HUGE BRAKE ISSUE!!PLEASE HELP!

96 Xj 4.0l, no abs

i recently changed drums, shoes, hardware, and the line from the block to drivers drum(it was pinched off from somone towing from axle)

im pretty sure they are adjusted properly and they have been bled.

we just got about 4 inches of snow, and now when i hit my brakes only the front will lock up, i habe no idea if it was doing this before becuase it hasnt been slippery.

this is scary because i have no steering. the rear wheels will not lock up at all. but when its jacked up and somone has the brake on i cannot spin the wheel.

my dad said this happened to his 88 and it was the proportioning valve. im not sure what this is... any inputs will help please...

Does the brake light come on at all?I've finally got my brake issues solved and in my experience the brake self adjuster cables were snapped.....the proportion valve was suspect but in the end wasn't the problem....they rarely go bad,if you think it is it can be tested by opening a the rear bleeder while the brake is depressed...the light should come on because this would cause a pressure differential between the front and back circuits.The front circuit can be checked using the same technique.
hth.

no its doesnt

The self adjuster from what i saw when i changed out the shoes and hardware were ok. i cleaned and never sieved the star spinners themselves and evething seemed to be working fine... what else could this be?? also i bled the rear brakes and no light came on

the light atually did come according to the person who was hitting the brake for me... so this rules out the proprtioning valve right?? i know its not the self adjuster cable... is the anyway this could be worn out wheel cylinders? thats the only thing in the rear brake setup i didint change

My rear brakes kind of sucked, so I adjusted the star adjusters. Drivers side (rear) was fine, just had to adjust it.

Passenger side (rear), the little latch that the star spinner rested on was loose. Somehow the line got loose......also the little curved piece of metal it sits on was loose. Put it back into place, gave the wire a twist, and inserted the end of the wire into the latch for the star spinner. It was locking so the star spinner couldn't loosen up! Tightened it up, and my brakes are wonderful now....just an FYI for someone else, seems like you already checked into this.

maine96xj said:

im pretty sure they are adjusted properly and they have been bled.

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When you manually adjust you want to just hear the shoes dragging on the drum and that's good-n-nuff. After that the shoes only adjust after reversing, braking, and releasing the brake. So, if you don't reverse much, and use the tranny instead of the brake to stop the Jeep when you do back up, your self adjusters are not even being used.

maine96xj said:

we just got about 4 inches of snow, and now when i hit my brakes only the front will lock up, i habe no idea if it was doing this before becuase it hasnt been slippery.

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Just for S&G I like to find a dirt road for a scratch test: Force a skid and compare the marks from tire to tire. It does not take much speed to do this on dirt. A little late now, but I like to test my work and make sure I'm done. :firedevil

maine96xj said:

this is scary because i have no steering. the rear wheels will not lock up at all. but when its jacked up and somone has the brake on i cannot spin the wheel.

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I think your engine generates more torque than your arms.

maine96xj said:

is the anyway this could be worn out wheel cylinders?

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If the wheel cylinders were shot there would be fluid everywhere.

Outside of adjustment I don't see anything that says the rears are not working. Is there any contamination on the front rotors that would make them grab?

I understand the no steering part, can you use the brakes at all without locking the fronts? If you tap (pump) the pedal, will the fronts release so you can steer between applications?

If the rears lock up in snow or ice, your XJ will likely swap ends. When the fornts lock you loose steering and actually need a lot longer to stop. I work the brake pedal, gently and with feeling and try to find the spot where it stops the quickest, but before they lock up. I often pump them lightly, not completely releasing the brakes, but also not over applying them. The whole process sometimes reminds me of trying to ice skate, with one skate, difficult but not impossible, with practice. Another technique that really helps is to make sure the XJ is pointed in the right direction, before you hit the brakes, corrections after the brakes are applied are iffy. You can also use the technique around corners, release the brakes steer apply the brakes, release and steer apply. I got good at that technique in the army driving tanks, they don't actually get much better traction on ice thn a car does, they turn into a 52 ton tobagon. Like mentioned before, sometimes you have to gas it a little to help with steering. Busy feet .
The rears will adjust up pretty quick, if you apply the parking brake about half way and then reverse and stop normally a few times, this often helps with sticky adjusters. I always take the star wheel adjusters apart, lightly wire brush the threads and coat them with moly chain lube or lithium grease. My adjusters always work. But I've seen others that were real stiff or jammed up tight.
The lever that works the star wheel for the adjusters is pretty thin and rusts away to almost nothing on occasion, especially in snow/salt country.
Washing out the shoes, drums and other hardware a couple of times a year with really hot water and a weak mix of dishwashing soap, really helps make the hardware last a lot longer (years longer). I use a parts brush and a bottle brush to get behind the shoes without having to remove them. The cleanup doesn't have to be perfect, the mild mix of dish soap doesn't hurt a thing, helps keep the brake dust out of your lungs and washes the abrasives and salt out.