Yellowtruck

So, this brake problem has been going on for over 6 months. I work on it/invest money into it and then have to take a break from it in order to keep my sanity. I need some ideas....w/out burning a much larger hole in my wallet.

It's not possible to slam on my brakes and leave a tire mark on the road. In fact, going at about 20-30 miles per hour, if I slam on my brakes, it takes about 10-15 feet before coming to a full stop. Also, my RF brake pad wiggles a bit w/in the caliper. It only does this when the truck is in motion. All I need to do is very lightly tap on the pedal and you can hear the clicking sound of one of my RF pads moving.
When this all began, it started out with a simple brake pad change. I wanted to try out a friend's recommendation. I switched to Performance Friction Brake Pads. After installing them, I found that my braking distance was no better. After more investigating, I found out that a couple of my pistons were sticking. So, I replaced both sides with rebuilt calipers. Not much better.
So, I upgraded to performance rotors. Still, not much better.
I went to a local auto shop and had them do a check on my MC and Booster. He said they both seemed fine to him. I have found no bulges nor kinks in any of the brake lines. No fluid loss. My brakes have been bled over and over and over. We were going to try to power-bleed them yesterday but, we couldn't figure out the correct way to hook it up (Any help on that would be appreciated too).
I'm at a lost about what to do. Yes, I could just throw in the towel and go to my "real mechanic" and continue to put his kids through college but, I'm stubborn and I like to keep my money to myself.
Yes, I could just go ahead and buy a new MC and/or Booster but.....is THAT the problem?? Has anyone had the same problem or anything similar? I'm banging my head here!
I'm thinking about returning my calipers and/pads for another set. Also, my "real mechanic" had mentioned to me that he once tried the Peformance Friction pads on his Mustang and got bad stopping distance. He swapped them out for another brand and the problem went away. Aynone had this problem?

abecedarian

after doing the front, did you also bleed and adjust the rears and the lpsv?

Yellowtruck

Yes, we bled all points. RR,LR,RF,LF and LSPV.
However, we have not "officially" done a "full" adjustment to the rear brakes. Considering the rear brakes outlast the front brakes, we were chancing that the rear brakes are still good-to-go. Though, it is on our to-do list. It just doesn't make much sense to us that after slotted rotors, new calipers, performance friction pads and multiple bleeding AND the okay from an official mechanic that the MC and Booster are good that I am still having such bad braking. I am preparing, unfortunately, to fork out the cash for a new MC and/or booster but, I am just praying that there is something much much cheaper that I am over looking. Nothing is worse than shelling out the cash for new parts that were "un-needed new parts".
Do you have any experience with the Performance Friction pads?

abecedarian

if there is too much slop in the rear cylinders, the master cylinder has to pump extra fluid in there to expand them and that takes fluid away from the calipers and delays their actuation until the rears are grabbing.

abecedarian

i used to have about 1/8" clearance on the rears and a spongy pedal. replaced the rear cylinders and shoes, bled it all and adjusted the rears to the point of contact and the brake pedal became almost too touchy.

abecedarian

no I don't have any experience with them.

with regards to the wiggle, what is the condition of the wheel bearings on that side? sloppy bearings can cause the hub to wobble enough to displace the brake pads

Jay351

Just a question. Did you make a lift bracket for your LSPV after you did your lift?

After I did a 2" suspension lift my braking was CRAP, I made a 2" lift bracket for the LSPV and my braking is actually pretty darn good now.

Just something to check into...

abecedarian

^ +1
you have to compensate for the lift by adding the lift height to the axle end of the lpsv arm or lower the lpsv the lift amount.

Yellowtruck

I'll definitely push the rear brake job to priority #1. Though, I'm at my friends mercy on that job. I have no experience doing rear brakes but, always willing to learn.
As for the wiggle; seriously doubt that it's the bearings. Just this morning I had my boss take a look at it wih me. He thinks it's a bad caliper...or a bad pad. Or....my pins have worn out and are giving too much play.
As you lay on the ground and are looking up at them, you can just barely grab the inner pad and push it up and down, as if the inner pistons don't have enough of a snug fit on them. Or, the pads I bought were defective.
How much did it cost you to replace the rear cylinders and shoes?

Yellowtruck

No, I haven't. The lift was done to my truck before I bought it. Back then, the brakes worked very well, no problems at all. Nothing else has ever been done to my lift. I never knew about the bracket until I read about it here a few months ago. Not sure how to go about that but, I will definitely look into that.

abecedarian

I went cheap and did the autozone route and it was about 40 per wheel for the cylinders, about 40 for the shoes. the cylinders and shoes had a lifetime warranty so if they go bad I'm only out the labor, and the drums were 40 with a two year warranty.

Zombie

Do the lift bracket, it is easy to do and should be done if you have raised the suspension. Right now your system thinks that there is no weight over the rear wheels and so is compensating for it by doing all the braking with the front wheels. I had exactly the same problem.

abecedarian

and replacing the rears aren't that hard. if you're determined, you can do both sides, replacing the cylinders, springs, shoes and drums, in about an hour each side using pliers, screwdrivers, scratch awls and band aids (for the cuts you'll get), and then another 15 or so minutes to bleed them.

Yellowtruck

That's not too bad at all. Both the calipers and pads were bought from Autozone so, I too have the lifetime warranties. I'm really considering swapping them out for a different set....just to see.

Yellowtruck

How difficult was it to do and how did you do it?

Yellowtruck

It's official, I'm making that my priority. Might as well. It is a '91. I've owned it for 7 years and have never worked on the rear and have no idea what kind of work the previous owner did to them.

abecedarian

I'm not sure about Zombie, but I took some stiff perforated steel bar (has 3/8" holes one inch apart) from home depot and cut them into 6" pieces (they came in 24" sticks). Then I l stacked 3 pieces together (so they were 6" long and about 3/8" thick), bolted them together at the centermost holes and used a sawzall to cut each down towards the centers from the ends until I had only two holes in the center untouched. When they were done, they kind of looked like really tall but really skinny H, but the horizontal line between the two vertical lines had two holes, (vertical) with bolts in them. Hard to describe....
So I then took the old LPSV arm bracket and bolted it to the top end of the H and bolted the bottom end of the H to the axle. Since I slotted the bracket I had the ability to slide the H up or down to compensate for 6" of lift. I'll make a graphic shortly.

Yellowtruck

That was creative!
I might have some luck on my side considering that my friend helping me work on my brake problem is an awesome welder. I'll talk to him and see if he can fabricate me a bracket.
I would love to see some pic's of yours and anyone else's who have done this. I'm more of the hands-on/visual learner.

CyMoN

I skimmed over the responses you got I add if you have not try different pads I bought some performance pads from auto zone and they sucked I took them back and bought some EBC's from pep boys and they made a world of difference.

some performance pads need to be hot or warm for good braking.

I have had the best of luck with organic pads and the EBC's.

Jay351

I had a peice of flat steel laying around, measured, marked and drilled two holes. Found two bolts in my garage and gave it a shot of paint.