Question about brake booster screw adjustment

[helpme]

Is proper adjustment dependent on pad & shoe wear?
Thanks.

 

[Mark_88]

No, if you are referring to the booster center peg that pushes into the master.

That only controls how much the peg is inserted into the master cylinder...and can vary only a bit before you punch through the seals...and mess up the master.

The brakes should be self adjusting or you can manually adjust the rears by backing up to about 25 km/h and stamping on the pedal...I've not needed to adjust the front disks ever...and I can't actually recall an adjustment on them unless they've changed things in the third generation Rangers...

If you've changed boosters you really need to be careful about what one you put on because they are not necessarily interchangeable or adjustable to accommodate the differences in pedal position and length of the push rod...although you could probably adapt one...

But it may be better to approach the problem from a different angle...like telling us what is wrong and maybe someone can offer a solution...if your brake pedal is spongey then it could be that you have a leak, an air bubble, or something has gone south for the winter and needs replacing.

 

[helpme]

Thanks.

How many pedal strokes need to be done to bleed the rear brakes?
And , is it really worth the $59.95 Just Brakes charges to get a power bleed or is the old fashioned way using a hose and bottle just as good?
Thanks again.

 

[gw33gp]

You bleed it until there are no air bubles coming out and the fluid is clear. Hose and bottle work fine if two people are doing the work. There are systems you can buy that only require one person to bleed the brakes.

 

[Mark_88]

I always use the one-man bleeder...works fine and usually only requires a few pedal pushes to get things moving.

As mentioned above, you bleed until you don't see any more bubbles...it sometimes helps to shine a light behind the line because some of the bubbles are very small...

 

[helpme]

Thanks

I thought some of the bubbles could be smaller than you could see at a distance (from the rear wheels to the driver's seat).
I figured maybe 10 strokes for the front and 25 for the rear. My problem is low pedal.
I'm running out of pedal before I run out of pad. Its a high mileage vehicle (210K). I think the rotors and pads are worn so bad its at the end of the caliper travel. I changed out rotors before at about 125K.
So I guess its time for new rotors (and pads) again.

 

[Mark_88]

Probably be a big help to put on new rotors and pads...but do the rears asap...the front replacements should bring up your pedal enough to give you braking power since they do about 70 to 85% of the work...

You've got about 85k miles on them so I'd say they've earned a rest...although getting the premium rotors should make them last even longer...

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Rear shoes out of adjustment will effect pedal travel. Worn front pads will not.

 

[Mark_88]

Rear shoes out of adjustment will effect pedal travel. Worn front pads will not.

Ah, so doing the rears first would be the best route to take...

I'm pretty sure that my Zuki pedal was way low until I changed the front rotors...but I did the rears about the same time so maybe it was actually the rears that did the trick...hmmmm...

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

As long as there is enough fluid left in the resivoir to push the pistons....calipers are completely self adjusting.

Shoes out of adjustment or worn out will take more pedal travel to push the shoes out to contact the drum. Because of the springs on the shoes pulling them back to their resting position the wheel cylinder has to take up that travel every time where as a caliper only retracts just enough so the pads don't contact the rotor.

 

[helpme]

Thanks again...

the rear shoes had hardly any wear on them at all. I pre-adjusted them so that you could barely get the drum on. I hope this is correct.
I get the impression its stopping on the front only.

 

[helpme]

Checked the rotors...

and I'm down to .77. Minimum is .81.
Thanks all.

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

.77 what?

 

[PlumCrazy]

.77 what?

Im going to say rotor width?

-PlumCrazy

 

[helpme]

Thats inches.

Thats the standard measurement of thickness.