Lousy Brakes

[toomanytoys]

I have a 98 Eddie Bauer Exp. The brakes are really bad. I have done new pads and rotors, as well as bled it all out. The pedal response is lousy. My 88LX stops better than this truck. I cant even get the rear wheels to lock no matter how hard I stand on the pedal. Ive come real close to rear-ending some cars because of this. Anyone else have this problem? Any ideas?

 

[XLTman]

Maybe you need a new master cylinder

 

[lakmflx]

Originally posted by toomanytoys
I have a 98 Eddie Bauer Exp. The brakes are really bad. I have done new pads and rotors, as well as bled it all out. The pedal response is lousy. My 88LX stops better than this truck. I cant even get the rear wheels to lock no matter how hard I stand on the pedal. Ive come real close to rear-ending some cars because of this. Anyone else have this problem? Any ideas?

1. Might be a dumb question but are you sure you bled the brakes correctly? ( air in the line would cause bad braking power)

2. When you replaced the brake pads, were the calipers supported? also did they fall? When i had changed my brakes once... i had the rear calipers supported and the right rear had slipped off and just hung there for a few seconds. Later on that day my brakes were getting alot worse. When i finally got home, i jacked up the truck and saw that brake fluid had been leaking out from a bolt on the caliper, which caused my brake resevoir fluid to completely drain. I tighted up the bolt and problem fixed. Only other possible problem i can think of this second is that you may need your master cylinder replaced.

 

[JUST4FUN]

Also if the brake fluid is the original fluid that came with your truck
it probly has moisture in it. This brings the boiling point down.
you said that you cant get the brakes to lock up most likely you have boiled the fluid and air is trapped in the lines . get new fluid and go from there. go with the cheapest and easyest fix first .

 

[toomanytoys]

Thinking the same thing,(bad fluid) I flushed the system out. There is no change. The strange thing is the brakes work fine in reverse. If I back up at about 30mph and hit the brakes I get lock up and abs activation and the truck stops on a dime. Going forward at 30 is a whole different story. Brakes absolutely suck. Heres another test I did-- standing on the brakes with the truck in drive I give it some gas and at about 1800 rpm the truck rolls with ease. Do the same thing in reverse and the truck dont move- even at 3000 rpm. Master cylinder ? Why would the brakes work fine in one direction and not the other? Ive changed the pads, new rotors on the front, surfaced the rear rotors and completely flushed the system. There are absolutely no leaks not even at the base of the master.