99 ranger brakes

[patterson302]

i have a 99 ranger and the brakes are pretty mushy and they don't stop the truck till almost complete pedal in.I replaced master cylinder and bench bled it and bled the 4 other bleeders.its alittle better than it was.the abs light is on.even after all this.the back brake shoes are about shot and it needs new drums.but would just the shoes make it act like that and make the light come on.any help would be appreciated.

[patterson302]

and also the emergency brake doesnt work at all it doesnt do shxx.and the kight for the e brake is on.any help would be great.Its 5 speed 4.0 and does any one know what size drums i have 10s or 9s.It has .8 rear end.Thanks

[Joshs93four-oh]

If the "brake" lamp on the dash is also on it is likely that you have air hidden in the system somewhere. If the "brake" lamp is not on, you MOST LIKELY have a non-hydraulic related abs issue somewhere. Abs problems cannot be properly diagnosed until the service brakes are in good working order. Your low brake pedal/no parking brake is most likely a result of extremely worn out/out of adjustment rear brake shoes. You didn't mention if it was 4 or 2 wheel drive- I think that 2wd's are 9 inch drums and 4wd's are 10 inch (only with the 8.8). If the rear shoes are worn out it will cause a low brake pedal because the wheel cylinders have to "pump out" excessively far in order for the shoe to contact the inside of the drums. When you release the brake pedal, the return springs in the drums compress the cylinders and shoes away from the drums again. This is why you cant "pump the brakes up". In other words, your brake pedal will not become firm until all the brake linings have contacted something solid. Replace the rear shoes and hardware FIRST, make sure that both wheel cylinders are not leaking or siezed. Then bleed the system. If your wheel cylinder pistons are over-extending because of wasted shoes it may be sucking air right back into the system every time you release the brakes. If this were the case the master cylinder level would be going down, however. When all of that is done, then you can worry about the abs lamp, and it might just go out anyway after you do the repairs. Josh
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Honda RC100 (http://www.honda-wiki.org/wiki/Honda_RC100)

[thegoat4]

Sounds like you need to adjust your rear brakes out before you do anythiong else.

[patterson302]

thanks guy si appreciate the feed back.im going to attempt new shoes and drums tomorrow.Ill let you know how it goes