Brake problems on 92 silverado

[Marauder]

I've got a '96 Chevy Z-71 with a 4" Rancho suspension lift and I'm having what sounds like the same problem. I was assuming a rotor was warped and kicking around the idea of upgrading the front rotors and discs one day...

[WS6]

Well unfortunately the only update I can give is that we unplugged the ABS controller and the problem was still there. So much for thinking maybe the ABS was acting up. I've been too busy with school and work to look into the problem anymore.

Did I mention that you can apply steady pressure to the pedal and it will eventually reach the floor? Well it does that also. Brakes are working and the truck still stops good, but it won't lock up anymore really and the pedal goes to the floor if you keep pushing. Mind you this isn't going straigh to the floor when you push it. It just doesn't stop if you keep trying to push it to the floor. It takes some effort, but it should never make it that far.

[WS6]

update in first post

[myclone]

Another "never seen that before" file added to the ol mental file cabinate.

Thanks for the update.

[MonzaRacer]

Hydra tech thats bull crap. I have been servicing these for years and that is not the proper way to fix it.
I just did one a few days ago, we have procut on car brake lathe that I does them oncar. And we use the Ammco 3 jaw drum adapter that centers the drum by the cneter hole that indexes the drum to the axle.
The big problem that these truck have is when drums are turned with a tapered cone to center the drum and it doesnt work great. The three jaw chuck lets you give an actual center to the drum and it makes a world of difference.
As for not letting drum brakes to drag you should also make sure that drums and rotors are turned as smooth as possible (ie lowest setting) and I use a light drag on the drums brakes and then let the automatic adjusters handle it, if its a standard self energizing set up it adjusts if you leave foot on brake after backing up then putting it in drive, other wise you use the park brake to adjust the brakes.
My method of adjusting the rear is get them close, make sure you clean all brake machineing dust from drums, then you keep adjusting them till you get a 2 hand drag on the drum , take hammer and tap on the edge of drum couple of times and readjust. After doing this you take it for a test drive and use normal medium stops to settle pads and shoes and they shoes and pads will strat tradeing material till seat in in 500 to 2500 miles depending on your driving habits.
I get many of the late 80's up truck s that the rrear drum brakes are too loose and have a crap pedal. Also these trucks are very suseptable to contaminate brake fluid as are all cars. OH and as for a preasure bleeder I like reverse bleeding better,, I use a Phoenix Injector from Phoenix Systems. I have had one for over 10 yrs now(on my second one now) and wont trade it for the world.
One of the big things that these trucks seem to have is shoe flex. This is because in the industry everyone use to re arc shoes to match the arc of the turned drum, but now the manufacturers pre arc shoes and we let them wear in. A quick tip is if you ever get a squeak and cant stop it ,wet the shoes with soapy water, and take a 4 in grinder to all leading/trailing edges and bevel them some. Then wash them again and let them dry then use about 50 to 80 grit emerycloth to scuff up the shoes to remove the shine.
I also have for sale a product called Brake Silencer that you scuff up pads and spray on to the pads/shoes and it helps eliminate squeaks. One of the main ingredients is quartz, which if you remember your science class if you rub it, it sets up a resonant frequency that helps dispell those spesky squeaks and it works on pretty much any pad and lasts a long time too. No on super ,super hard pads it may only lessen the squeak but any help is usually appreciated by most people.
The fella who cmae to shop the other day was at a loss for why his truck would blounce from one lane to another , then when I fixed it he couldnt believe what we did to fix it.
another thing loose brakes will give you is aggrsive rear braking from ABS systems. This is VERY prevolent on J body cars like Cavaliers/Sunbirds.
I wrote the( one of the) fix(s) for GM TAN line on aggresive rear brakes back in 93 while working at a Chevy dealer ship. We had several Cavs that the ass of the car would buckle down and drag the brakes, and generally just act like the wheel cylinders were leaking. Now GM had a new formulation brake shoe out on warranty but then I found out this didnt alway fix the problem. So after several hours of test driving and the trusty Tech 1a scanner I figured it out. and GMs tactic of not resurfacing drums/rotors didnt hold water except for the reason of little material to remove but then I developed my way of resurfacing drums and rotors, by doing skim cut to get full contact then back cutter off , and then run cutter to start point and take eany where from .004 to .008 past the skim cut on a slow pass only. Most machineists will take a fast cut then a slow cut but this just takes off too much metal.
I am same guy who can get a perfect cut with our oncar lathe at work pretty much every time and I'll do it on rotors with minimal warp and only .010 to .012 left ( if we have to try and save rotors for what ever reason) and still ahve rotors thicker than minimum. This is ok I just warn customer that if they warp the rotors they get to replace them,,, some people just dont have cash to drop on rotorssome times.
I'll bet that the rear drums had been turmed out of round some time and the front rotors had a little warp too.
Lee

[Skip Fix]

I believe my 92 just had rear ABS no front ABS. I think it ran off the tranny/driveshaft back to the computer. I could lock the fronts up often and get little back brakes.4 wheel ABS I don't think came around until 96 or so.