Putting my toys away for the winter. I determined that the stock drum brakes on my 52 Dodge Pickup are better than those on my racecar....sad. Last track weekend (Summit) I had to pump the brakes on the straights before hitting the corner even then they were scary killing my Turn 10 and Turn 1. On combos where i recently used the brakes they were fine. I have Wilwoods DTC-60 front HP+ rear. No leaks. I assume I have some vacuum leaks and plan on replacing the vacuum lines to the PBB this winter. Most likely a bad master cylinder, bad pbb, vacuum check valve???? Pedal is soft, goes close to the floor before lockup.


Thanks
PGillum

What brakes do you have? Stock brakes aren't enough. Have you at least upgraded to the NX2000 setup? That's the minimum for comfort in my opinion.

What brakes do you have? Stock brakes aren't enough. Have you at least upgraded to the NX2000 setup? That's the minimum for comfort in my opinion.

Wilwood front, stock rear.

Thanks

Wow. I have a similar setup. I have the Fastbrakes kit and love it. That's a custom rotor with a dynalite caliper. I have the stock rears as well and a bias adjuster.

I have never had any problems what so ever with this setup. In fact, I have always been brake limited. I can lock the tires any time.

How do the pads look? Are they wearing evenly? Mine wear at the top of the caliper where the rotor enters the pads. It's important to swap the pads left to right on a regular basis. Once the pads start to wear unevenly, you can get excessive pedal travel.

The obvious thing to do is to flush a 2/3 of a quart of brand new brake fluid thru your brake system. Make sure to use the order in the manual. It's important to do it by the book if there is air in the system. Air can hide. Also, tighten your axle nut. If your nut is loose your rotor can knock back your pads and you get major pedal travel. In fact, your symptom is a classic knock back symptom. FYI, I have removed the pin and castle nut from my axle stubs and I check the axle nut before EVERY single session. With my wilwood setup, I have only had bad pedal travel from brakes that needed to be bled or a loose axle nut.

I have only seen excessive pedal travel come from the following.... air in the system, bad brake lines, a bad master cylinder, a loose axle nut, and uneven pad wear.

I think it's a bearing or M/C issue too.

I have already had the axle nut issue. That was an experience! Is there a castle nut or keeper setup that someone has made up? Brake fluid has been flushed. Will also change MC they seem cheap enough.

I have already had the axle nut issue. That was an experience! Is there a castle nut or keeper setup that someone has made up? Brake fluid has been flushed. Will also change MC they seem cheap enough.

The stock setup is a castle nut (keeper) with a pin. The problem with that is that you have to pull the pin to check to see if the nut is tight... which means removing the wheel.... at which point you make it a 2 person job to tighten it.

You should definitely not have pedal travel issues with your setup. That's one of the big advantages of getting the wilwood setup. It's also lighter and the pads are a LOT cheaper.

Blair is also right about the wheel bearing. I forgot about that one. A rotor that has runout can cause pad knock-back as well.

Yeah quick learning curve on this car. I had recently replaced the WB on the drivers side, had a bad off in 4-5 @Summit (loose nut may have caused it). Back to the paddock, thought my wheel was gonna fall off when I put it on jackstands. Called Blair, he returned with a mess. By then I had already figured out my axle nut was loose. Probably what caused my orig bearing to break.

I have regular nuts on my axles, not castle / slotted. So the cotter pin was pretty much pointless anyways probaly would have sheared if shit was that loose. Only good thing is you could hit it with an impact to tighten without removing the wheel. Possibly what the original owner was going for. Now pass side has some playthat it did not have before. Will check it out in the spring as it is in hibernation in the trailer for the winter. I think that is part of my braking prob, but I had it also when the wheels were tight. Probably still replace the MC, any rebuilt brands of choice?

The stock setup is a castle nut (keeper) with a pin. The problem with that is that you have to pull the pin to check to see if the nut is tight... which means removing the wheel.... at which point you make it a 2 person job to tighten it.


To tighten the nut, I put the biggest screwdriver that will fit through the caliper into the vent slots of the brake disc. This stops the axle from turning as I tighten the nut. Soup.

The test to see if the vacuum check valve is pretty easy: all you need is a vacuum gauge and a watch. It was the easy fix on Steve Patterson's ITA SE-R.

I have regular nuts on my axles, not castle / slotted.

There's a castlated cap that goes over the nut.

There's a castlated cap that goes over the nut.

Yup. The local advance autoparts has them in stock. I leave mine off and torque to 160. I use to check them between sessions, but they have never been loose.

I had issues getting firm brakes on our '91 LeMons car despite bleeding before and during the first two races. Before our third race, I replaced the calipers with remans and bought new rotors. No more brake problems.