pontiacratrod
Registered Member
howdy,
this is my first post here, and i am kind of desperate. ill try to describe in as much detail as possible. last year i bought a 1984 c20 3/4 ton 2wd suburban for $500. brakes worked okay throughout winter, stopped in the snow and wet weather better than my cars. noticing some unusual wear on the pads i suspected a sticking caliper so i just replaced both left and right calipers, hardware and pads. brakes are still okay, but not great. around march i noticed low fluid level in the master, and had spongy brakes so i checked out the wheel cylinders. sure enough they were leaking, so i put in rebuilt ones. couple weeks later, its raining out, and i had to panic stop because someone slammed on there brakes in front of me. my front brakes locked up and i skidded into the guy. pissed off i took it to my buddy and had him do the brakes. said that the parking brake was stuck and ended up burning up the drums and shoes and the wheel cylinder pistons had popped out again. had the drums cut to spec, put new shoes & hardware on. took it out for spin. no change. brakes are still crap. if i brake normal its ok. if i put even a little more pressure on the pedal, the fronts lock up and i skid. ive gone through more than a few stop signs because of this. ive had three shops look at this. no one can figure it out. they all tell me that the rear is not adjusted properly, that there isnt enough drag and that the drums shouldnt just come off w/out backing off the adjusters. so they adjust them up and i end up locking and smoking the rear drums because the drag is so bad. so each time we end up having to back off the adjusters so that there is no drag. also i would like to point out that twice now, in the last year ive been on the expressway and it felt like the rear brakes were overheating and starting to lock on me. id hit the brake a couple times to slow down to a stop and then it would smooth out and go away completely. now... things ive noticed that perplexed me:
1: master cylinder and power booster flex up and out from the firewall an excessive amount went the brake is depressed. firewall doesnt look like it is moving though...
2. pedal always feels "okay" not too hard no too soft. doesnt sink or fade. unless you were to try to stop fast you would think that they are perfectly operating brakes.
3. secondary shoe has half as much lining as the primary shoe. (im not sure if they come like this, because i didnt look when i originally installed them)
things that have not yet been replaced: master cylinder, power booster, prop valve, brakes hoses front and rear.
i hope this is enough to accurately describe my problem and maybe get an answer to whats going on. im about ready to shove a shotgun barrel down my throat.
thanks....
this is my first post here, and i am kind of desperate. ill try to describe in as much detail as possible. last year i bought a 1984 c20 3/4 ton 2wd suburban for $500. brakes worked okay throughout winter, stopped in the snow and wet weather better than my cars. noticing some unusual wear on the pads i suspected a sticking caliper so i just replaced both left and right calipers, hardware and pads. brakes are still okay, but not great. around march i noticed low fluid level in the master, and had spongy brakes so i checked out the wheel cylinders. sure enough they were leaking, so i put in rebuilt ones. couple weeks later, its raining out, and i had to panic stop because someone slammed on there brakes in front of me. my front brakes locked up and i skidded into the guy. pissed off i took it to my buddy and had him do the brakes. said that the parking brake was stuck and ended up burning up the drums and shoes and the wheel cylinder pistons had popped out again. had the drums cut to spec, put new shoes & hardware on. took it out for spin. no change. brakes are still crap. if i brake normal its ok. if i put even a little more pressure on the pedal, the fronts lock up and i skid. ive gone through more than a few stop signs because of this. ive had three shops look at this. no one can figure it out. they all tell me that the rear is not adjusted properly, that there isnt enough drag and that the drums shouldnt just come off w/out backing off the adjusters. so they adjust them up and i end up locking and smoking the rear drums because the drag is so bad. so each time we end up having to back off the adjusters so that there is no drag. also i would like to point out that twice now, in the last year ive been on the expressway and it felt like the rear brakes were overheating and starting to lock on me. id hit the brake a couple times to slow down to a stop and then it would smooth out and go away completely. now... things ive noticed that perplexed me:
1: master cylinder and power booster flex up and out from the firewall an excessive amount went the brake is depressed. firewall doesnt look like it is moving though...
2. pedal always feels "okay" not too hard no too soft. doesnt sink or fade. unless you were to try to stop fast you would think that they are perfectly operating brakes.
3. secondary shoe has half as much lining as the primary shoe. (im not sure if they come like this, because i didnt look when i originally installed them)
things that have not yet been replaced: master cylinder, power booster, prop valve, brakes hoses front and rear.
i hope this is enough to accurately describe my problem and maybe get an answer to whats going on. im about ready to shove a shotgun barrel down my throat.
thanks....
