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No Front Brakes - Rear Brakes Locking up

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Re: No Front Brakes - Rear Brakes Locking up

Postby knobby1 » Thu Apr 21, 2016 4:14 am

samwhich wrote:Well the van seems to stop fine with usual driving but on the odd occasion particularly when wet and I have to slam the brakes, it seems like either the front oor rear brakes lock up and the van just keeps skidding instead of slowing down. Scares the sh#t out of you! Starting to get a squeaky/ scratchy sounds coming from front brakes too now I noticed which become worse slightly on braking. It's like the front brakes are doing too much share of the work...starting to get confused with this now. Might be safest to just book it in and get them checked over.


Do you have ABS fitted?

The load proportioning valve may have an adjustment?? Often it's just an adjustment to the length of the link or chain (if fitted) ....to allow more or less braking effort to the rear wheels, depending on the load of course. The more load in the back, obviously the more braking is sent to the rear wheels...and vice-versa.

Normally with very little to no load in the back...the front brakes will do ~80% of the braking effort, this % goes down in proportion to the load in the back of the van to a point where the front & rear will share the effort ~60-40% when van is fully loaded....not an exact figure but you get the idea. This can be seen easily on a racing motorcycle, often the rear wheel will be in the air when under hard braking....which means ~100% of the braking effort is done by the front wheel....kinda makes the rear brake irrelevant in that case.

As an experiment to eliminate the rear brakes as the problem, add pair of vise grips to the flexible brake line going to the rear brakes....not silly tight, just enough to close off the hose. Then go for a drive around your local area and see if the symptoms persist. Grinding noises from disc brakes is usually a sign of very worn/low pads. Have you had the wheels off to have look for anything obvious?? If you're not comfortable doing it yourself, it's best to get a professional or someone who knows what they're looking at to sort it. It's actually a fairly simple hydraulic system...not too much to go wrong.

Lord Knobrot
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When I die, I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my Grandfather, not screaming like the passengers in his car..!
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Re: No Front Brakes - Rear Brakes Locking up

Postby samwhich » Thu Apr 21, 2016 9:10 am

Hey, thanks for the info Lord KR!

Haven't checked them recently however when I had a friend who is a mechanic check them out some months ago when I first had the issue (back brakes locking up upon heavy braking - van under heavy/medium load) he said the front brakes were in good condition and the rear drum brakes were fine too - just a little "glazed over" (or something to that affect) because they were doing too much braking. His recommendation was that the Load Proportioning Valve needed adjusting.

However since then, I have noticed a constant squeaking coming from the brakes (not sure weather front or rear?) and as of the last couple of days it sounds like front brakes a squeaking on soft application then a quiet but noticeable grind coming from the front brakes?...ahhhh :(

I have new front brake pads and discs ready to be installed. Might just take it to the pros and get them to install the front brakes, hopefully get away with a quick tweak/reset of the load proportioning valve and not require rear drum brake shoes as they are a bit expensive in Australia...

Thanks for you advice everyone. Will be sure to post the results as soon as they're in! :)
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Re: No Front Brakes - Rear Brakes Locking up

Postby Gyves » Mon Jul 11, 2016 10:57 pm

Hi,
Sorry to jump on your tread but my mk5 transit is doing the same slam on brakes and back brakes lock up, ive been under her its not rusted (well not to bad) not stuck?
do i need to ajust the spring?
Or is there something im missing? :?
Thanks
Alan...
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Re: No Front Brakes - Rear Brakes Locking up

Postby samwhich » Tue Jul 12, 2016 12:57 am

I still haven't got around to taking mine in yet. Little bit naughty of me but it does brake well under normal.

On heavy use in wet weather or on gravel roads, only the front or rear brakes lock up. I can't seem to figure out why it changes between the 2 randomly. I thought it might have been load related but it seems not to be...

I am also getting subtle squeaky sounds coming from my front brakes only when driving/not braking. About to go to Europe for a month so will resolve this when i get back
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