If you’re in an emergency situation, locking your brakes is the LAST thing you want happening. Your brakes should be adjusted so that it’s very difficult to lock them. That’s normal operation. Unless you’re having trouble stopping quickly, your brakes are working fine.
No lock-up on brakes
In my 73, i have put in new discs, pads, calipers, braided hoses, master cylinder and bled and flushed the brake fluid 3 or 4 times, put in an extra vacuum canister for the brake booster… but i cannot get my brakes to lock-up (in case of an emergency stop) the car stops smoothly, but as hard as i push even with both feet, no lock-up.
The pedal does not go to the floor, and feels consistant and the power booster does work, because without the engine running the brake pedal is almost solid and i feel the assistence of the power brakes when the engine is running.
any suggestions?
thank you 👍🏻
The pedal does not go to the floor, and feels consistant and the power booster does work, because without the engine running the brake pedal is almost solid and i feel the assistence of the power brakes when the engine is running.
any suggestions?
thank you 👍🏻
1 - 9 of 9 Posts
X2, if you can stop fast your brakes are perfect
well i guess i have been watching that show “Phantonworks” on Discovery too much. That guy Dan is a real stickler when it comes to brakes, always demanding all four corners lock up evenly at a hard full brake.. 😅
Define lockup. You have a truck that weighs something like 3400lbs. You have decent brakes and softer compound wide tires that provide a ton of grip. Add momentum into the mix and that's a huge amount of rotational force that's seriously not inclined to stop.
In order to lock up the brakes, the pressure on the disc's has to be greater than the torque. To get that can need some requirements. One of which is the proportioning valve. Disc's require more pressure than drums, and must also be able to let loose that pressure faster, so if the proportioning valve is for drum/drum, it's not going to work well for disc/drum or disc/disc.
Another is correct pin depth and adjustment. There's a ratio set by the brake arm where it meets the pin, a 5:1 ratio will supply less pressure than a 6:1 ratio on the booster, less pressure on the pads.
There's also the pin itself, an oversized pin setup puts less psi than a smaller pin, so while it may seem beneficial to have a 1¼ pin, a ⅞ pin has less surface area for the same ratio applied, therefore more pressure.
Pads make a difference. Plain Jane pads have better stopping power when cold, but start to fade sooner when getting overheated, ceramic pads work better when hot and don't fade as fast, race type pads like the yellow/green/reds etc don't work worth a plumb nickle when cold, they only work well when super hot.
You might have a bunch of new parts, that ordinarily work well, but that's not to say they will work as intended, when intended, unless tuned to work that way.
In order to lock up the brakes, the pressure on the disc's has to be greater than the torque. To get that can need some requirements. One of which is the proportioning valve. Disc's require more pressure than drums, and must also be able to let loose that pressure faster, so if the proportioning valve is for drum/drum, it's not going to work well for disc/drum or disc/disc.
Another is correct pin depth and adjustment. There's a ratio set by the brake arm where it meets the pin, a 5:1 ratio will supply less pressure than a 6:1 ratio on the booster, less pressure on the pads.
There's also the pin itself, an oversized pin setup puts less psi than a smaller pin, so while it may seem beneficial to have a 1¼ pin, a ⅞ pin has less surface area for the same ratio applied, therefore more pressure.
Pads make a difference. Plain Jane pads have better stopping power when cold, but start to fade sooner when getting overheated, ceramic pads work better when hot and don't fade as fast, race type pads like the yellow/green/reds etc don't work worth a plumb nickle when cold, they only work well when super hot.
You might have a bunch of new parts, that ordinarily work well, but that's not to say they will work as intended, when intended, unless tuned to work that way.
You don't want your brakes to lockup, you lose all directional control when they do. Just adjust the rear drums so it doesn't pull to either side.
Actually, you kinda do, and don't. You want brakes to have high enough pressure that even with slight amount of gas pedal, the car goes nowhere from a standstill, but once the car is rolling and under momentum, then they are far better off not locking, which is the entire reason behind anti-lock brake systems pulsing brakes.
You are confusing static with dynamic motion. In your scenario the brakes only have to keep the torque converter from transmitting power to the rear end and what I am describing is a 5000lb car in motion at X speed that needs to come to a controled stop.Actually, you kinda do, and don't. You want brakes to have high enough pressure that even with slight amount of gas pedal, the car goes nowhere from a standstill, but once the car is rolling and under momentum, then they are far better off not locking, which is the entire reason behind anti-lock brake systems pulsing brakes.
Nah, no confusion at all, I do know the difference quite well. But they do go hand in hand. You can have the best grip pads, drilled & slotted rotors, dry blacktop, awesome tires etc etc but if the brakes are weak on pressure, you will roll with only a slight amount of torque applied to the rear. Same works in reverse, except rear applied torque is replaced by momentum, rotational torque. Just as the opposite is true, no pads = metal on metal and no friction, therefore no stopping power and no friction to prevent rolling after the torque converter grabs.
1 - 9 of 9 Posts
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