Brakes Going Out!
 

All of a sudden a few days ago I was pulling out of my driveway, I get out to the dirt and I go to stop before I pull into the street. I push on the brake pedal and get no response until it's about an inch from the floor.


So that was scarey. It still stops decently, although I don't think it stops as good as before... But it won't stop until the pedal's an inch from the floor, and it still builds up pressure up to that point. So you have to put mondo-pressure on it to stop at all. I even had to move my seat forward to get enough leverage on the pedal to stop suddenly. [eyecrazy]

Anybody know what the problem could be?


Thanks.:cool:

It sounds to me like your rear brakes aren't doing anything. Have you looked in the master cylinder to see if there's still fluid? You probably have something leaking, either the master or one of the wheel cylinders. You gotta tear into it and find the problem pronto before you wreck the truck and/or kill somebody.

Well, parking brake still works...


I've checked for fluid and topped it off with DOT 3. The fluid level was a bit low, but the gasket leaks a little bit, so that's to be expected. And it didn't stop once I topped it off, so that isn't it.

You're probably right about no rears. Front's don't bother to engage until you're all the way on them?

The truck isn't leaving any drips, but it would probably only be leaking with pressure applied. I'll throw a brick on the pedal and see if I can find a leak. Or could it be some kind of air leak, rather than a fluid leak?

The ironic part is that I just paid over $1,000 dollars to get the brakes fixed. That was only three weeks ago, so I wonder if I can go back and keep complaining. (They already forgot to attach the parking brake the first time...)

Hell yes, go back and complain, if it was only three weeks ago.:mad: :o

Okay, I'm thinking about this more and more...

The brake pedal feels just like it always did... If there was a hydraulic problem, wouldn't you have to push harder or wouldn't the brake loose pressure? The pedal would feel different if you were loosing fluid, right?

Wannadiesel, do you know how are the brakes in these trucks proportioned? Even if the rears were out, wouldn't the fronts begin to slow the vehicle before the pedal is an inch from the floor? Or are the rears the only things that engage until you really stomp on the pedal? (I guess that would ensure that you could still steer if the rears locked up, which hardly ever happens on these trucks :rolleyes: )

I'm thinking that maybe it's a vacuum leak; maybe the power assist isn't working? :confused: But still, usually when you loose power assist then the pedal becomes a lot harder to push to the floor, like when the engine's off. That isn't the case here...

Another theory that I thought of is that somebody oiled my pads and calipers... Somebody's trying to kill me- but then why wouldn't they just cut the brake lines? [eyecrazy]

And all the brake people did was turn a rotor, replace a rotor, turn a drum, replace a drum, replace the parking brake lines and replace pads and calipers. They didn't screw with anything vacuum or hydraulic (to my knowledge, anyhow).

I shall get to the root of this...

Being that someone was in there recently would lead me to look at what they did first. It really sounds to me like improperly adjusted back brakes or some air got into the lines somewhere. My rear wheel cylinder had been weeping for months...just enough to show in the m-cylinder once a month, but the pedal was awful. On the rear shoe adjustment, the starwheel/self adjuster on these trucks is the worst I've ever seen...it can take some fiddling with pliers to get the tab bent so it actually rachets (sp?) the starwheel like it should. If it wasn't my truck, maybe I wouldn't have taken the time to get it right, know what I mean? If the adjusters are allowed to back out, you'll likely get the pedal you describe. Get a rear wheel off the ground and the axle on a jackstand and spin that wheel by hand. You should hear the shoes dragging a bit on the drum if it's adjusted right. The difference between a slight drag and a properly seated shoe is about half the total brake pedal travel, at least in my experience. Plus, after a week or two of seating in, you may need a few clicks to tighten things up. With my detroit locker in rachet mode, I can get about 7/8 turn with a fair push on the wheel with my 245-75's. My front brakes are garbage, yet just the weight of my boot will slow me as I coast down the steep back hills around here. Good luck finding a solution--keep us all posted!

g

on a lighter note you could always use reverse[eyecrazy]

But seriously I've had brakes go out and its not good, bring it back to the place that did the brakes in the first place and don't leave until it's fixed.

$1000.00 for a brake job[eyecrazy] man I'm in the wrong line of work.

Good luck,
Michael

If they feel the same, probably an adjustment or proportioning problem. Also the lining of the rubber line sections can start comeing apart and stop the flow. You might replace all the lines if original. If the pedal seems too soft, check for leaks. If no leaks, it'll be the master cylinder. If it is hard as a rock to push, then either the booster is bad or a vacuum leak.

I had problems with the ABS rear wheel valve. Now I don't have one. I had a shope make me a fitting so I could hook up the two different size line fittings. It is made out of stainless and cost me $80.00. Beats $280.00 from Dodge for a new valve. If I hit the brakes to fast or hard thr rear wheels will lock up. When pulling my 5er there's no problem.

I've have the same prob with my w350 with the pedal being super lower. I bled 2 bottles of dot 4 before i gave up because nothing was working. My friend thinks it might be the master cylinder. I just drive it the way it is and am thankful that the truck is bigger than most of the cars i might hit!!

Check the rear wheel ABS valve. I had the same problem. I removed the valve and now I don't have the problem anymore. I had a fitting machined so I could omit the $280.00 valve.

I had a simular problem on a mustang.... the "plunger" in the master cylndar was allowing for fluid to come back in the resivour (good god this fourm needs spell check)

I got tired of troubleshooting after I spent some time on it. (I.E. I looked on the ground, said that no fluid was leaking, and got tired of it...)

I replaced the master cylinder (the old one had a leaking gasket anyways), bled the brakes, and the brakes are all better now.

However, I swear that the stopping power has been gently reducing since I bled them two days ago... Maybe I'm getting used to it, or maybe I have a leak somewhere that I'll have to deal with in a couple weeks. I'll see.

Master cylinders don't have "gaskets" [laugh]

Okay genius, what would you prefer me call the rubber seal that mounts between the reservoir walls and the lid? [dummy]

The guy at the junkyard a month ago had a whole bunch of master cylinder gaskets, if I recall correctly...