Brake upgrade failure. Desperate for help!

[kyotey1693]

I need some help guys. I started replacing ball joints yesterday which lead to new rotors and wheel bearing since I was there. I learned the hard way that my truck came with the smaller 1" rotors after buying the 1.25". So since I had bigger rotors and new pads going on I got the correct bearings for the larger rotors as well as new calipers. My truck has drop spindles on it and they are apparently light duty as well. The only real difference I can see is that they are slightly shorter due to the new larger rotors. I think I have over come that issue and I think/feel like the bearing are working fine on these spindles. When I pulled them back off after a little bit of driving I didnt see any abnormal wear patterns so again, I THINK all is well there. If I'm wrong please educate me.

Now my real problem is that fact that I have no brakes! I have bled and bled and bled these things and still nothing. They feel great when I back out of the driveway but as soon as I take off they are gone. Once the pedal gets nearly all the way to the floor I do get some braking power but I dont have near the pedal feel that I used to have. Its hard to say if the brakes are working properly or not due to how far I have to push before I get anything. I feel pretty confident that I have all of the air out of the system. I have never had an isssue bleeding brakes on a vehicle.

Do I need to upgrade the master cylinder now since I have larger calipers? I assume the booster is fine, I would imagine the pedal would be really hard if it was bad? Or does all of this just sound like air still in the system?

I'm kinda lost on this. I hadn't planned to upgrade all of this stuff (I really didnt know the 1/2 tons had more than 1 brake option until I had already bought the wrong parts) and I am not sure what all parts are compatible at this stage.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[low4x4]

when you bled the brakes, did you start in the right rear...all 4 need to be bled to remove all air...and are the rear brakes adjusted up correctly

 

[bluex]

You need to get the correct rotors for your spindles. That or change the spindles. These parts do not inter change an it is not safe to keep driving the vehicle the way you have it now. The HD rotors are .25" longer than the LD ones so no matter how good it seems it's not right.

This could be part of what affecting the pedal feel/travel as well. Are you still running the LD calipers or did you replace those as well?


Edit: reread an see you did change calipers. It could still be air, I had to bleed a ton, drive the truck some an bleed some more to get a decent pedal. You can try having someone pump the brakes an crack a line loose at the master to try an remove any air trapped in there as well.

 

[supertrucker1978]

How in the world did you get the cotter pin on the castle nut? When I dropped my truck I was sent the wrong LD spindles and didn't know it until I put the rotor on and could barely get the castle nut on the spindle.

 

[kyotey1693]

I had to get a little creative on the nut. I put the castle head inboard and got the cotter pin in that way. It still has a full nut worth of threads so I think it's ok on that part. I know these spindles aren't designed for these rotors but as far as I can tell the bearings are riding in the correct spot on the spindles and they aren't showing any abnormal wear patterns. I'm going to leave it for the moment while I sort out the brake pedal issue.

I read on anther site that I need to swap the master cylinder as well. Bigger calipers need more fluid thus a bigger MC is needed. I think I am going to try that. If it's a no go I might be back to square one. As far as the bleeding goes, I started at the right rear and worked my way around several times. I really dont think it's air at this point. I think it has to be something in the mismatching parts.

Thanks for the help guys. Keep it coming if you have any more thoughts or input.

 

[DRAGGIN95]

I am just going to say, this sound's dangerous and I would not continue on until either you get the correct spindle's or switch back to the 1 in. thick rotor's.

 

[hiredgun8]

If you didn't run the MC dry or open a line on the rear brakes there's no need to bleed the rear.
Your stiff pedal comes from the adjustment on the rears. I would have just returned the 1.25" rotors
and gotten the correct ones.

 

[kyotey1693]

In hindsight that makes sense but I thought I could pull off an upgrade in the process. I didnt realize there was this much incompatability in the parts.

 

[supertrucker1978]

I would cut your losses and get the right rotors or the right spindles. You will have nothing but troubles not to mention how dangerous is it to run that castle nut backwards.

 

[bluex]

I would cut your losses and get the right rotors or the right spindles. You will have nothing but troubles not to mention how dangerous is it to run that castle nut backwards.

X1000 those nuts are not designed to be ran backwards. Please for your safety an the safety of others in the road put the right parts on the truck!!!