My *%#*ing Brakes!!!

[Joeyvco]

Hey all, I’ve got brake issues from hell on my ‘89 W250. All stock equipment, had been peaced together with the wrong size shoes & was missing 1/2 the auto adjusters on one side, wrong size wheel cylinders on the other side, two different calipers, & what looked like dirty grease for fluid. Here’s a break down of what’s been done so far; new MC, new PB, new Calipers (twice) & pads, turned rotors, new flex line to front axle, new Combination Valve (3x’s!), new flex line to rear axle, complete new adjuster mechanism’s & auto adjusters, new shoes, turned drums, new axle seals (2x’s), flushed entire system 4 x’s, & my brakes still SUCK!! This thing has jerked left, jerked right, had a rock hard pedal that wouldn’t move at all, locked up the fears randomly, blown wheel cylinders, blown calipers, blown 2 combination / proportioning valves, you name it. Doesn’t make sense to pull left or right when it’s only one line out of the valve to the front & rear, how the hell can it pull, you less there’s an obstruction in the T, but it’ll pull left for weeks, then change a caliper or hose & it’s pulling right after that! That stopped when I changed the original combination valve, but the new one only lasted 4 months & blew out the front where the reset button is. The one I replaced it with only lasted a month & it blew out the front also! Those two were from Carolina Classic Trucks, sold as a “ drop in replacement for OEM”. Just replaced it today with a PV2 for a 3/4 ton GM, power bled the entire system (again) damn fluid looks as good Comin out as it does going in. I finished up, fired it up, & damn near ended up in the ditch across the road cause it had a rock hard petal again. I took it for a ride & kept working the brakes, they seemed to be work in a bit & arebetter now, I’ll see tomorrow what it’s like, but it would still go to rock hard petal if you jump on em & it was pulling left, then right & that seems to have leveled off a bit also. What the hell keeps blowing these friggin combination valves out? WTF is with this intermittent rock hard pedal? Just WTF in general is wrong with these ******* *** brakes?? ANY IDEAS ARE WELCOME!!!

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[Joeyvco]

Forgot to mention I also bypassed the RWAL unit & ties the lines together, back when I embarked on this ride from hell!

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[watersupply189]

Hey all, I’ve got brake issues from hell on my ‘89 W250. All stock equipment, had been peaced together with the wrong size shoes & was missing 1/2 the auto adjusters on one side, wrong size wheel cylinders on the other side, two different calipers, & what looked like dirty grease for fluid. Here’s a break down of what’s been done so far; new MC, new PB, new Calipers (twice) & pads, turned rotors, new flex line to front axle, new Combination Valve (3x’s!), new flex line to rear axle, complete new adjuster mechanism’s & auto adjusters, new shoes, turned drums, new axle seals (2x’s), flushed entire system 4 x’s, & my brakes still SUCK!! This thing has jerked left, jerked right, had a rock hard pedal that wouldn’t move at all, locked up the fears randomly, blown wheel cylinders, blown calipers, blown 2 combination / proportioning valves, you name it. Doesn’t make sense to pull left or right when it’s only one line out of the valve to the front & rear, how the hell can it pull, you less there’s an obstruction in the T, but it’ll pull left for weeks, then change a caliper or hose & it’s pulling right after that! That stopped when I changed the original combination valve, but the new one only lasted 4 months & blew out the front where the reset button is. The one I replaced it with only lasted a month & it blew out the front also! Those two were from Carolina Classic Trucks, sold as a “ drop in replacement for OEM”. Just replaced it today with a PV2 for a 3/4 ton GM, power bled the entire system (again) damn fluid looks as good Comin out as it does going in. I finished up, fired it up, & damn near ended up in the ditch across the road cause it had a rock hard petal again. I took it for a ride & kept working the brakes, they seemed to be work in a bit & arebetter now, I’ll see tomorrow what it’s like, but it would still go to rock hard petal if you jump on em & it was pulling left, then right & that seems to have leveled off a bit also. What the hell keeps blowing these friggin combination valves out? WTF is with this intermittent rock hard pedal? Just WTF in general is wrong with these ******* *** brakes?? ANY IDEAS ARE WELCOME!!!

I had a 98 12Valve and found that the power steering gear box was sucking in air causing the brakes to be hard as a rock. I replaced the gear box and brakes worked perfectly after that. I sure can understand your frustration. Took me months to figure out what the heck was going on with my brakes.


2016 Ram Laramie 3500, G56, 6.7, Rough Country Leveling, HID headlights, Morimoto LED fogs plus a whole lot more!

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[Joeyvco]

Really? How did you figure that out & what’s the correlation between the steering & the brakes, on the power steering fluid circuit side of the pump?

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[watersupply189]

Really? How did you figure that out & what’s the correlation between the steering & the brakes, on the power steering fluid circuit side of the pump?

My year model used hydroboost which was tied into the power steering/brakes. Have you checked your rubber line going to the brake booster for dry rot/leaks? Could also be that the vacuum pump is bad causing your issue.


2016 Ram Laramie 3500, G56, 6.7, Rough Country Leveling, HID headlights, Morimoto LED fogs plus a whole lot more!

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[Joeyvco]

PS, I drove it today & had very frequent hard petal.

When I got home I slid up under her & checked the combo valve & it was dry & the button wasn’t sticking out the front, no leaks.

Checked M/Cyl level & it’s where I left it at. Seems weird, but I have an incline to my yard & it seems when I back out downhill it acts up almost every time.

Just freakin bizzaro!!!

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[watersupply189]

PS, I drove it today & had very frequent hard petal.

When I got home I slid up under her & checked the combo valve & it was dry & the button wasn’t sticking out the front, no leaks.

Checked M/Cyl level & it’s where I left it at. Seems weird, but I have an incline to my yard & it seems when I back out downhill it acts up almost every time.

Just freakin bizzaro!!!

You said you replaced the brake booster already? Hard brakes is also a sign of a bad brake booster. I replaced everything on mine until I discovered a wet spot on the bottom of my steering gear box which was sucking air in creating my hard brake issues.


2016 Ram Laramie 3500, G56, 6.7, Rough Country Leveling, HID headlights, Morimoto LED fogs plus a whole lot more!

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[Polaraco]

PS, I drove it today & had very frequent hard petal.

When I got home I slid up under her & checked the combo valve & it was dry & the button wasn’t sticking out the front, no leaks.

Checked M/Cyl level & it’s where I left it at. Seems weird, but I have an incline to my yard & it seems when I back out downhill it acts up almost every time.

Just freakin bizzaro!!!

Where the hell are you getting these parts?

Stay out of AutoZone. Junk dealers!

I would listen to Joe.

Hydroboost is very simple and effective but can be a bear when it goes down.

Given what I read, I'm not sure that's where the problem is.

Do you have ABS?

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[Joeyvco]

Where the hell are you getting these parts?

Stay out of AutoZone. Junk dealers!

I would listen to Joe.

Hydroboost is very simple and effective but can be a bear when it goes down.

Given what I read, I'm not sure that's where the problem is.

Do you have ABS?

parts were from Napa & Carolina Classic Trucks. No, as stated in my looong list of what I e done to the truck, I bypassed that pos early on in the story.

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[Joeyvco]

I havent hit the Vac lines yet, that’s next in the list. Wouldn’t there also be intermittent issues with steering, if the Vac pump was taking a dump, & not just the brakes? I haven’t had steering or comfort controls issues, so I figured the pump would be working ok, but depending on the Vac line routing I could see how it could just affect the brakes.

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