88xj brakes, going out?

arupton

New Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2008
Location
raleigh
hey guys, question: brakes work fine, but i do have to press the pad down almost to the floor to get them to work. also, everytime i start it up, it takes a good 3 minutes for them to work like they should. within starting it up, as soon as i press the brakes, the tires lock up and it skids to a stop immediately... anyone know what i should be looking to replace??

SHORT VERSION:

as soon as i start the xj, i can just barely press the brakes and the tires lock up and skid to a stop. about three minutes of running, it stops locking up and will operate fine.
 
Step one: Make sure I'm nowhere near you within the warmup period.
Step two: Pull the wheel and check condition of pads/rotors.
Step three: Replace what's worn out.
Step four: check to make sure you still have brake fluid in the MC.
Step five: Bleed brakes.

FWIW, as cheap as pads and rotors are to replace on a cherocar, I'd just do it for piece of mind. Don't skimp out on the el-cheapo pads, though. They won't stop nearly as well as a mid priced pad.
 
front brakes or rear seizing? All?

If you're getting a mushy pedal and the brakes don't work until all of a sudden they do, sounds like they need to be bled.

When I had drums in the rear they'd seize up at a moments notice, that was a bad wheel cylinder and "self adjusters (nyuh huh)" all rusted to hell.

If you've got some snow or mud, its easy to see which wheels are locking up first. Check it out and bleed your brakes regardless, it certainly won't hurt and will eliminate one possibility.
 
I should ask one quick question with some seriousness. How long is the vehicle sitting when you're not driving it and does it happen more when it rains?
 
willness33 said:
I should ask one quick question with some seriousness. How long is the vehicle sitting when you're not driving it and does it happen more when it rains?
Click to expand...

Yeah, surface rust and pads are both good ideas to check, I was wondering that myself.

To the OP, you say the brakes work but you've gotta push the pedal to the floor, then say that you can lightly touch the pedal and they seize at startup, then in the short version you say that the brakes eventually work fine. Pedal to the floor isn't really "fine," even if they do bring you to a stop.

If this post was asking for signs of more serious problems (bad caliper, master cylinder, etc) then I understand, but if "brakes going out" was a nice way of saying that you aren't sure when/how to check your brake pads/drums then go get a haynes manual and get under your rig.

Brakes are easy to work on even for a beginner, but they're very crucial to safe operation of your vehicle. Better off with a manual than with us e-troubleshooting your brakes. :driver:

And if you're an experienced brake man who's just trying to get some ideas for a weird problem sorry for the safety talk.
 
Check the rear wheel cyl. and then blead out the system I would lean more to the master cyl then the brake booster if it was the booster the pedal would be hard or make a hiss when pressing it
 
hey guys, thanks for all the info. to answer some of the questions:

the vehicle only sits about one day at a time between use (which is just around the block). it is not only when it rains; its everytime the vehicle is started and the first 3 minutes its driven, but like i said after it warms up the brakes are fine.

i didnt mean to say the pedal went all the way down to the floor before engaging, its just not engaging upon putting minimal pressure on it (does that even make sense)?

anyway, i will be checking the above mentioned, thanks for the help everyone.

archduke, i have replaced brakes a lot, i checked the fronts, theyre fine. the back wheels are locking up when first started...ill be looking into it, just didnt know if this was something common for older jeeps that i should know about. i just purchased the xj and have just started researching.
 
arupton said:
archduke, i have replaced brakes a lot, i checked the fronts, theyre fine. the back wheels are locking up when first started...ill be looking into it, just didnt know if this was something common for older jeeps that i should know about. i just purchased the xj and have just started researching.
Click to expand...

Cool, I just wasn't sure. I have a question though, you keep saying that it takes about 3 mins until the brakes work right... If you start it and let it warm up does it stop well the first time? Or is it more the first couple of minutes of normal operation it does this then the brakes go back to working?


My guess is wheel cylinders or worn shoes anyways, check the shoes and see that the adjusters and all that are working/not rust caked bits of goodness, and like I said, stomp the brakes in a safe area in loose terrain. If its just one wheel or if one wheel is worse than the other it'll show quickly.

Regardless, screw drums. Swap to a 97+MC and some discs. if the rear is a 35 and you never plan on going bigger than 31s swap the discs to that, if you got a 44, badass. If its a 35 and you want to go with bigger tires, swap that thing out. 44s or 29 spline 8.25s are plentiful.
 
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