Ilikebikes

Since the day I got my truck, the brakes have sucked. Of course, being the idiot that I am, I spent my time working on performance aspects instead of the brakes . I finally got around to working on them the other day. Here are the symptoms I'm getting:

-Seems/feels like only the fronts work (fronts can lock up easily).
-Pedal travel is really far, but I can pump the pedal twice and it will feel better. Once it's pumped I can hold it like the forever, but if I take my foot off the pedal for about 30 seconds it's back to the long travel.
-Low on power.

I gave them a good bleeding (in the order posted on this site) when I first got the truck and it didn't help at all. I adjusted the brakes out with the starwheel, and it worked good for a day or so, but then went back to sucking. Thought it would just be the shoes, so I start working on getting it apart. I pulled off the a drum a few days ago and the old shoe still has lots of life left in it, just a little bit less than the brand new ones I bought. This suprised me, since I thought that the shoes would just need to be replaced. Drum also looks good, no deep scratches/grooves or anything. The thing is not leaking a drop of fluid anywhere. No leaks on the wheel cylinders. What could it be? Something with the ABS system causing them to basically not work? Master cylinder? Any help would be appreciated!

wannadiesel

Sounds like the dump valve for the RWAL. It could be a bad master, though. The master is cheap, so change it first.

Ilikebikes

Does it sound like the slave cylinders are still good? If so, I'm gonna go return the brake shoes and get a new master.

Ilikebikes

Also, sometimes when I'm driving for a few hours at a time the ABS/Ebrake lights will turn on and off randomly. They only stay on for maybe 2 seconds or so, but it is completely random - it's not flashing a code.

flashgordon

you said that you adj the rear brake help for a day or so...........are the adj on back words or the adj them self bad and alowing them to un adj?

check them out first before you buy the master syl.

wannadiesel

If the wheel cylinders show no signs of leaking, they are not the problem.

Ilikebikes

They looked fine to me, but I don't know what a bad one would look like.

wannadiesel

A bad one would be leaking. Did you pull back the boots on the ends to look for leaks?

Ilikebikes

I meant the actual adjusters themselves. I'll go take a look at everything now.

wannadiesel

The adjusters are marked, but you will have to pull them off and pull the "fork" off the end to see the mark.

If the adjuster stars are not painfully sharp, they are worn out.

Ilikebikes

The edges are not super sharp but they're not worn down, either. To me, everything looks like it should - the adjuster can only turn one way (to expand the pads) without holding the lever that engages the points back.

I pulled back the slave cylinder seals too. On one side there was a little bit of fluid on the inside of the seal. Not enough to drip, I had to wipe it with my finger to get any off. It was also dirty, looks like it been there for a long time. There was no sign of any leakage. Had someone step on the brakes while I had that seal pulled back. Nothing leaked at all and it looked like the brakes worked like they should have (pads expanded). Is it possible that my master is just worn out and can't supply enough pressure? What about this RAWL thing?

wannadiesel

Replace the one that had residue.

I would throw a master at it because they are cheap (around $25 for a rebuilt). If that does not cure it, then spend the money on the RWAL dump valve.

Ilikebikes

I'll give it a shot. I was hoping it would be ok since I had working on drums! Thanks for the help.

Bill Tomlinson

I am amazed at how frequently I have to give the rear adjusters a twirl to keep a normal feel to my brakes. Every couple of months my park brake goes away and my pedal sinks too far. A few pokes with a screwdriver on the adjuster and all is well in lumber wagon land. I start with the blade at the top of the adjuster wheel and pivot it so it rotates downwards. Five such moves with the screwdriver restores the park brake and 'normal' feel to everything. Needless to say I am not impressed with the so-called self adjust system. I have it down to where I don't bother jacking it up. Just give it five good leverings and I am good to go. Used to have a problem with the RH park brake not releasing. After replacing the cable twice I said to heck with it and cut it off. With the posi and a good left hand cable which never seizes, I can't tell the difference. A dragging brake cable can wear down the shoes really fast. Just FYI.

spunbearing

You might want to check the adjusters to make sure that the knife-edge is sitting on the clickers correctly. I had my brakes done a couple of years ago and the meatheads put them on wrong and I couldn't for the life of me figure out how they did it but they were backing off. Once I got them on correctly no more problems.