More Brake Problems

[TimStatelman]

My 47' just keeps giving me brake problems...

1) sometimes my brakes lock up when driving at street speeds and car pulls

2) in order to stop I must pump the brakes...im certain that there are no leaks and no air in the brake lines (after i pump brakes and hold pedal it doesnt go soft)

[greg g]

brake lock up usually is related to foreign material on the shoes, in most cases thet means a leaking wheel cylinder. Have you had to add brake fluid or checked it lately.

Pumping the pedal is either an air problem or you are replacing leaked fluid from the MC to the wheel cylinder.

[TimStatelman]

I know my wheel cylinders are good I just replaced them but the reason was because I had one bad rear cylinder....there was some brake fluid on that shoe....is there anyway to attempt to get the contamination off?

[Desotodav]

Tim, I had a problem with leaking brake wheel cylinders a while ago. My brake man used a product called Brakeclean, which seemed to remove the contamination. I'm not sure what products are available in your part of the world, but search for 'brake clean' on the internet and that should bring up a list of products available to you.

Desotodav

[desoto1939]

Brakeclean is available at any good auto parts store, NAPA, AUTOZONE,etc.

Also did you touch and or move the eccentric cams? If the shoes do not have any brake fluid on them and they are clean it sounds as if you still need to adjust them to get them closer to the drum.

Did you replace the shoes with new lining? Check for any leaks and then readjust the shoes.

Rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com

[TimStatelman]

I did try to adjust the drums but I'll try again I never worked with brake drums before and these just confuse me... I'll try some brake clean this week and hopefully it will help should I spray the brake clean on the lining direct and let it dry? Also I would get new linings if I knew a place that sold them

[Jim Yergin]

I had problems with my brakes locking up. Turned out that the piston rod in the M/C was not traveling far enough to clear the relief port. Would happen more often as the brakes heated up and would release after pumping. You might want to check your M/C piston rod adjustment.

Jim Yergin

[Young Ed]

I think he's only got one brake locking at a time which shouldn't be the MC adjustment. Contaminated shoes will do that. My truck will do it the first 1-2 times I stop after its been sitting a while.

Your shoes can be relined. Look for a truck shop(like straight axle trucks) as they might know. Otherwise there are some mail order places. I use www.brakeplace.com They are local for me but do mail order.

[bamfordsgarage]

... should I spray the brake clean on the lining direct and let it dry?

Be generous with the cleaner, basically flush the contamination off the shoe surface. Also wipe off when good and wet. Flush, wipe, make mess, flush, wipe, make mess, repeat until clean

[MarkAubuchon]

here is my 2 cents Pumping the pedal to get a firm pedal can be related to several variables 1. Air in the line, easier to fix. Start with the RR, then LR, RF and then LF. Remember to take your time and let the fluid settle between bleedings 2. Out of adjustment brake shoes, what is happening is that the first push on the pedal uses all of the fluid to push the shoes out against the drum, the extra pumps help build pressure. With the proper tool it can be trciky but done with patience. 3. As far as one shoe grabbing, sometimes I have found it to be the Rubber flexible line, over time they collapse and restrict the flow of fluid. Remember its your life you are dealing with, dont scrimp on good brakes, I would have the shoes religned, drums inspected and if need turned, replace any lines that are questionable

[aero3113]

The cans of Brakeclean go FAST, If you use it buy a couple of cans.

[Don Coatney]

I have never had much luck cleaning brake shoes that are saturated with brake fluid. Use of brakeclean or acetone will only work on incidental brake fluid contact. Better off to replace or reline the brake shoes in my opinion. Cost to do so is not much compaired to having defective brakes. If you do a forum search you will find many suppliers and vendors to re-line or purchase brake shoes from.

The fact that you have to pump the brake pedal to build pressure is a sure sign that there is air in the system. More bleeding is required.

[Young Ed]

The fact that you have to pump the brake pedal to build pressure is a sure sign that there is air in the system. More bleeding is required.

Not necessarily. I had to pump my brakes once and then on the second press I would have a good pedal. This was severly out of adjustment brakes. Now if you have to pump more than once then I'd say you have air.

[aero3113]

To clean the linings you can also use a propane torch, heat them up a little and the contamination will rise to the top and you can wipe it off. Do that a few times, and after use the brake cleaner they should be good to go (thats if the system is working correctly).

[captden29]

my brakes in my 54 windsor are grabbing due to rust in the wheel cylinders. seems like the "made in china" parts rust up real fast. i am replacing them with a better quality part. capt den

[TimStatelman]

Thanks everyone ill try to clean and re adjust my shoes because I do only have to pump them once

[oldodge41]

I had an issue with "sometimes" having to do one pump to get a full pedal and other times it was fine. I believe it was caused by the residual valve in the master cylinder not sealing to keep the 10lbs of pressure on the wheel cylinders. When I was bleeding I noticed if I broke the bleeder it didn't spurt out any fluid unless pressure was being applied to the pedal. I replaced the valve and the issue was gone............Tim