckle at the junkyard, and swap it over.
 
It's not an allen key, it's a hex headed looking bolt that fits a 6pt 13mm socket. I can't tell you how infuriated I was.
 
Been there, except instead of rounding the head off on mine, I stripped out the threads.
 
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