XJ Brake Frustrations

chris

chris

cltdba
Moderator
Joined
Sep 28, 2009
Location
Concord, NC
I'm having problems getting a stiff pedal out of the XJ. I have tried everything and don't know what else to do. I'm hoping one of you can help out.

All brake components are stock except I'm running rough country extended braided brake lines. I replaced the master cylinder thinking it was going bad. Doing so gave me a little more stopping power, but it still wasn't right. Until a couple days ago I wasn't able to get a hard pedal and had to constantly pump the brakes to get it to stop. I found a leak on the rear axle where the line drops and bolts to the axle. After fixing the leak the brakes were bled again until no air came out. I now can get a decently hard pedal after about 2 pumps. There are no leaks on the calipers or the wheel cylinders. All the brake fluid comes out clean as a whistle. We've run about 1 to 2 large containers of DOT3 through it with all the bleeding.

What else can I check? Parts stores don't show a proportioning valve so I'm assuming it doesn't have one.
 
Brake work sucks...

Brakes on xj's suck...


did you prime it before you stuck the new MC on it. To me sounds like a bad seal or air geting in from somewhere.
 
dang man hate you still havent got that sorted out well just beat the hell out of it this weekend and take vids then just park it and get that yota ready for action!!!!
 
Yep, primed it, bench bled it, spit on it, etc. I guess the only thing I can do from here is to just go through all the connections and make sure they're tight. Then I can follow the lines down the body and make sure no rocks took a bite some where. Other than that I'm at a loss.
 
If there are no leaks in the system then check the throw on the drums, still think you have a leak.
 
make sure you got all the air out of the lines. could of gotten a bad mc, what are the chances of a bad booster? would a weak booster give you these troubles? make sure your lines arent twisted or anything.
probably something simple. good luck.
 
'Pedal feel' (top few inches of travel) is usually from the rears. In this case drums. I'm with 49willies/JC you have a rear drum problem.
1) check your ebrake, if that sucks (more than normal) you have some adjustments problems. Don't just tighten up the cable adjusters.
Another sorta quick test is to hit the ebrake a click or 2 and see if it helps the pedal feel.
Make sure your drum adjusters are clean and working properly.
 
Thanks guys. Gettin ready to swap an 8.8 in so maybe the problem will go away I'd it's in the rear. I'll update this thread.
 
Im having the same Problem i have a new Master Cyl., brake booster, calibers, and pads. But my rear lines are Blocked off. :popcorn:
 
I think I may have found the problem with the brakes. However, it doesn't matter anymore. As you know I broke a D35 shaft recently. I was going to swap in a spare shaft until I had more time to do my 8.8 swap. I pulled off the drums and low and behold there wasn't much of any material left on the shoes. There was maybe 1/16th of an inch there. Funny, I never heard any grinding. I suspect this was the problem. No matter though, I pulled the D35 out and am in the middle of swapping in the 8.8. Hopefully I won't have any more brake issues.
 
Yep, did a lot of reading. I'm gonna buy some cheapo bearings to use for setup. The gear set came in and had the suggested pinion depth and other information I needed. Hopefully tomorrow we'll have the front axle regeared and the 8.8 swap knocked out. All I'll have left do on Friday is replace the PS pump and smile. Oh and show up for Harbor Freights sidewalk sale. There's a $25 tool/utility cart with my name on it.
 
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