95 Suburban K2500 - Fairly stiff pedal & light pull to right

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moondog1

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Good afternoon!
So I have a 95 k2500 burb and the brakes haven't been great since I got it. I replaced the front rotors and pads and it did seem to help. There was very little pad left on the old ones and the rotors were warped.

I have a very light pull to the right when I apply the brakes and also this suburban requires more pedal pressure than any other vehicle I've driven besides my cj7 with no power brakes.

The fluid in the reservoir for the brakes seems over filled and dark to me. I have been trying to read about hydroboost, vacuum boosters, and figure out exactly what I currently have in my truck. I've bled clutches before but never brakes. I'd like to learn.

I do know when pump up my brakes with the truck off and then start my truck the pedal does depress rapidly but it's more than 1".

My questions are:
1) Where do I start to make sure I'm not going to have something come apart or fail in my 26 year old vehicle with my family in it when I need to step on the brakes?

2) Does the antilock ever really work right in this year model?

3) How stiff should my pedal be? I've driven a lot of stuff but I don't remember ever feeling a pedal that requires this much force. It doesn't build confidence.

Thanks for taking time and answering my question which I'm sure has been asked 1000 times. I'm really trying to read all I can about what's what with the brakes, but it's confusing not knowing what I have exactly. Thanks!
 

stutaeng

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If look at your brake booster and if you see a "doughnut" with a hose to the rear of the engine you have vacuum-assist brakes. If your booster lacks the donut and you have hoses going into your power steering pump, then you have the hydroboost-assist brakes. Typically the hydroboost came with the big block and diesels in the C/K 2500 Suburbans and vacuum came with the 5.7, but government-spec vehicles were exception to this.

Also look at your RPO codes on your glove box. Should be something like JB7 or similar.

I'm not a brakes expert, but something doesn't seem right, especially if you have hydroboost. Someone here will chime in on what to look for. I'd think at the minimum new fluid and purge of the entire system would be a starting point.
 
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Schurkey

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Stiff brake pedal, pull to the right, poor stopping power?

I'd be looking at the LF caliper to see if it's seized
--either not sliding on the mount, or the piston seized in the bore.

I just went through this with my Trailblazer. The LR caliper piston was overly-stiff. Pulled the caliper apart, cleaned everything including digging the corrosion out of the seal grooves and polishing the deposits off the piston and square-cut seal, put it all back together. Going to do the other three calipers in the next few weeks. Let's face it--if one caliper is full of deposits and corrosion, the other three are, too.
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Don't forget to verify that the REAR brakes are adjusted properly and working like they should. Hint: Find a lightly-traveled highway. Make a fairly-hard stop from highway speed to "0", so that you end up on the right shoulder. Then use an infra-red heat gun (or your hand...be careful) to measure the temperature of the brake drums/rotors. Both drums should be hot, and about the same temperature, both rotors should be hot, and about the same temperature.

If both drums are cool, you might have a plugged rear brake hose. I've had that happen more than once. Tends to produce a high, hard pedal. Same for plugged front hoses--pull to one side, the other side is plugged (or there's caliper problems.)
 
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sntrym

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I'd go for Schurkey's suggestion of the left front caliper having an issue. When you replaced the pads and rotors, you should have replaced the calipers or rebuilt them. I never do a brake job where I only do pads and rotors. Calipers take a beating and need lube/work too. My money is on that caliper or the rear right brake drum/shoes/cylinder.

Replacing both calipers with quality remans almost guarantees that braking pressure will be equal on both sides.
 
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