I have a 2001 ram 5.9 Cummins 24v, in 2016 I had both from calipers replaced along with rotors and pads,  I had a fluid flush,  I replaced my booster on my own,  the drums and shoes were replaced as well.  I noticed upon replacing pads due to grinding that on my passenger side the inner pad was worn based while the others were in decent shape. It feels as if the truck has a rough time stopping too. Upon replacement of the booster, the abs and brake light kept coming on for a week even though everything was working as it should.  Eventually those lights went away.  When I replaced pads the brakes were pumped hard then started and pumped again to ensure i had contact before test driving on the test drive they still feel like it's hard to stop the truck and the pedal return is fairly slow.  What could be causing this?  Shoes are great and adjusted properly,  the rotors and drums show very little wear even with the grinding caught when it was i did not gouge the rotor much,  the rotor was resurfaced and is well within spec on the thicker end. 

Air in the system. Brake pedal travel should be very little. Like my truck 1/2 inch of travel will put you in the dash.

The system has been billed 3 times by me,  1 by a professional

I also did not open the system in any way when doing pads

When it was bled were you getting air bubbles out?  Even though it has been bled correct several times you could still be pulling air in if you have a bad connection or bad line somewhere. 

Even a bad master cylinder could too.

I had 0 bubbles when bleeding. The second and third time.. Prior to that it was blurred by a shop with a vacuum bleeder. When I push my pedal I need to press it hard as well.. And even then it still doesn't stop on a dime

Is it possible the booster pushrod needs adjustment? Or something like that or maybe the spring is weak? I'd like to work with you guys to get a solid diagnosis before just swapping anything since most of this system has already been replaced minus the master cylinder

 

No air well... What's the power steering fluid look like?

Power steering?? 

49 minutes ago, digidoggie18 said:

Power steering?? 

 

The power steering pump supplies power steering fluid to operate the brake booster.  There is an accumulator on the brake booster that stores power steering fluid under pressure for power brake applications. 

 

If you haven't done so already, with the engine off press and hold the brake pedal briefly to drain all of the power steering fluid from the accumulator.  Do this several time to ensure the accumulator has discharged all of its fluid.  There is a possibility that air could be trapped in the accumulator from when you did the brake booster replacement.

 

- John

Ahh, power steering gas slowly been whining

6 hours ago, digidoggie18 said:

I noticed upon replacing pads due to grinding that on my passenger side the inner pad was worn based while the others were in decent shape. 

That's from seized up sliders on calipers

A vacuum leak could cause him to have a hard brake pedal as well and poor braking performance.

2 minutes ago, 99_Cummins_4x4 said:

A vacuum leak could cause him to have a hard brake pedal as well and poor braking performance.

 

The power brake portion of the brake system is powered by the power steering pump with an accumulator, not a vacuum boost diaphragm.

 

- John

25 minutes ago, 99_Cummins_4x4 said:

A vacuum leak could cause him to have a hard brake pedal as well and poor braking performance.

Only thing vacuum controls is HVAC case and cruise control on automatics. Optional for exhaust brake. Vacuum assist was only on 1st gen trucks.

I've suffered this for years, but it wasn't I replaced everything that i stopped having issues. It maybe worth looking to see if your calipers are binding, or the ABS computer is playing games with you.

Sounds like a combination of potentials...

 

First the hydroboost system is possibly in desperate need of attention.  Flushing the fluid, assuring the pump valve isnt plugged with debris, and that the accumulator is functioning properly.  There's a process to this so that you dont aerate the fluid either.

 

Then check the rear brakes because they are likely out of adjustment which will result in the shoes having to move too far before contact which skews the proportioning valves ability to offer equal power distribution between the front and rear brakes.

 

And no one probably bothered to match the new shoes to the new drum surface either which will prevent solid contact of those two components even further weakening the stopping power.

Its easy to unknowingly botch up drum brake jobs...and when that happens the front disc brakes are forced to increase their load and are nowhere near powerful enough to support the stopping power of a 4 ton truck with likely oversized tires.

Edited January 18, 20196 yr by KATOOM

1 hour ago, KATOOM said:

Sounds like a combination of potentials...

 

First the hydroboost system is possibly in desperate need of attention.  Flushing the fluid, assuring the pump valve isnt plugged with debris, and that the accumulator is functioning properly.  There's a process to this so that you dont aerate the fluid either.

 

Then check the rear brakes because they are likely out of adjustment which will result in the shoes having to move too far before contact which skews the proportioning valves ability to offer equal power distribution between the front and rear brakes.

 

And no one probably bothered to match the new shoes to the new drum surface either which will prevent solid contact of those two components even further weakening the stopping power.

Its easy to unknowingly botch up drum brake jobs...and when that happens the front disc brakes are forced to increase their load and are nowhere near powerful enough to support the stopping power of a 4 ton truck with likely oversized tires.

Thank you for this, I did not adjust my drums but I do know it's easy to botch the job even though I don't botch from brake jobs. I will review this later when outta warm, I think you are correct though, my power steering gas been whining more especially when cold, I will do that and flush the system. One update though, the brakes are much much more stiff but still not horribly strong, the pedal now for some reason only travels about a half inch to engage which is nice but that still doesn't put me in the dash like mopar man stated. How easy should it be to stop the truck? Also what is the process I need to follow with the power steering?

 

When you get the brakes working correctly you should have ample stopping power.  I have an '01 with rear drums too and it takes very little effort to slow this heavy hitter.  And if I happen to jump on the brakes in a panic situation, there is no lack of stopping power.

 

 Where I thought I should be. With that being said when the shop did my drums they were in fact seized, it took them a day to get it all apart

19 hours ago, Dieselfuture said:

That's from seized up sliders on calipers

This is my thinking also.

5 minutes ago, digidoggie18 said:

 

 Where I thought I should be. With that being said when the shop did my drums they were in fact seized, it took them a day to get it all apart

I'm learning in recent years to trust shops less and less.

 

I usually call Mopar1973Man for his detailed instructions how to do it myself and then send him some money for his great help, because it always comes out great. Even in the middle of a busey day he will answer your questions if stumped. He is the coolest.

Edited January 18, 20196 yr by JAG1

Just now, digidoggie18 said:

 

 Where I thought I should be. With that being said when the shop did my drums they were in fact seized, it took them a day to get it all apart

 

Likely they were NOT seized but just hard to get apart...which is common practice for anyone trying to get their rear drums off.

One old trick in doing so is to place the rear axle on stands, remove the rear tires, on both sides put three lug nuts back on the wheel studs just far enough for the threads to reach the end of the nut.  Meaning they're very loose...

Then start the truck and put it in gear.  With the drums spinning put the transmission in neutral and slam on the brakes.  The drums will shoot off from the force.  Obviously you can see now that the loose sitting lug nuts are there to prevent drums from rocketing across your garage.

Other than that, the R&R process is to do one side at a time so you dont forget what goes where and how things are supposed to look and fit together.