I have a question that just came into my head while reading a "towing"
thread. My brakes suck on my little single cab 22re. I have changed the
pads. I have replaced the master cylinder. I have done everything short
of trying to convert it to 6 cylinder brakes. Also replaced rear shoes and
wheel cylinders.

Is there any hope?

Does anyone else have this problem? They never seem firm, they always
seem squishy and soft. Almost like they aren't really power brakes at all.

Anyone change over to braided brake lines? Would that help?

~castrol

 

My son's truck felt like the brakes weren't working at all. Changed front pads, not much better. Checked rears, OK. Tried bleeding system, NO fluid coming out of rear bleeders.
Replaced master cylinder (WOW!! $115...I only use new). Bled system (including the load sensing valve), now stops great! Did you bleed the sensing valve?

BTW, its a 85 Xcab 22RE

 

i have front ss lines that are extended pro comps... didnt notice a differnt over stock... except my truck is slower to stop now, but thats due to lift and a lot larger tires

 

Load sensing valve... hmmm, no, I haven't done that. I'll have to do some
research to even find out what that is.

~castrol

 

okay, did some searching. How do you go about bleeding this thing?
I need to crawl under my truck and check it out.

~castrol

 

Just like you bleed your brakes. Bleed the whole set up in this order:

Right Rear.
Left Rear.
Right Front.
Left Front.
Proportioning valve last.

 

Okay, I found a bar under there. Looks as if it is maxed out all the time.
Seems to be a lever/fulcrum type setup. Is this bar supposed to be straight?

There is two way movement. Clockwise and counter-clockwise. Seems to be
sitting at a constant clockwise state.

~castrol

 

Okay, bled the LSPV... no help.

Changed the master cylinder out... no help.

I am running out of ideas here.
I read one guy took his to a shop and had them professionallly bled, and that fixed
his problem. I guess that is my next step.

Still feels like if I hit the brakes too hard... I am gonna bust something. Something is
giving too much somewhere. Pedal should definitley be firmer. Gonna keep trying.

~castrol

 

Took it to a professional brake shop to have the brake system inspected and
bled properly. While they did get some air out of the lines, it made absolutely
ZERO difference in the way the truck stops.

The guys suggested new calipers, pads and rotors. This is my next step. Will
let you know how it comes out... for those of you who are actually interested.

~castrol

 

try disconnecting the power booster and see if it changes any. The porportioning valve could be jacked too.

 

Here's my subscription to your thread...

The brakes on my 87 are pretty bad too. They are good enough and I can stop hard if I need to, I usually will lock up one tire if I do (I've done it like 3 times in my time owning the truck) but just compared to every other car I have driven they are weak. I just assumed it was the larger tires?

Anyway, I hope you can get it sorted.

 

They were horrible, even with the stock tires. Something it wrong somewhere.
The harder I push the pedal, the more it feels like something is gonna break or
pop somewhere. I will try the calipers and rotors next. The caliper boots are in
pretty bad shape, as they pointed out to me yesterday...

~castrol

 

Dont know if this is youre problem or not, I'm just speaking from my experience.
I had horrible brakes earlier this year. I couldnt make any of the tires lock up on wet pavement. I was definately a danger to myself and others! Anyway, I adjusted the rear brakes, installed new stainless brake lines and replaced the brake fluid. Now I can stop quickly and even lock up all four tires on dry pavement.
I'm running 33x12.50's too!

 

I am doing stainless steel brake lines at the same time I do calipers. Fluid was
completely changed yesterday, and the rear brakes are adjusted well, and all
the hardware is new (ie shoes, wheel cylinders)

Maybe the braided hoses will do it?

~castrol

 

They might do it for you. I noticed that the pedal got a lot harder and more positive feeling after the stainless lines.

 

For the search minded folks...and for future reference.

They are fixed.

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/brake-problem-solved-47106/

~castrol