Sucky Brakes

[ajr2000]

So my brakes on my 93XLT have started to suck, badly. I have to pretty much floor the brake pedal for it to stop. I tried bleeding the lines. That helped a little, but not enough, The front pads seem fine, and the rotors are good. Anyone have any ideas what this could be?

 

[JStrider]

do you back up often?

i know with some cars with drum brakes that backing up resets or realigns something that causes the peddle to sink...

i'm not sure if its applicable to our explorers...

 

[Vanquish502]

Adjust your back brakes. Solves it every time

 

[MAXIMIS1]

also if you replaced your front pads and once done pumped the pedal its very common to press the pedal too the floor THIS IS VERY BAD. it is possible to damage your master cyl. doing this cuz it basicly allows your master cyl seal to be pushed into an area that has never be used and can tear the seals causing a simular problem . does the car creep at a red light, stoped? is it a automatic?

 

[marragtop]

Your self adjusters on the rear brakes may be rusted, thus the low pedal. If they won't adjust by backing up, pull the drums and adjust them manually.

 

[sn0border88]

adjust your rear drums and check the shoes.

 

[Josh]

I sometimes go to a parking lot(Empty of course) and put it in reverse and back up quickly and hit the breakes. You should feel something after a couple of times. Dont do it to much because it could cause your rear shoes to be to tight. If you sit at a light and your brake pedal slowly creeps to the floor then you need to replace your master cylinder. Mine did that and got so bad that the brakes would release and the truck would move forward.

 

[unclemeat]

Check you vacuum line to the brake boster.

 

[ajr2000]

I ended up bringing it to the mechanic. They bled the brakes, and adjusted the rear drums. $43 total...not bad.

 

[Christobal65]

Thats a pretty good price considering that normally labor at a shop is anywhere from $95-$130 an hour...

I get labor at certain dealerships for $45 an hour

 

[ajr2000]

These guys are good.

But, the brakes work now, but now whenever I come rolling to a slow stop, I can the rear drums make a really weird sound. Kinda like eeeeeerrrrrrr(slowing down)...buuum(stop)

Anyone know what this could be?

 

[Josh]

Break shoes hitting metal for the first time maybe?

 

[ajr2000]

Well, here's an audio clip. This is exactly how it sounds, I used a very nice mic to record this. I'm a bored audio engineer.

http://www.spallasound.com/brakes.wav

 

[Josh]

LOL that is a nice mic. That is one nasty sound. Sounds like your shoes are worn. Did they actualy take your drums off when they adjusted them? That sound makes me cringe

 

[ajr2000]

I have no clue what they did, but I'll have to just take it easy on the brakes until thursday, when I have the appointment with the garage.

Which brings me to my next point, say my drums are damaged (is that possible?) and they need to be replaced, is the garage responsible, or am I? I'll pay for new drum pads, but if what they did damaged something, the garage is responsible, right?