Ok, I got a 05 SCREW 4x4. I just put new rotors and pads on all four corners. (Rotor Pros) It still doesn't feel like its stopping as it should. I leave for TX from SC on friday morning and will be towing approx 5000 lbs. I'm thinking that one of my calipers could be effff-d up in some kind of way. So my question is, how can I test the calipers to make sure that they are working right?

Thanks, Nat

 

First off....is it pulling to any one side?The idea of bleeding the system immediately comes to mind,as if air is in the system,it will compress before the brake fluid,and result in weak/spongy brake response.
My 97 F-150XL had rear drum brakes,and the shoes requied adjusting after replacement.This was accomplished by adjusting the assembly to barely tight enough to get the drums back on,and then backing up applying the brakes.This would finish tightening them up. Now...with that being said my 07 has 4 wheel disc brakes.Im sure there is some adjustment that needs to be made for the emergency brake system to work.This must be integrated into the disk brakes at some point.
Bottom line..I would think there is an adjustment that needs to be made here.or air in the line...Youve replaced rotors,and pads.Usually(but not always) when a caliper is bad it will either leak fluid,or lock up alltogether.Hope this helps..Good luck on the road trip

 

Jack up 1 wheel at a time and spin the tire and have some else apply the brakes.
Also I know that some people here have adjusted the shaft on the back side of the brake booster to get rid of a "soft" brade pedal.

 

Nope, its not pulling to one side.. And Mel, yeah, I'm about to jack up one wheel at a time and see if I can tell any difference. I'll crank it up so the IWE will unlock for the fronts. I'm also about to call a dealer now to see if there is any way they can "test" a caliper to make sure its functioning properly. If anybody else has anymore ideas, I'm all ears.

Thanks

 

just to throw something out, did you use brake cleaner to clean the rotors off after installing them

 

Yeah I did ???

 

and when you pushed each piston back in, they all went in easily? if one goes in hard, it's likely not coming back out evenly as it should.

 

HI Nat,

If the pedal feels soft, I'd probably try bleeding the brakes to see if there's any air in the line.

Is the brake fluid up to the level it should be, so that when you did the brake job it didn't suck in some air?

 

How many miles since you changed them? They may not be broke in. Go out on a lonely stretch of paved road and do MANY progressively faster and harder brake attempts. This will break in the pads and the rotors, don't do any attempts that would set off the antilocks though, thats too hard on new pads and rotors.

The brake booster trick is one I did as soon as i got my truck. It did help the spongyness some.

 

Thanks all! It seems to be a combination of three things that were going on. 1. The brakes and rotors weren't broken in. 2. The brakes needed to be bled. I think this was the single most important thing even though I never opened the system up. 3. There was too much brake fluid in the MC. I recently had the truck in to get that brake recall issue resolved and I'm guessing that they added fluid to it and could have possibly left some air in the system. When bleeding the brakes, I took out 5.5 oz and the MC was still reading right below the max line!! My brakes are feeling like they are working correctly now. Thanks guys for all of your insight.

Nat