Question about brakes

[cglax6]

I have a front disc brake kit from Horsepower LLC that I installed a little over a year ago. The calipers are from a 76 K10. I rotated tires the other day , so I took a look at the brake pads and the outer pads were almost completely work down, and the inside pads had normal wear.

I bought some new pads and replaced the caliper bushings and pins and greased them up, hoping that the uneven wear is due to some binding in the bushings.

After I put everything back on, I drove the CJ around the block and the brakes are really squishy. Takes a good 3-4 pumps of the brake to build up pressure. When installing the new pads, I used a c-clamp to press in the pistons to get the new pads to fit. Squishy brakes usually mean there's air in the system. Not sure how that could have happened if I didn't open anything up. Should I expect tighter brakes if I bleed, or do I have something else wrong?

Brakes worked great before changing the pads.

Thanks.

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[cglax6]

Wanted to give you all an update...for those that didn't respond[emoji1787][emoji1787][emoji1787]...

I bled the brakes...no air bubbles in the system, and the brakes still felt a little squishy.

I put the Jeep back on jack stands and took the front wheels off and pulled off the calipers again, regressed the pins and out everything back together. After everything was back on, I took a good look at the calipers to make sure they were seated correctly. Then I pushed on the pads, and the bottom of the outer pads had a good 1/8" gap between the pads and the rotors. At first I thought my calipers were warped or something, bit that wasn't the case.

I mounted a dial micrometer to check and see if the rotors were out of whack, but they were fine. Then I checked the caliper brsckets...

Sure enough, the bottom of each caliper brsckets were pressed up against the bottom edge of the knuckles, causing them to bend outboard at the bottom. This explains the uneven and extra wear on my old pads. The calipers were mounted crooked because the bracket was crooked. It also explains the soft pedal since the crookedness wasn't letting the pads seat correctly.

I took a BFH and beat the hell out of the bottom part of each bracket to get them to line up properly. No more brake issues. I called up Horsepower Sales LLC and ordered a new set of caliper brackets and he'll be sending some tomorrow. I'll just need to grind down a little bit of the knuckles to get everything to fit how it should.

Glad I finally got this one figured out!

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[007]

That's good to know - never considered turning the wheels fully left and right when changing over to Chevy calipers.

I can't stand the Ford calipers that were stock on my CJ and the next time I need pads I'm swapping out the whole thing to a kit like this.

 

[cglax6]

That's good to know - never considered turning the wheels fully left and right when changing over to Chevy calipers.



I can't stand the Ford calipers that were stock on my CJ and the next time I need pads I'm swapping out the whole thing to a kit like this.

Even though I had an issue with this kit, I still HIGHLY recommend it. Just need to be mindful to make everything fits properly. When I called them up and explained this issue, he said he's never received any similar complaints, so I may be the oddball.

The calipers he uses are from a Chevy K10, so pads are pretty easy to come by. All the part stores around me had pads in stock.

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[Patrick]

Please do not buy their answer. It’s obvious there is a fitment issue. If you have to whack your new brackets to make them fit, stop and evaluate the kit’s design.

 

[007]

Please do not buy their answer. It’s obvious there is a fitment issue. If you have to whack your new brackets to make them fit, stop and evaluate the kit’s design.

I kinda felt the same way, but I don't know if they sent the right ones to begin with OR if there's any mods to that area on the Jeep we don't know about.

You can also find these a bit cheaper at The Jeep Guy Home Page. He has them at $85 a pair.

 

[cglax6]

I kinda felt the same way, but I don't know if they sent the right ones to begin with OR if there's any mods to that area on the Jeep we don't know about.



You can also find these a bit cheaper at The Jeep Guy Home Page. He has them at $85 a pair.

They're the same brackets...

And definitely a fitment issue. Easily remedied with a couple hits from the grinder.

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