Disk conversion=2 much pedal travel

-

ppsi

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2009
Messages
133
Reaction score
21
I did a Master Power Brake "B" body disk upgrade to my 65 Dart 6 years ago. It always had a low/spongly pedal but I thought it was just the nature of the manual brakes because the car stopped fine-just had a low/spongy pedal. The car clocked only 15K miles in the 6 years since the upgrade but recently sat for 2 years outdoors. I am getting it going again and did a brake job along with putting an 8 1/4" rear axle in place of the 7 1/4" so I have BBP all around. I went crazy trying to find out why this brake system gace such a spongly pedal and it took 20+ hours to determine it was not an ait in the lines problem. The problem is with the calipers or more likely the bracket that holds the caliper to the spindle. When I apply the brakes the caliper presses on the pad plate nad squeezes the rotor as it should. After a certain amount of pressure is applied the caliper then sort of kicks away from the rotor on an angle. While this is happening I can feel the spongly pedal syndrome. So I am 100% sure this spongly and long pedal travel is due to the piston moving the caliper away from the horizontal path and causing the clips to flex as the caliper travels in an angular path. This all translate into more piston movement/pedal travel.
I know the clips cannot keep the pressure required to squeeze the rotor from moving the caliper but thought I would throw this out to see if anyone has had any similar issues. There is no problem with worn wyas on the bracket or damage from the pad backing plates where the hang on the inboard side of the bracket and the system has always had lubricant on the caliper/pad ways. I am nearly certain it is a geometry issue with the machined bracket??
Thanks
Howard
 
You did not say that this movement is happening on both sides or just one side.
  • Make sure that the wheel bearings are installed properly.
  • Suggest that you check to see that there are no burrs or nicks in the machined ways that the caliper travels on.
  • Then check the ways to make sure they are parallel to each other and perpendicular to the rotor. If either is not true, the bracket is either not installed correctly or bent.
  • On some brake pad sets, the pad against the rotor is different from the one on the outside. Make sure pads are installed correctly.
 

-
Back
Top Bottom