Brakes got worse after brake job

[dangileri]

Hey guys, i got a small problem. So i did a brake job today on my 93 c1500 scsb. So i did he usual brake job, first one ive done on this truck. I had the rear drums recut, needed mew front rotors as they didnt have enough meat to get cut. All new pads, all from napa. After bleeding the system 5 times and finally getting a firm pedal with no air, i test drove it. All seemed normal, but the brakes have less pressure (easier to push) and dont grab as much as the old worn out stuff. They start to grab about an inch later then they use to. I have rear abs, and know this could be a problem area. I did not flush the fluid, just added as i needed, keeping care to not run the resovore down more then 1/2. Any suggestions? Its more annyin then anything, after 200$+ in parts and all day, its worse then it was. Any help before i burn this thing down? Haha


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[19trax95]

I'd put money on the rear brakes not being adjusted. The auto adjusters in the last 5 vehicles I did, did not work by them selves. I had to manually adjust them. It's easy though.

 

[dangileri]

We adjusted them the same way we always adjust drums. Out enough that you can hear it rub and has slight drag, but can still easily spin drum with one hand


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[twomanymontes]

Are the front caliper sliders moving freely? If the are seized they will cause a low brake pedal.

 

[michael hurd]

The new pads and rotors will not have fantastic performance out of the box as they require a bedding in process for optimal stopping power. Also with the drums being cut the new shoes will not have contact over the full surface. Search brake bed in procedure on YouTube and you should find a few videos on how to do that properly. You may have to keep adjusting the rear shoes as they wear to the curvature of the drums for a couple weeks.

If you still don't have great brake performance after a bed in procedure then try bleeding the brakes again, preferably with a pressure bleeder clamped on the master cylinder.

 

[thunderstruck]

Possibly air in the ABS module, have fun with that.

[edit] 93 didn't have ABS (right?), disregard me.

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[dangileri]

Bedding will help how the brakes grab, but will not change my pedal feel which is my problem


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[96Z71ECSB]

I have to agree with adjusting the rear brakes again.
After doing a rear brake job on drum brakes, the shoes are normally not centered to the drum, causing a false initial adjustment.
I usually adjust them up, then push down on the brake pedal a few times to center the brake shoes, then adjust them up again.
I repeat this procedure until they are properly adjusted.

 

[superdave]

I'm with the adjust the rear brakes crowd. My dad bought an 89 GMC years ago, and wanted me to redo the brakes because of a "bad pedal". I checked everything and it was all in good shape. Tightened up those rear brakes and it was as good as new. Those really need to be right to get the right pedal feel, and hey, it's free.

 

[19trax95]

I forgot to add (and 96Z71ECSB said as well) that you may have to adjust the rears several times. One of the ambulances I work on had new parking brakes (it had disks in the rear) and I had to adjust those then go step on the parking brake then release it and adjust again. And when readjusting it took a bit to get them to touch again.

The adjusters are only on the bottom of the shoes so it will push the bottoms out first. And the top will stay away from the drum