Now I had the brakes "fixed" but I also cannot lock them up and am frustrated at paying nearly a grand to get them working. They are working but won't lock up tight.
new booster, new master, new lines from master to NEW proportioning valve. new lines to all 4 tires. factory disc front 11 inch rear.
Well, let's dig a little deeper and maybe narrow some stuff down. (sorry for the continued hijack Jfryjfry!)
First, was there anything wrong with them in the first place, or was it just a service? And if wrong, what was going on? Same thing with not stopping the oversize tires?
Are the calipers new?
What type of proportioning valve is used, and is the original removed?
Which master cylinder did you go with? Stock, or aftermarket? Same 1" original size, or larger?
Which booster? Rebuilt original, or replacement? If a replacement, any chance the old one is still available for rebuilding?
5.5 inch wild horses lift with 35's. im sure the 35s aren't helping the situation but still feel like I should be able to lock them up?? am I wrong?
Maybe wrong. Those 35's are a LOT larger and heavier than anything Ford ever intended. But they should still stop with confidence, if not exactly being easy to lock up.
You do have the big brakes, and the stock discs are decent. In fact I like them better than the GM setup, even though with the larger piston the GM setups are theoretically able to provide more clamping force against the rotor.
Maybe in the front, changing to the T-bird calipers will net you some more stopping ability.
The height of the lift is not helping either, but it's more of a balance thing than any effect it has on actual power to the brakes. In fact should make it easier to lock up the rears due to weight-shift towards the front during normal braking.
But a larger master cylinder bore can effect things as well. It will make for a firmer pedal, but at the expense of taking more effort to achieve the same pressure.
How well are the rear brakes adjusted? Sounds like you did not do it yourself, but if you check them sometime, see if you hear a decent amount of scraping when you turn the wheel.
Another thing that is I think a bad trend, is the manufacturers no longer making the rear shoes in "primary" and "secondary" sizes. This is a long-lauded feature of drum brakes called their "self-energizing" property. Where just applying the brakes causes them to increase their clamping force by naturally rocking inside the drum. Creating more pressure than just what is being applied by the fluid.
Not having the short/long shoe material is something I've only seen in the last couple of years. Apparently it's cheaper to do this way? Or they don't want to hassle with two different sizes and some salesperson touted the fact that they're selling you "more friction surface area" or some such bs like that.
It could be worth pulling a drum off just to be sure. I've seen pro shops get it wrong because the tech was used to disc brakes and had never worked on a drum before. Or was sidetracked and didn't pay attention.
The short (primary) shoe goes to the front of the drum and the long (secondary) faces the rear.
But this is just the rear brakes in your case obviously.
For the fronts, the new prop valve might be holding things off. I've only seen it once (which is a miracle in itself these days!) but a brand new proportioning valve was keeping fluid from getting to the fronts at all. Which is weird to begin with, since the proportioning feature is only in the rear circuit. Defective part then. Maybe a stuck delay valve.
This was the brass-block style that mounts in the normal location. Not one of the manually adjustable ones.
So just a bunch of rambling, but maybe this touches on some of the stuff.
I would see if you can borrow a set of 31" tires maybe, and see how the brakes feel then. If they are still weak, I'd take it back to the shop and ask them what they think could be the issue.
With 35's, it's probably just too hard for anyone that's not intimately familiar with Broncos and how they drive and stop, to know what to expect with such a large tire.
At this point, we need to hear from more owners with 35's (thanks for the feedback Kyddsply) and those with 37" tires to hear their experiences with vacuum boosted setups.
Good luck.
Paul
