| [GMCnet] My Brakes Have Faded Away [message #68848] |
Wed, 30 December 2009 00:42 |
fbhtxak
Messages: 191
Registered: April 2006
Karma:
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Senior Member |
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Dan,
'Had a similar problem returning from Colorado Springs to
home (Tyler, TX) via Kerrville, TX in October. The pedal
height was normal but very hard. 'Stopping distance was ever
increasing from 70 to 0 mph and required two feet and
maximum force on the pedal. About two hundred miles from
Kerrville but near a small town (in case I needed to buy
some labor), I stopped the thing at a roadside park to try
to define the problem. No evidence of fluid leak anywhere
but when I removed the cover of the master cylinder, I found
the compartment for the rear wheels to have only about 1/4"
fluid level. I refilled the MC. I then tested the brakes and
found that braking was back to normal. I had an IR
thermometer with me but after finding that restoring the
fluid level fixed the problem (at least temporarily), I
proceeded on to Kerrville without checking temperatures at
the wheels..
After driving another 500 miles to Tyler (but checking fluid
level at 150 mile intervals), I did a much more thorough
investigation at home. The fluid level/rear wheels was about
1/3 low. 'Found fluid leak at the trailing wheel/driver
side, visible then on the back side of the backing plate.
'Removed/replaced cylinder, cleaned brake shoes and all
brake parts. End of problem.
I suspect the reason I was unable to define the location of
the leak 500 miles earlier was that the fluid was being
vaporized at highway speeds (i.e., not accumulating). I
removed wheels/hubs and checked the other three cylinders.
All dry. I installed NOS OEM shoes and new cylinders about
30K mi and 7 years ago. I replace the fluid annually and
manually adjust the brakes at about 3k mi. intervals.
Some collector car owners here advise checking drum
brakes/wheel cylinders annually for infrequently driven
vehicles. Some have had the cylinders lined with bronze and
a few have converted the brake systems to DOT 5 (silicone
fluid). The latter, however, is very labor intensive as all
traces of the DOT3/4 have to be removed.
Fred Hudspeth
'78 Royale - Tyler, TX
'82 Airstream Excella 28' Motorhome - Anchorage, Alaska
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:52:44 -0600
From: Dan Gregg <gregg_dan@hotmail.com>
Subject: [GMCnet] My Brakes Have Faded Away
To: gmclist@temp.gmcnet.org
Message-ID: <10cda.4b3ac07c@gmc.mybirdfeeder.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-15"
I have had good brakes for the past 4 years. On our trip to
Arizona they just faded away, somewhere back in Arkansas. I
have so little braking power that I can't get the Roadmaster
Brakepro to work in the toad. As long as I anticipate my
stops I can pretty much stop the thing. If I jump on the
pedal with all I have there is no way to stop the rig from
60 mph in less than 75 yards, maybe more. I can slow it but
have to let it roll to a stop on its own. Anyone ever had
this happen?
Dan
--
Dan & Teri Gregg
danandteri.blogspot.com
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