Anyone else had this problem? My pads are good and I just had a local shop bleed the brakes and that didn't help. Any ideas?

Thanks

 

I've been going through the same problem, good pads and shoes, turned drums and rotors (both within specs) new master cyl, new anti lock brake dump valve, no leaking cylinders.....

So I took it in a couple of weeks ago thinking it may be the booster. The tech who has worked on this truck for 6 years or so clamped off the booster, still a spongy pedal, so he clamped off the rear brake lines, no change, next he clamped off the front brake lines, BINGO..... HARD pedal, 3/4" from the top.

The brake lines themselves look good, no craking or bulges...... we're thinking calipers at this point. I take it in sometime next week, I'll post results.

David

 

Before you replace calipers or other parts...humour me and try one more thing. You say the pads are "good", What does that mean? They may have lots of material on them still but try this just to eliminate it. Remove the pads and find a fairly level surface such as a work bench. Get a large piece of sandpaper (I usually use drywall screen) and place it on a flat board/piece of glass, etc. Holding the pad evenly sand the pad on the sandpaper level until the facing of the pad is sanded evenly and level. Re-install them and try driving to see if the pedal feel is now good. WARNING!!! the first couple stops may take a little extra then normal until the pad beds into the rotor. If this resolves it then you have a cheap fix. I see this quite commonly at work and the reason behind it is that as a brake pad wear there is usually more force applied to the center of the pad then the ends causing the center to wear slightly more, over time there is a slight 'bow' to the pad and as you apply the brakes the bow has to compress fully before the center of the pad makes contact. It is the taking up of the bow that can give sponginess and sometimes it can be quite drastic even though visually the pad looks ok.

If it does fix your problem either replace pads with quality new pads or do as some manufacturers recommend and service the brakes this way every 15k or so (i.e. Honda recommends servicing front and rear brakes this way every 7500miles to even out wear and provide best pedal feel as well as reduce noise). If it doesn't help your problem then at least you haven't overlooked this simple and often overlooked issue that can cause unnecessary replacement of much more expensive items.

 

colesdad, what ever happened to your brake troubles? Im in the same boat.

 

yea i had the sponge pedel and had everything cheacked out and nuthin...just went away