Eagle Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 Is anybody familiar with the new style master cylinders, with the plastic reservoir? If so -- which chamber feeds the front brakes and which feeds the rear? Drove the wife's 2000 XJ this evening. Even before starting the engine I thought the brakes didn't feel right. Low pedal, soft pedal, and took a looooooooong time to slow down and stop. Mentioned it to the wife and she said, "Oh, I noticed it seems a bit soft but it's not a problem because I don't drive fast." :banghead: Turns out, it IS a problem. When we got home I checked the master cylinder, and the forward chamber was empty. Too dark to be bleeding brakes in the driveway at night, so I just topped it off and I'll delve into it on Saturday. It would help me start looking in the right direction if someone can tell me if, on the new style master cylinder, the forward chamber serves the front brakes or the rear. TIA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 The rear master cylinder bowl (the larger one) is for the front brakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1987Comanche Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 X2. Your rear brakes sprung a leak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted September 26, 2013 Author Share Posted September 26, 2013 X2. Your rear brakes sprung a leak. Story of my life. I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time under Jeeps replacing rear brake lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankTheDog Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 May be a wheel cylinder also. Look inside your rear wheels for fluid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted September 26, 2013 Author Share Posted September 26, 2013 May be a wheel cylinder also. Look inside your rear wheels for fluid. Yep. I'm hoping that's what it is, although looking underneath at night with a flashlight I didn't see evidence of massive fluid loss. However, I don't know how long she's been driving it like this. The last time we had a brake problem, she trashed the front rotors by driving when the pads were down to metal-on-metal. I drove it ten feet and heard the noise. I asked her about it and she said she though Jeeps always made noises like that. Mind you, she had driven it for 50,000 miles withOUT noises "like that," but ... Oh, well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted September 28, 2013 Author Share Posted September 28, 2013 AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!! I HATE those 9" Chrysler brakes. So far, the left side was dry when I took the drum off, but I had already bought new wheel cylinders and new shoes, so with 100,000 on the clock I decided to just do a preemptive strike. What a friggin' mistake that was. Took me the better part of an afternoon to do ONE side -- and that doesn't include bleeding. In the time I spent fighting that one 9" brake, I could have done all four wheels on my '88 XJ or MJ and had time left over for a Big Mac attack at Mickey D's. I'll deal with the right side tomorrow. For those contemplating swapping an XJ proportioning valve into an MJ, here's proof of why it's a bad idea. The way it's set up, the rear brakes don't do any work. My wife wore the front pads down to metal-on-metal two or three years ago, and we're probably getting close to needing new front pads again. The rear drums had never been off the vehicle, and I would estimate that there's probably 75% or more lining material left. If I were fixing up a used Jeep to sell, I wouldn't hesitate to throw these shoes in, and I wouldn't feel even a little guilty about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 I hate all drum brakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockfrog Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 yep, already have the parts for a disk swap for the MJ, I'm done with drums ... just waiting to see if the 4.0 will blow first though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted September 30, 2013 Author Share Posted September 30, 2013 Double AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!! Got the brakes all replaced over the weekend, but tanks to errands and "stuff" justy didn't have time to bleed them. So I did that today. System seemed to bleed okay, had good peddle, so I then progressed to doing a series of forward-the-reverse stops to let the brakes make their own final adjustment. Naturally, the steel line to the rear axle popped when I was doing this. Everything that came out looked good and was dry, so I'm pretty sure the rusted steel line was the problem all along. The mystery is why I didn't see any wetness underneath. But, knowing my wife, she was probably driving it with no rear brakes for weeks. The real mystery is why the brake warning light never came on ... it DID come on when the line popped as I was adjusting things. So ... another unscheduled repair task to look forward to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankTheDog Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 Use Cunifer brake lines if you don't already. Your local auto parts store should have it. They're said to be rust proof and easy to work. I sent you a link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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