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Brat brakes hanging up


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It feels as though I have either a caliper slightly sticking on or the hill holder not completely releasing all the way. Is there an easy way to isolate which brake could be hanging up? Also, what's the correct adjustment procedure for the hillholder. I'd like to keep it functional and not bypass it if I can at all do so.

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need to find out for sure what's going on. jack both sides and see which tire has resistance. probably a brake hanging up - have the caliper slides ever been regreased, are the boots in good shape with no cracks?

 

once i had a front ebrake hanging - i freed it up, moved it back and forth a few times and never had a problem again.

 

could it also be torque bind - the 4WD?

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Yep, I'll bet. This problem feels more like a brake hanging up. What is throwing me is that if it were a front one getting stuck wouldn't the car pull to that side? Mine isn't pulling at all. What does the hill holder control? Both front brakes, all 4 brakes, or just one wheel? I'm thinking it's the hill holder not releasing all the way.

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Torque bind is not an issue with the part-time manual transaxles. They are either in 4WD or not in 4WD. The engagement system is a shift dog just like any other gear and there is no center diff or TC.

 

Actually - I guess you could say that torque bind is *normal* for a PT4WD tranny as they can't be driven on dry surfaces in 4WD anyway unless you are only going straight.

 

As for your brakes - sound like the caliper's need their slides greased or the rear drums are out of adjustment.

 

To adjust the HH - adjust the clutch first. Then adjust the HH cable till it's just tight - barely pulling on the return spring. That's usually right on. Sometimes on the EA's they like to be a little tighter. Try it out on a hill and make sure it releases right as the clutch starts to drag.

 

HH controls one front and one rear wheel (IE - one of the two diagonal circuits).

 

GD

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Try feeling the caliper/rotor and see which side is warm. This is best done after a good bit of driving without using the brakes much. Like after driving up a decent hill... I have this problem and need to re-grease the slides but mine pulls to the side that's hanging.. so you might have another problem? or more than one side hanging.

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  • 3 months later...

Passenger side caliper is frozen tight. I couldn't turn the piston back in even if I had the power of 2 mules and a small boy. Figured out which one was hanging up by driving it a few miles then giving each wheel/rotor a shot of garden hose. Presto! Looked like a dry cleaners steam pipe coming off the passenger side. What has me stumped is why the outboard pad is almost completely worn down but the inboard pad looks as thick as the day I put it on. Wonder why?

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Passenger side caliper is frozen tight. I couldn't turn the piston back in even if I had the power of 2 mules and a small boy. Figured out which one was hanging up by driving it a few miles then giving each wheel/rotor a shot of garden hose. Presto! Looked like a dry cleaners steam pipe coming off the passenger side. What has me stumped is why the outboard pad is almost completely worn down but the inboard pad looks as thick as the day I put it on. Wonder why?

 

Because the caliper isn't sliding.

 

The piston pushes on the inboard pad, in turn the outboard pad is squeezed by the force of the caliper trying to push off the inboard.

 

Now relaese the brake, and the piston backs off slighlty without hydraulic pressure behind it.....but the outboard pad is left dragging against the rotor....because the caliper cannot "slide" back out.

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Because the caliper isn't sliding.

 

The piston pushes on the inboard pad, in turn the outboard pad is squeezed by the force of the caliper trying to push off the inboard.

 

Now relaese the brake, and the piston backs off slighlty without hydraulic pressure behind it.....but the outboard pad is left dragging against the rotor....because the caliper cannot "slide" back out.

 

So is it a bad caliper or is it just that the slides aren't functioning correctly? Slides are all greased and slide freely when the caliper is swung up out of the way. But as mentioned I don't think dynamite would loosen the piston so it could be turned back in. What causes the caliper piston to not turn back into the bore? Corrosion? Collapsed rubber brake hose?

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