No BRAKES!AHHH

[66StangFastback]

Ok, so as it says, we have no brakes.

We have all around drums. Single bowl MC that we replaced yesterday. We've bled the brakes several times. They work at slower speeds but not great. We can lock the backs up somewhat, but not the fronts. The brakes are temperamental, and occasionally have to be pumped 3-4 times before they finally catch and work. When they do work there is a clunking noise before they engage. We got brave and decided to take it out on the highway and got up to about 55, then the light probly 1/4 mile ahead of us turned red. My dad hits the brakes, nothing, pumps them several more times, nothing... Needless to say, we made it through the intersection before cross traffic started coming, coasted through at about 45 or 50. These brakes are the last thing holding us up before it is SAFELY road ready. amnit: PLEASE HELP!!!

Thanks guys,
66

 

[nmk_61802]

Did you bench bleed the master cylinder before installing? Any leaks in the lines?

 

[shotsy]

clunking noise? Did you adjust the shoes out far enough?

 

[jcode68]

Sounds like 2 problems as already been suggested 1)MC needs to be bench bled, hence requiring pumping action and soft pedal and 2)shoe adjustment. The clunking sound is probably the shoe hanging up on the backing plate because they aren't setup right. Also, what order did you bleed your wheel cylinders in? You should have started at RR, then LR, then RF and finally LF.

 

[65notch]

sounds like you still have a ton of air in the system. Did you do a flush and bleed? i would suggest to go back and do the entire system again. bench bleed the m/s(you can keep it on the car to do this) and then go back through the system, be sure not to let the m/s go dry. if all that fails, adjust the drums and possible check and make sure the m/s pushrod is adjusted correctly.

 

[351carlo]

Don't be so quick to jump to bleeding problems guys....

Remember we have older vehicles. The MC's have sometimes been sitting on the shelves for 5-10 years, sometimes more. The rubber gets dry and they don't hold the fluid like they should.

Not always the case, but I experienced the same problems. I have an air powered vacuum bleeder, and had pulled over 1 quart of brake fluid out of the MC. Finally I exchanged my MC for another one. By the third time, I got a good MC That worked.

Just a thought.

 

[66StangFastback]

Hehehehe, I feel like an absolute dumbass...I assumed the brakes could only be adjusted to tighter, rather than both ways, without pulling the hub. Sooo, I adjusted it to the extreme, in the front, thinking it was as far out as they could go. Well, needless to say, I loosened them all the way. Anyways, We have al the brakes adjusted right now, the mc bench bled, and the brakes bled. We're going to bleed them one last time tomorrow. The brakes work pretty well. They can be locked up if you push hard enough, but normally it slows the car down real well. You have to push pretty hard to get it to stop, but that's no big deal. Thanks for all the suggestions guys.