GMCforum
For enthusiast of the Classic GMC Motorhome built from 1973 to 1978. A web-based mirror of the GMCnet mailing list.

Home » Public Forums » GMCnet » Disc Brake Pedal Travel Dilemma (Pedal travels half way to the floor)
Disc Brake Pedal Travel Dilemma [message #200205] Thu, 28 February 2013 17:41 Go to next message
Who_dun_it is currently offline  Who_dun_it   United States
Messages: 176
Registered: April 2007
Location: Thousand Oaks, CA
Karma: 1
Senior Member
Hi - new setup, all-wheel disc. I have installed the required parts and pieces fot this setup. The pedal travels half way to the floor before I get any 'resistance'. What have I missed??

Les
T.O. CA
Re: Disc Brake Pedal Travel Dilemma [message #200210 is a reply to message #200205] Thu, 28 February 2013 17:57 Go to previous messageGo to next message
kerry pinkerton is currently offline  kerry pinkerton   United States
Messages: 2565
Registered: July 2012
Location: Harvest, Al
Karma: 15
Senior Member
Still have an air bubble in the lines somewhere?. It's normal for the first pump after a brake job to go way down because the pads are a long way off the rotors and it takes a good bit of fluid to get them to their actually run position (just off the rotor).

If you're using the stock MC, you might have used up all the fluid in the MC reservoir and sucked in a bit of air. Have you verified the MC still has fluid?


Kerry Pinkerton - North Alabama Had 5 over the years. Currently have a '06 Fleetwood Discovery 39L
Re: [GMCnet] Disc Brake Pedal Travel Dilemma [message #200212 is a reply to message #200205] Thu, 28 February 2013 18:23 Go to previous messageGo to next message
James Hupy is currently offline  James Hupy   United States
Messages: 6806
Registered: May 2010
Karma: -62
Senior Member
Les, Did you replace the Master cylinder? If you installed the P-30 master
cylinder with the bracket between the booster and the cylinder, it is
likely that your operating pushrod is too short, allowing pedal travel
before moving the pistons in the cylinder. That has been a problem with
other installs including some that I have done. Carefully measure the
pushrod length and the space it installs into. The pushrod should be no
shorter than about 1/16" less than that space. Someone just devised a
measuring rod to verify the space. As I recall, it was two tubes that slid
fairly tightly, one inside the other. The rod was pulled out longer than
the space, then the m/c was mounted, compressing the rod. The assembly was
then taken apart and the rod removed and measured. That length was how long
the new pushrod should be. Simple and ALMOST idiot proof.
Jim Hupy
Salem, Or
78 Gmc Royale 403
On Feb 28, 2013 3:41 PM, "Les Leach" <les.leach@yahoo.com> wrote:

>
>
> Hi - new setup, all-wheel disc. I have installed the required parts and
> pieces fot this setup. The pedal travels half way to the floor before I get
> any 'resistance'. What have I missed??
>
> Les
> T.O. CA
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
>
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist

Re: [GMCnet] Disc Brake Pedal Travel Dilemma [message #200219 is a reply to message #200212] Thu, 28 February 2013 19:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Carl S. is currently offline  Carl S.   United States
Messages: 4186
Registered: January 2009
Location: Tucson, AZ.
Karma: 13
Senior Member

Les,

On top of what Kerry and Jim have said, when I did the disc brake conversion, I found that the pedal feel was different. It wasn't quite as you described it, but the pedal does have a softer feel than it did with the rear drum brakes. If you still feel a difference, after you get all the air out of the lines and make sure the brake rod is the right length, you will get used to the new pedal feel after a while.


Carl Stouffer '75 ex Palm Beach Tucson, AZ. Chuck Aulgur Reaction Arm Disc Brakes, Quadrabags, 3.70 LSD final drive, Lenzi knuckles/hubs, Dodge Truck 16" X 8" front wheels, Rear American Eagles, Solar battery charging. GMCSJ and GMCMI member
Re: [GMCnet] Disc Brake Pedal Travel Dilemma [message #200221 is a reply to message #200212] Thu, 28 February 2013 19:43 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Ken Henderson is currently offline  Ken Henderson   United States
Messages: 8726
Registered: March 2004
Location: Americus, GA
Karma: 9
Senior Member
Here's the pushrod gauge:

http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/g6289-master-cylinder-pushrod-gauge.html
or
http://goo.gl/Of6S8

(I'd CRS'd I'd already posted it!)

Ken H.

On Thu, Feb 28, 2013 at 7:23 PM, James Hupy wrote:

> .... Carefully measure the
> pushrod length and the space it installs into. The pushrod should be no
> shorter than about 1/16" less than that space. Someone just devised a
> measuring rod to verify the space. As I recall, it was two tubes that slid
> fairly tightly, one inside the other. The rod was pulled out longer than
> the space, then the m/c was mounted, compressing the rod. The assembly
> was then taken apart and the rod removed and measured. That length was how
> long the new pushrod should be. Simple and ALMOST idiot proof.
>
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist



Ken Henderson
Americus, GA
www.gmcwipersetc.com
Large Wiring Diagrams
76 X-Birchaven
76 X-Palm Beach
Re: [GMCnet] Disc Brake Pedal Travel Dilemma [message #200225 is a reply to message #200221] Thu, 28 February 2013 20:18 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Who_dun_it is currently offline  Who_dun_it   United States
Messages: 176
Registered: April 2007
Location: Thousand Oaks, CA
Karma: 1
Senior Member
What I think I am hearing here is that the pushrod supplied with the P30 MC, is not necessarily the correct length. Is that correct?

Les
Re: [GMCnet] Disc Brake Pedal Travel Dilemma [message #200226 is a reply to message #200225] Thu, 28 February 2013 20:26 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Ken Henderson is currently offline  Ken Henderson   United States
Messages: 8726
Registered: March 2004
Location: Americus, GA
Karma: 9
Senior Member
Always. Never trust any Pushrod/MC/Booster combination to be correct
without checking it.

Ken H.


On Thu, Feb 28, 2013 at 9:18 PM, Les Leach wrote:

>
> What I think I am hearing here is that the pushrod supplied with the P30
> MC, is not necessarily the correct length. Is that correct?
>
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist



Ken Henderson
Americus, GA
www.gmcwipersetc.com
Large Wiring Diagrams
76 X-Birchaven
76 X-Palm Beach
Re: [GMCnet] Disc Brake Pedal Travel Dilemma [message #200228 is a reply to message #200225] Thu, 28 February 2013 20:59 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Carl S. is currently offline  Carl S.   United States
Messages: 4186
Registered: January 2009
Location: Tucson, AZ.
Karma: 13
Senior Member

Who_dun_it wrote on Thu, 28 February 2013 19:18

What I think I am hearing here is that the pushrod supplied with the P30 MC, is not necessarily the correct length. Is that correct?

Les



Mine was long enough. In fact, I had to grind a little off of it (very little).


Carl Stouffer '75 ex Palm Beach Tucson, AZ. Chuck Aulgur Reaction Arm Disc Brakes, Quadrabags, 3.70 LSD final drive, Lenzi knuckles/hubs, Dodge Truck 16" X 8" front wheels, Rear American Eagles, Solar battery charging. GMCSJ and GMCMI member
Re: Disc Brake Pedal Travel Dilemma [message #200231 is a reply to message #200205] Thu, 28 February 2013 21:25 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Larry is currently offline  Larry   United States
Messages: 2875
Registered: January 2004
Location: Menomonie, WI
Karma: 10
Senior Member
I switched to discs on the mid axle last fall. Brake pedal went almost to the floor and the braking was terrible. I took it out and made many hard stops with it. The more I did it the better the brakes got. What I suspect is happening is that aftermarket disc systems are not manufactured to the tight specs that GM did. If the caliper mounts are just a couple of thousands our of parallel with the discs, the pads are making contact on a very small area and then the caliper and mounting brackets have to bend for the pads to make full contact...accounting for the excess pedal travel. The more you use the brakes the more the pads wear parallel to the rotors, the less the piston has to travel and in turn the less the pedal has to travel. In turn as the pad wears parallel, the pads become bedded and are making full contact with the rotor immediately upon hitting the pedal, and braking gets better.

So what I am saying is, hit the brakes hard and often. Before you know it you have a high pedal and GREAT brakes. JWIT



Larry Smile
78 Royale w/500 Caddy
Menomonie, WI.
Re: Disc Brake Pedal Travel Dilemma [message #200233 is a reply to message #200205] Thu, 28 February 2013 22:23 Go to previous messageGo to next message
jim kanomata is currently offline  jim kanomata   United States
Messages: 257
Registered: March 2007
Location: fremont,ca
Karma: 12
Senior Member
Sometimes the calipers will be mounted differently on some kits that will require one to note at what position the bleeder valve is located.
I know that on our kits the bleeder ends at 2:00 position, so you need to undo one pin and pivot it to 12:00 then bleed.


Jim Kanomata Applied/GMC, Fremont,CA jimk@appliedairfilters.com http://www.appliedgmc.com 1-800-752-7502
Re: [GMCnet] Disc Brake Pedal Travel Dilemma [message #200237 is a reply to message #200233] Thu, 28 February 2013 22:53 Go to previous messageGo to next message
ljdavick is currently offline  ljdavick   United States
Messages: 3548
Registered: March 2007
Location: Fremont, CA
Karma: -3
Senior Member
I had never thought about pivoting a caliper to bleed it. Of course it makes complete sense and with my Harbor Freight vacuum bleeder it would be "trivially simple" as one of my favorite posters says!

Larry Davick

On Feb 28, 2013, at 8:23 PM, jim kanomata <jimk@appliedairfilters.com> wrote:

>
>
> Sometimes the calipers will be mounted differently on some kits that will require one to note at what position the bleeder valve is located.
> I know that on our kits the bleeder ends at 2:00 position, so you need to undo one pin and pivot it to 12:00 then bleed.
>
> --
> Applied/GMC, Fremont, CA
> 1-800-752-7502
> jimk@appliedgmc.com
> www.appliedgmc.com
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist



Larry Davick
A Mystery Machine
1976(ish) Palm Beach
Fremont, Ca
Howell EFI + EBL + Electronic Dizzy
Re: Disc Brake Pedal Travel Dilemma [message #200251 is a reply to message #200205] Fri, 01 March 2013 10:15 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Who_dun_it is currently offline  Who_dun_it   United States
Messages: 176
Registered: April 2007
Location: Thousand Oaks, CA
Karma: 1
Senior Member
Thank you all for the input. Now I will get back at it and see if I can make it better.

Les
Re: [GMCnet] Disc Brake Pedal Travel Dilemma [message #200289 is a reply to message #200251] Fri, 01 March 2013 19:03 Go to previous message
jimk is currently offline  jimk   United States
Messages: 6734
Registered: July 2006
Location: Belmont, CA
Karma: 9
Senior Member
When I was the Zone service Manager for Ford Motor , I had to show several
dealer senior mechanics some ways to do things that they said was not going
to work.
Being that most of the Zone service managers did not have much experience,
the dealer personal figured most did not know much.
I made it a point to understand before I would tell them how to do
something, otherwise I told them up front that I was relaying information
from Dearborn ,MI.
Once they realized that my knowledge was limited, but could get information
from the factory, we developed a great relationship and we all learned from
each.

On Fri, Mar 1, 2013 at 8:15 AM, Les Leach <les.leach@yahoo.com> wrote:

>
>
> Thank you all for the input. Now I will get back at it and see if I can
> make it better.
>
> Les
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
>



--
Jim Kanomata
Applied/GMC, Fremont,CA
jimk@appliedairfilters.com
http://www.appliedgmc.com
1-800-752-7502
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist



Jim Kanomata
Applied/GMC
jimk@appliedairfilters.com
www.appliedgmc.com
1-800-752-7502
Previous Topic: [GMCnet] Ball Joints
Next Topic: [GMCnet] GMC Plaque Rights
Goto Forum:
  


Current Time: Sun Oct 06 01:31:57 CDT 2024

Total time taken to generate the page: 0.01193 seconds