1998 K1500 brake pedal adjustment

[wildncrazyguy]

Is there a way to adjust the freeplay in the brake pedal on a 1998 K1500? I've been fighting with my brakes for a couple of years and just can't really get a good pedal. I bought a 1998 Suburban K1500 a while back and it has a great pedal feel. So today I decided to poke around the internet a bit and came across freeplay in the pedal and it had been mentioned before to me to check.

I never could get anyone to define how to really check, but from what I understood you turn the truck off and pump the pedal until it's firm, usually just 2-3 pumps will do. Then it the distance between when you start to press and when you hit the rock (hard as a rock feel). If that's how it's done, or at least something similar, I compared both trucks and the Suburban which has JB6 brakes has like just over an inch of travel or so. I'm estimating because I didn't have any real measuring device. The K1500 which has JB5 brakes has about double that distance or even more.

Probably exaggerating a bit because there seems to be so much of a difference, but in any case, there is definitely in my mind a huge difference. It's like if they had the same amount, my K1500 would be perfect. That's about the amount of pedal travel I wish I had back to make the brakes great instead of mushy feeling.

Back to my question. What would cause the difference in travel? I'm ruling out rear brake adjustment because I do them myself and feel they're as tight as I can get them without not being able to get the drum on in both vehicles. I sill feel like I could bleed them just a bit better and have had a couple of shops do so over the past couple of years along with me trying as well after I had made some changes, new brake Master Cylinder, Booster, lines, etc. You name it I've probably replace it on the brake system trying to get the brakes to feel good. They stop pretty good, but just feel like I have to push the pedal way down to do so. Thanks in advance for info or suggestions.

 

[df2x4]

First thing I'd do is take it to a shop with a Tech2 or equivalent scan tool and have them bleed the brakes. These trucks like to be bled via scan tool, and no matter how much you bleed them yourself you'll usually end up with some air in the system. Good place to start anyway.

 

[TSALI137]

Is there a way to adjust the freeplay in the brake pedal on a 1998 K1500? I've been fighting with my brakes for a couple of years and just can't really get a good pedal. I bought a 1998 Suburban K1500 a while back and it has a great pedal feel. So today I decided to poke around the internet a bit and came across freeplay in the pedal and it had been mentioned before to me to check.

I never could get anyone to define how to really check, but from what I understood you turn the truck off and pump the pedal until it's firm, usually just 2-3 pumps will do. Then it the distance between when you start to press and when you hit the rock (hard as a rock feel). If that's how it's done, or at least something similar, I compared both trucks and the Suburban which has JB6 brakes has like just over an inch of travel or so. I'm estimating because I didn't have any real measuring device. The K1500 which has JB5 brakes has about double that distance or even more.

Probably exaggerating a bit because there seems to be so much of a difference, but in any case, there is definitely in my mind a huge difference. It's like if they had the same amount, my K1500 would be perfect. That's about the amount of pedal travel I wish I had back to make the brakes great instead of mushy feeling.

Back to my question. What would cause the difference in travel? I'm ruling out rear brake adjustment because I do them myself and feel they're as tight as I can get them without not being able to get the drum on in both vehicles. I sill feel like I could bleed them just a bit better and have had a couple of shops do so over the past couple of years along with me trying as well after I had made some changes, new brake Master Cylinder, Booster, lines, etc. You name it I've probably replace it on the brake system trying to get the brakes to feel good. They stop pretty good, but just feel like I have to push the pedal way down to do so. Thanks in advance for info or suggestions.

Did you ever get a firm pedal on your brakes? I have a 97 k1500 with the same issue that I have been fighting with for 15yrs now and I have replaced everything at least twice, if not more. I have had it bled with the scanner and every other way possible. I am now considering getting a junkyard booster and remove the master cylinder Pushrod and see if I can cut and weld an adjuster into it to adjust it like the books say with a service adjustable push pin. Well it sure would be nice to actually find that so called service adjustable push pin because I can't find one anywhere. I have contacted every vendor that makes an adjustable Pushrod kit. Anyway, just wanted to see what you done about your brakes, if anything. Also, the only 2 things that I have found that works better than nothing is the Friction performance brake pads from orielly's auto parts and backing up a hill and pressing the brake pedal at the same time to tighten the adjusters in the rear drums. Doing this usually gives me a half way good pedal for about a day. Still not enough to stop my 7,000lb truck.

 

[letitsnow]

I have tried adding different sized spacers between the master cylinder and the push rod - it made the brakes drag no matter what thickness spacer I used. The pedal was firm, but the brakes always drag...

 

[August76]

First thing I'd do is take it to a shop with a Tech2 or equivalent scan tool and have them bleed the brakes. These trucks like to be bled via scan tool, and no matter how much you bleed them yourself you'll usually end up with some air in the system. Good place to start anyway.

It's a pain. And I bet this is the easiest way. I did the create a abs event thing to bleed it. I feel like the brakes just suck on 96 plus trucks. They work but not amazing. My 88 k2500 was awesome. However the abs has saved me a few times I think. It works.