Toms Truck

[thomas colangelo]

I have a 1998 Chevy silverado, Z71, I have break issues. I owned since new, love truck , poor breaks. I tried everthing. GM said they are normal. I have been looking at other issues from other people, but they are not talking about a 1998 Chevy PU. I need suggestions, please.

 

[ak diesel driver]

I'm assuming it's a 1/2 ton?

 

[Will L.]

We need more history of what happened or how long ago the brakes started performing poorly or you have been unhappy with it all this time and now want to upgrade the whole system.

what work has been done to the system and what have you checked? Like:

When is the last time you flushed the brake fluid for new?
What brake pads are you currently using?
Stock rotors or aftermarket? Are they grooved, blued, etc?

Is the master cylinder in good condition- how old? What about brake booster?

 

[MrMarty51]

Hello Thomas, welcome to the forum.
How many miles is there on the unit ?
Might be best to get the wheels off the ground and pull calipers and drums and do an inspection of components. If brakes dont surge when stopping and all the components looks to be in good condition, remove rear slack adjusters, take them apart and thoroughly clean them, dope them down good with some antiseize then screw them back together to about the same dimension as what they were, then, put it all back together then adjust up the rear brakes, seems the rear slack adjusters seize up and fails to keep the braking shoes close to the drums and that is what causes poor braking on most of these rigs.

 

[thomas colangelo]

i have put new brakes pads new rotor new caliber and new wheel cylinder brake shoes and brake lines and master cylinder on my half ton 3 door short bed 4x4

 

[MrMarty51]

When You pump the pedal a couple or three times, if the pedal comes up with each pump then there most likely is air in the system.
if pumping the pedal does not decreas the travel of the pedal then, most likely the rear brakes needs to be adjusted out.

 

[Will L.]

Ok, need more description beyond "poor brakes". Do the brakes: pulsate, chatter, noises, pedal too hard, pedal mushy, stop normal empty but weak stopping when loaded/ towing vs stop ok towing but too rapidly when empty, etc. We Need to know exactly what is different now from how the brakes used to operate and when did the change occur.

When you installed the new components-
Was the braking problem existing before you changed the parts and if so did anything change?
Did you change all those parts at one time or over a period of time?
What brake fluid did you use, and was it from a new UNOPENED container?

ABS details?