Why do my brakes stink?

I know my brakes aren't supposed to be anything special with 32's. But that's not the point.

About a month and a half ago or so I went on a quest to try and restore my braking power to what it probably should be. New calipers, pads, shoes, drum spring set, new self adjusters, wheel cylinders, and new rear axle brakelines that broke in the process of unscrewing them from the old wheel cylinders.

For awhile everything was great. My old wheel cylinders were totally wasted. One piston on each cylinder was seized!

I had great braking power and a pedal that didn't have too much travel. Sure, more travel than my grandmother's 1980 Oldsmobile....but I could live with it. I could lock up the 32's on dry pavement. Woo!

Well over time, especially after a recent wheeling trip, the pedal has more travel. I have to push it down further to get it to stop. Also my ebrake is weaker and you have to pull it all of the way up for it to do anything. Also tonight I had to brake hard. I was pushing with all my might and the pedal to the end of its travel and I couldn't lock the wheels on dry pavement. I came to a stop but it wasn't just right.

My rotors are a little funky (they have ridges...and surely need replacing) and I could probably use new drums too, although they don't look too bad. But even with that my braking should be better! It always seems like the rear drums never stay adjusted, even though everything is new and greased well, so it's not like the star adjusteds are seized or anything.

Also my brakes are bled properly, and the fluid is new and clean. Calipers are on their correct sides as well.

What else could it be? The front rubber lines are a year old. The rear rubber line is probably stock. All of the metal lines are also most likely stock with the exception of the rear axle lines, which I had to replace. I've been meaning to replace the line going from the master cylinder to the rear rubber line as it's a bit corroded. But nothing is leaking and my brake booster isn't leaking off (pedal stays firm if pumped and motor is off. It'll stay firm forever, vacuum doesn't bleed off.)

And another question. Should you have to push further down on the brake pedal even if the rear drums become out of adjustment? I thought with the way the proportion valve worked that as long as the fronts were fine, your pedal would feel the same.

That's about the only thing that I can think of is being funky as the prop valve. And even then it doesn't make much sense to me.

Thanks in advance for anything you have to contribute!

every symptom is that the rears are out of adjustment-- lower pedal, more effort, and less parking brake without any leaks. Before I condemned anything, I'd crawl under and readjust the rears again so they just barely touch the drums and see if your braking effort is restored to normal. If they are still within adjustment, I'd say you've got an air pocket in the new rear lines, but that usually would have given you crummy brakes from day one.

I agree with Shorty. The automatic brake adjusters only work when you hit the brakes when traveling backwards. (And even then they don't work that great.) Alot of folks don't do this enough and the rear brake get out of adjustment. The telltail sign in your case is the fact that the e-brake handle now needs to be pulled up higher to get it to hold.

Hm, any reason why they'd get out of adjustment after wheeling?

After I greased up the star adjusters and replaced the self adjusting cable all was well for about a month, better than it's been in a long while.

my rear brakes are doing the same thing
seems that the adjuster cable just isnt tight enough to prevent the star wheel from gradually backing off.
cable needs to be 1/8 of and inch shorter

now im tightening them monthly,

When you rebuilt your brakes, if you swapped the brake adjusters L to R, the adjusters will work backwards. The brakes will get further and further out of adjustment each time you hit the brakes in reverse.

Also, if the parts guy gave you 2 L or 2 R adjusters, one of the rear brakes won't stay in adjustment.

I am having a very similar problem. I put new drums, shoes, spring kit, and wheel cylinders in last week. I also flushed the brake lines with new brake fluid. Right after the brakes were amazing and then I did a little wheeling yesterday and after I was on my way home I noticed there was no tension in my e-brake. Once I got home I washed the Jeep and took off each wheel and cleaned out the brakes real good. I didn't notice anything wrong with the drums even after I pulled them off and washed them with the hose.

The star adjusters I am using, I believe they are stock. They haven't switched sides. They are not seized though. I replaced the star adjustment cable on both sides though, one of my old cables was fraying and broke so I replaced both sides for good measure.

Also I put the shoes on the correct sides, I know the longer shoe goes on the rear end of the vehicle.

Star adjustment wheels don't have any room to back off as the "catch" thing (or whatever you call it) is snug against the star wheel only allowing it to tighten but not loosen.

I'd really love rear discs