brakes are spongy

[don b]

my truck had spongy brakes and a sticking caliper so my mechanic replaced and bled my front calipers and adjusted and bled the rears. the brakes are still spongy. he said that when he isolates the front brakes and tries the rears by themselves there is no spongieness,so we figure the problem is with the fronts. he cannot feel any expansion in the flex lines and there appears to be plenty of vacuum. any ideas or tests we could do to isolate the problem? thanks

 

[xpetecx]

hey when you figure out what it is tell me, cause mine does the same thing.

 

[Paychk]

Don look at the calipers and make sure the bleeder screws are pointing up, if not then the calipers are on the wrong side. I would replace the flex hoses any way unless they are fairly new. Also you may want to remove the steel lines from the front brakes so you can get a really good look at them, they have been known to chafe through,allowing air into the system.



Are the replacement calipers new or new remanufactured? I had problems once with a reman. master cylinder; went through 3, before the four didn't leak down.

 

[y-knot]

I think your problem is your truck is old and the hard rubber brake lines have lost there integrity. They might not leak, but the hoses have broken down from the elements and the age. You can replace all (don't forget the rear one) with new OEM type hoses, or spring for the better Braided SS lines, that are available Thur most Truck parts stores, both brick and mortar and web based. I have found that the replacement works wonders for both trucks and cars, even newer ones with decent rubber hoses. The better hoses really does a great job of firming up the brake pedal, they resist expansion while under pressure which translates to better braking. My '05 subbie really responded well to new brake line hoses, and it only has 4,000 miles on it. They made a world on difference on my Dodge truck, and the Ford one too. I guess you get the felling I really like the performance type hoses and firm braking.

 

[CLiberty]

I think your problem is your truck is old and the hard rubber brake lines have lost there integrity. They might not leak, but the hoses have broken down from the elements and the age. You can replace all (don't forget the rear one) with new OEM type hoses, or spring for the better Braided SS lines, that are available Thur most Truck parts stores, both brick and mortar and web based. I have found that the replacement works wonders for both trucks and cars, even newer ones with decent rubber hoses. The better hoses really does a great job of firming up the brake pedal, they resist expansion while under pressure which translates to better braking. My '05 subbie really responded well to new brake line hoses, and it only has 4,000 miles on it. They made a world on difference on my Dodge truck, and the Ford one too. I guess you get the felling I really like the performance type hoses and firm braking.

I`ll second that, I also have an 86 W250 gasser that had spongy brakes, I put a set of skyjacker braided stainless lines on and it made a world of difference. They don`t make braided lines for down by the knuckles though, for that i just used stock replacements, worked out great.