need help with my brakes

[MountainMonkey]

so i replaced a brake caliper on my 84 ranger and bled out the brakes and im still getting no brake pressure and the caliper i replaced gets so much pressure that even without the brake pedal depressed it stays locked up. any idea what the problem could be? the caliper i put on is from my explorer and worked fine on the explorer.(not an explorer i know but the brake system seams to be the same as my gen 1)


any help would be apreciated. its a 500$ truck and i refuse to sink any money into it by bringing it into a shop so either i fix her myself or she gets scrapped.

 

[Roadrunner777]

say again, more detail

 

[MountainMonkey]

so basicly i baught the truck for the winch bumper... on the way home the front right caliper siezed up so i pulled it off the rotor and made it home with little to no brakes. i killed the explorer i got the winch bumper for so i stole a caliper from the x and replaced the one that seized on the ranger. i then bled out the brakes and now both the rear have no pressure along with the front driverside. but the front passenger side where i replaced the caliper now stays fully closed. its closed so tight that in first gear it will drag the tire. not sure what the problem is... the caliper worked fine on the explorer. the thing that pumps the fluid seams to work cause i got fluid out of the lines on all 4 corners when i bled them.


so basicly fluid flows to all the brakes but 3 of them dont actualy build pressure when u put the pedal down and the other one is just staying locked up and doesnt release pressure when the pedal isnt down



im not a mechanic but i feel i should be able to fix it if i can figure out whats wrong with it

 

[Roadrunner777]

It sounds like air got in the lines for the other 3 wheels. I would bleed/flush the brake lines.

 

[MountainMonkey]

i'll give it a try, hopefully get around to it on saturday. but what about the one caliper. is there a way to adjust it? because even when the brake pedal isnt being used the caliper still stays closed enough that the wheal drags when driven. o and the pedal is spongy like it would if none of the brakes were working.

 

[MountainMonkey]

just tryed to bleed the brakes again, and i managed to brake one of the rear bleeder screws in half. the threads are still in the drum. what now? lol

 

[Marvial]

Do rangers and explorers use the same caliper?

Could it be that you swapped in a caliper made for a thicker disc? That would make the caliper lock up at max pressure...

Hope you resolve your problem...

 

[Roadrunner777]

If you turn a wheel with disc brakes by hand, you will feel some drag after pressing on the brake. The rotation of the wheel eventually pushes the pads back when you are actually driving.

You will need a new wheel cylinder to deal with the broken bleeder. I wish I had better news. Brake components and lines are subject to corrosion and lack of maintenance. It would not surprise me you break a line in the process.

And, in the process, you may find brake lines and parts that you would not depend your life on. So, it's opening up a bit of a money pit. But, what is more important, going, or stopping?

 

[MountainMonkey]

from the research i've done and a few calls to local autozone type stores the calipers seam to be the same. part numbers on lorco's computer is the same for my ranger and my explorer.

 

[MountainMonkey]

thanks for the reply's, going to get new brake cylinders from the rear to fix the broken bleeder going to be about 50$, just got confirmation again from a different lorcdo store that the calipers are deffidently the same. about the front brake. the thing is that its not just a bit of brake pressure, its so much that even without touching the brakes the tire drags and doesnt rotate at all thats how tight it is. best way to explain it is when you put the brke pedal down the caliper closes to slow you down but then doesnt back off at all and just stays locked up.

 

[MountainMonkey]

totaly forgot the mention the pads on the front brake im having problems with are getting pretty worn out. about 1/4 thick. so could the piston come out so far it gets stuck?

 

[MountainMonkey]

so i replaced the rear wheel cylinders. but when i was bleading them one of the pistons poped right out of the cylinder. not sure why or what to do now. has this ever happened to anyone? or am i looking at an even bigger problem now? im out of idea's and im getting real close to just scraping the truck.

 

[MountainMonkey]

just spent an hour going through the haynes repair book for my ranger, noticed the metal pieces that fit into the wheel cylinder and push on the brake shoes arnt in either of my drums (or listed as a part in the manuel). so im thinking thats got to be why i cant get pressure when i bleed the brakes and deffidently why the wheel cylinders popped open. doesnt explain why the front caliper closes and wont open but it looks like i might be on the right path.

 

[MountainMonkey]

so the missing part is called the wheel cylinder link. not sure how to get them though, the rear drum rebuild kits from lordco and napa and dont come with them and the ray bestos wheel cylinders i baught didnt come with them either... so im wondering if this will require a trip to an auto wrecker?