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my brakes still suck

sharq

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Tampa Bay
'93 sport 4.0 aw4 np231 8.25 6.5"lift 33's

i got around to replacing the brake shoes on the 8.25 today in hope that it would fix my
spongy feeling brakes. it did not.

a little history. i traded a hand gun for this jeep about a year ago. it had quite a bit of front end damage. i thought that the unibody might have been tweaked and figured if nothing else i could use it as parts. at best i could rebuild it and wheel it. well, ive rebuilt it and have been driving it everyday now since finally fixing the DW a few weeks ago.

the brakes are weak. the pedal has had alot of travel. i thought i might just need to bleed the brakes. i did so when i upgraded to the longer chevy brake lines last week. i bled them till the fluid came out with no sputtering.

the pads have plenty of material left. new shoes today and hardware kit.

i noticed that the calipers have a very tiny amount of play. i thought that the 2 bolts might not be tight all the way and i ended up braking a bolt trying to make the calipers feel like the were tight all the way like on my '95.

when i brake hard i hear a repeated knocking sound comming from the passenger rear area. no carpet so i hear it clearly. the knocking frequency reduces with speed.

what am i missing here?
 
replace brake master clyinder. if that still does not work your booster may have gone.
 
also verify that you do not have a leak in any of your lines. did you replace with hose line or steel braided?
 
the resivour(sp?) isnt losing any fluid. so i dont think theres a leak.

they were stock lines off a chevy truck because they are longer. its a common swap.
 
im saying check for a leak for air getting in. It's possible that air is getting in without you noticing a leak. If your brake master cylinder has never been changed i would do that first. i have an extra one that you can have for free. If that does not fix it then its gotta be the booster. one way i believe you can test to see if its the booster is, while driving, rev up while braking at the same time. if the pedal gets stiffer then its the booster. if the pedal still drops to the floor then its the master cylinder.
 
i thought thats what i was doing when i bled them. how much fluid do i need to pass through the lines before i am sure i am free of air bubbles?
 
Power booster functioning as intended?

Fluid bleeding by MC piston?

Long chevy brake lines--would HP/reinforced lines be better?
 
im saying check for a leak for air getting in. It's possible that air is getting in without you noticing a leak. If your brake master cylinder has never been changed i would do that first. i have an extra one that you can have for free. If that does not fix it then its gotta be the booster. one way i believe you can test to see if its the booster is, while driving, rev up while braking at the same time. if the pedal gets stiffer then its the booster. if the pedal still drops to the floor then its the master cylinder.

i will try that method. driving when i am unsure of the brakes sucks.
 
just until the bubbles stop. keep in mind to make sure your resevoir isnt going dry cuz youll be repeating this process for days lol. I know what you mean about the unsureness of the brakes, i had this same prob and i drove down the cuesta grade with it! scarrrryyyy. If it's sketchy, be sure to downshift and dont be afraid to use your parking brake.
 
take it to wal-mart at 2 in the morning lol. no traffic and wide open spaces :p
 
also, you know the vacuum line going from the booster to the manifold? make sure theres no like in that hose.
 
just until the bubbles stop. keep in mind to make sure your resevoir isnt going dry cuz youll be repeating this process for days lol. I know what you mean about the unsureness of the brakes, i had this same prob and i drove down the cuesta grade with it! scarrrryyyy. If it's sketchy, be sure to downshift and dont be afraid to use your parking brake.

the parking brake dont work too well either. cant downshift, automatic. i keep my distance from other cars and give myself time to brake.
 
oh ya and just to make sure you are bleeding in the correct order. back right, back left, front right, front left
 
you can downshift in the auto. I do it all the time. if your going 25 below it shifts to first. over 25 your in second etc. just take it easy and dont get hurt. I dont feel like seeing your name on the In Memorium forum!
 
alright good! are you going now? or waiting till first light
 
So, #1, you make sure there are no signs of leakage. That means no use of brake fluid from the reservoir. #2, start vehicle and pump up brakes about 5-10 times and hole down pedal hard. If it goes down steadily, your master cylinder is shot - replace. If it holds, and you still need to pump the brakes to make them work, either your rear brakes are way out of adjustment or you have air in the lines. You've already bled them. Are you confident that you did this right? If so, my best guess at that point is the rear's are out of adjustment. They are supposed to be self adjusting, but that shit freezes up quite a bit, and even after I fixed mine, it seemed like the original self adjusting cable was made too long to adjust properly. The best is to take all this stuff apart (pull the drums off and lube it all up including dia-assembling the adjuster star wheel). But, thru the slots, you can tighten up the free play in the rear brakes which could be taking up more fluid than the stroke of the master cyl can displace. If you never did it before, you probably need to pop off the rear drums and look at everthing.
 
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