OK guys, what do you think? On my 73 Mav, the right rear drum locks up prematurely. Newly turned drums, new brake shoes, no leaks. I figure on new wheel cylinders next, a new flexible hose and maybe new hard lines from the distribution block to the wheel cylinder. Any other ideas? Also, I just added Granada front discs, right now I still have the original Mav master cylinder. Can I use the master cylinder and proportining valve off the Granada donor car? This will be a manual disc set-up. By the way, the rear brake problem existed before I switched to the front discs. Thanks, Brad Padgett Georgia
I would at this point suspect the wheel cylinder. You have good plans, implement them and it will pay off. There are so many opinions on master cylinder on this upgrade that I honestly dont know what to tell you. Guess if it were me I would try what I have and see how it works. By all means, keep us posted on your progress and what the end results are. Dan
if your wheel cylinders are old and have sat around alot then they can have varnish and gum inside of them. you can either rebuild them with a kit or replace them, if you rebuild them and they are not in bad shape inside then you can hone them out and install the kit, for the difference in money I would replace them with new ones! several auto parts stores have them and they are fairly cheap, also replace all the old rubber lines you will be money and time ahead. good luck!
I would guess wheel cylinder, or out of adjustment. If drums were just resurfaced & new shoes, has to be one of the above. Need to be sure that both rears are adjusted the same. Otherwise, one will grab before the other. Causing a lockup on one side. Same with wheel cylinders. If one is working & the other is not. Lockup on one side. Cylinders are a cheap $ replacement, I wouldn't rebuild them JMO. Adjusting is free $. Keep us posted. Good luck!
Also check your self adjuster along with the little cable and metal guide. If these parts are worn or broken they will also cause a brake to grab. Might suggest to put a whole new set of hardware in there, there's a lot of heat generated inside and these things will break down over time.
I found the culprit........ one of the previous owners had installed (rigged) an odd wheel cylinder on the right rear. I'm sure that was causing the lockups. We'll know in a day or two when my flexible brake line comes in....first one i got was the wrong one. I'll let y'all know how it turns out. Brad
We just did brakes today.At autozone,New wheel cylinders were $8.99 each, new front rubber hoses $7.99 each,new hardware kit $5.99,turned drums and cost of labor 2 cases of beer!! What a deal!! Mike
If the new wheel cylinder on the right doesn't do the trick - look into the left side. If the left side line is blocked or cylinder frozen then all of the fluid volume will be going to the right - which I'm pretty sure the imbalance would make it lock up quicker than it should. And - the Granada distribution Block has different size fittings than the original Maverick - but the shape is pretty similar and can be made to work by tweeking the lines and using adapters with stock lines. I used the Granada on my Maverick - but pretty much re-plumbed the whole car. Cleaver
I had this same problem after rebuilding the rear brakes, new shoes, cylinders, turned drums, etc. It seemed to work fine for a few days, then the right rear would lock up with even light braking pressure. Fought with it for a few weeks, even replacing the master cylinder twice. Gave up, took it to a friend who does brakes and allignments. I had put one of the springs on backward, and it popped off after a few uses. Quite embarrassing. I felt stupid after that. I learned to look at the obvious first. Sometimes it is so obvious that you fail to recognize the problem is there, and start looking for something more expensive and difficult.
A'ight....fixed New wheel cylinders fixed the lock-up problem, however, I am less than enamoured with the performance of the new front discs so far. And that clicking from the inboard pad on the drivers side is making me crazy! Right now I have this set up; standard drum brake master cylinder and stock divider block, Granada discs, new flexible lines, new pads and shoes, new rear wheel cylinders. It seem to take MUCH more force on the brake pedal to stop now than it did with the 4 wheel drums. I realise that the drums are somewhat self energizing, but I didn't expect this much difference. The pedal feels good, but it just doesn't seem to deliver a lot of stopping force from the front discs. I'm contemplating some more bleeding and maybe a switch to a 75 and later manual disc master cylinder and Granada proportioning valve. Any ideas?
As far as the clicking on the inboard pad....did you install the load clips on the inboard pads? If you didn't use the load clip, it will click until death do you part. If you don't have the load clips, purchase a hardware kit at your parts store. The load clip goes on the bottom of the inboard pad. When I went with disc brakes front, I also used a manual disc brake master. I love the way it stops now....
Load clips? I'm not sure what you mean by load clips. I originally put the car together with the junk yard calipers..but replaced them with new ones when one of the bleeders froze up. Are you referring to the lil "spring"; that arced piece of metal that goes underneath the caliper retainer?
brake clip if you left it out it will cause the pad to grab the rotor when you apply the brakes and cause it to rotate with the rotor and slap against the top of the caliper also ck that the outer pad is not moving have someone press on the brakes and put a tire tool etc between the bottom of the outer pad and the rotor and bend the ears down to remove the clearance
It's a clip that actually fastens onto the bottom of the inner pad. I call it a load clip. Some people call it an anti-rattle clip. When you put the inner pad in, you have to push down on the clip to get it to go in right. If you got new calipers, I believe thay come with them...could be wrong. But, I do know they come with the caliper hardware kit...
Yup....you're right. Evidently if ya dig deep enough in that lil bag of parts that came with the caliper you can find em! Nice and quiet now. Thanks. Brad
