Any Jeep guys around?

Hey guys, I know I have been absent from the forums for a while. Seems life has been getting busier and busier (I am sure it is the same for everyone). In the last year and a half, my wife and I have had a beautiful baby girl, moved from Arkansas to Michigan, sold a house, bought a house, started two new jobs, bought a boat and just recently, bought a Jeep.

I bought the Jeep as a surprise gift for my wife's 30th birthday. Needless to say, she was very surprised. It is a 1978 CJ7 with a AMC 304 V8. No top, no doors, no radio, no AC (or heat for that matter), just man (or woman in this case), machine, the wind and the road. Anyway, when I bought it, it had manual brakes and steering. The steering she can live with, the brakes, she could not. So I swapped out the master cylinder with a new one and a booster. Took it for a test drive and the front drivers side (disk brake) was dragging so bad it started smoking and pulling. It would pull before the booster, but only when braking. I decided the calipers were probably original so I decided to replace both front calipers and flex lines with new ones. Seems to have helped a lot with the brake performance and the pulling, however, the front left still seems to be dragging at least a little. After my test drive, I jacked it back up and tried spinning the wheels by hand and it spun, but would stop quickly, within half a rotation.

Anyone out there have any experience with Jeeps, or even brakes in general? I know we have a pretty knowledgeable and diverse group here, so I thought it worth a shot. To me, that still seems to be too much drag and on a longer drive would probably heat up again.

Thanks guys. Hope everyone is doing well. I know I still owe pics of the new boat. Been too busy trying to use it and never seems to get any pics. I will soon.

How is the clearance from pad to rotor when you assembled it?


If you are looking at a case of the brake caliper not releasing properly,look to the slides. Although I restored a 72' cj5 years ago I cannot remember the method of slides used on them.

Anyway if it were me, I'd disassemble and check the slide action, as well as has the fastening point. Had that jeep seen any off road driving a large rock can bend the "tabs" how the caliper mounts making the caliper lopsided and not slide back.

I'm using a phone so forgive me in advance. One thing to make sure is that you have the correct master cyl. Drum brake masters have a check valve in them discs do not. I did a conversion on a vw bug and had to either use the correct master or pull the check valve. Drum brakes use a spring to retract the shoes,disc's use the piston seal to retract the piston any restriction then can hang them up. Then because of the drag the fluid heats and expands and makes the brakes drag more. One thing you can try first is once it's dragging, open the bleader and see if pressure releases.

Wow. Lots of stuff I did not think of.

Kevin-There is a proportioning valve in the system already. I have wondered if they go bad?

Seth-
There was a HUGE clearance when I put the new calipers on...I mean like 1/2" before the piston even touched the pad. The "slide" on these is a little different than I have ever seen. There are no pins. The calipers slide back and forth on the bracket and there is a wedge that you drive between the caliper and bottom of the bracket to hold everything in place. it is supposed to slide on this wedge and the top of the bracket. nowhere near as efficient as pins. i greased everything up, so its about as good as its going to get.

Gary-
I will double check, but I bought the master as a combo with the booster from a jeep website and it specifically stated disc/drum set up. Only thing I could think of is maybe the lines are connected tot he wrong ports on the master, but they are different sizes and I just connected to the corresponding ports.

Oh yes, that is what I thought, about the slides being the drive in pins.
I hate those, still today.


Yeah, not sure about the booster/master comment as one side is working and rears are assumed to be working.

I read you replaced the lines, but have you done them completely to the master? I have run across several of the flexible lines that would allow pressure to the caliper but not in reverse. Something to do with internal delamination. Not sure if steel could cause the same reaction.

Even a kink in the line can do that. You seem smart enough to check for that though.


Have you tried to release the bleeder to see if pressure is holding it up?   If you open the screw and it releases, you can rule out slide/mounting issue. Even though it sounds like it's your problem.

Do the bleeder test and see where that leads.    

I still have trouble sometimes with those old dodge brakes, and if you had to beat the pins in, well, there is your problem.

azeus17 wrote: Wow. Lots of stuff I did not think of. Kevin-There is a proportioning valve in the system already. I have wondered if they go bad?

You can probably rule out the proportioning valve as most I have seen only control front vs. rear, and not side to side.