Well, I FINALLY fixed my brakes!

[tugboatphil]

It got dry enough to crawl under there this weekend and sure enough, the rears were all the way out of adjustment. Turned them down a little too far the first time around and if I hadn't had the seat belt on when I hit the pedal first time, I'd have gone through the windshield. After double pumping them all winter, I was a little too agressive with them.

 

[DKasper]

I know exactly what you mean -- I've been double/triple pumping mine all winter long. Haven't done brakes on this beast yet. Did you replace shoes, or just do the adjustment? How long did it take you?

Thanks!!

 

[1stgen4evr]

Brakes

I have made this comment on another post but feel it is relative here as well. When you do the rears, be very sure about the fronts. I failed to do that and while on a long trip, I lost the lineing on the right front outside pad when a near crunch situation caused me to get on the brakes really hard.



The result was that I had to replace the rotor. The pads are riveted to the backing and near the end of service life will shuck off and cause this problem. There appears to be adequate thickness to the pad but that is deceptive. The price of pads is not high and changing is not hard at all.



I do think that if your use is just light and around home, there is little to be concerned about. Pulling a trailer and never knowing when some dimwit will pull out in front causing a really hard stop, I have gotten so that I replace well before the pads are "gone".



Safe travels

1stgen4evr

James

 

[tugboatphil]

Amen on the fronts, James. Just like tires, I don't wait on them to wear out.



Dave, it took all of 5 minutes. On the bottom of the brake back plate, under the axle, is a 1/4"x1" slot. They may have dust covers, mine didn't. Look inside and there is a small star wheel. Look to one side or the other and you can see some threads. This is the turnbuckle that spreads the shoes out.



I didn't put them back together last time, but mine were such that I spun the star wheel downward (with a screwdriver blade). I could see from the threads that it was pushing the shoes, so kept going until I couldn't easily spin it. I think I went too far, so will play with them some today.



It was SO easy that I could kick myself for not crawling in the snow and mud to do it before. Also, does your E brake work? Mine didn't, which was the giveaway for brake adjustment. I had already checked vacuum.



Phil

 

[tugboatphil]

By the way, Dave. You're not that guy that used to play pro football are you??

 

[EZGZ]

Notice how your emergency brake came up a long ways to?



Mine would not hold adjustment well. I could actual gauge the need to adjust by monitoring the E brake travel.



One afternoon I decided to have a real thorough look and discovered that one of the star wheels on my self adjusters was on backwards. It never occurred to me when I struggled with that side.



This was done at a shop because I had no problem before until I had everything turned to get rid of the surging which was actually the front rotors.



Just something else to look for. Even the pros get in a hurry and make mistakes.



I used to think small one man shops were the greatest because they could take there time and do it right. The problem is they have to do everything else to and get distracted.



Now I look for large clean well organized shops with line mechanics that specialize.

Best to just do it yourself and enjoy doing it right whenever we can.

 

[DKasper]

Hey Phil,

Thanks for the description -- sounds like I'll be kicking myself soon for not having done it earlier! And no, my emergency brake doesn't work either, so that's got to be it.

I haven't pulled the drums on this truck since I bought it last fall, so I'm tempted to pull 'em just to see how things look.



I wish I was the football player -- I'd probably have a bit more $$ to play with my truck!



Dave signing off, getting ready to put the mud suit on . . .

 

[Bluebird]

Originally posted by EZGZ

I could not have said that better myself! Great job EZGZ, Patrick.

Best to just do it yourself and enjoy doing it right whenever we can. [/B]

 

[prototech]

Yeah, what EZGZ said. I had a "brake" shop replace the master cylinder on my truck because I didn't want to do it myself in a blizzard. The truck didn't pull to the left before I took it in, but it shure did after I got it back! I returned to have them bleed the brakes, they say they did, but a few weeks ago on a dry day I got under the truck to bleed the brakes and the bleeder screw was rusted in place! I'm no fool or maybee I am for letting someone else work on my truck and wasting good money on service poorly provided! never again! next year I'll have my garage cleaned out before winter hits! man it feels good to get that off my chest!!

Proto