Brake Help

I am working on a 98 Tahoe and have replaced everything out back, (wheel cylinders, shoes, springs, turned drums) then had it power bleed b/c of the ABS. That was a couple weeks ago. Yesterday, I replaced the front pads, turned the rotors and repacked bearings and replaced grease seals. Though stopping is better, it still seems a bit soft. Is it necessary to replace the fluid? Could this be a brake booster or MC issue?

Also, when I removed the rotor, I was able to remove the castle nut without the use of a socket, just with my fingers. OK? The Chiltons manual for this truck blows donkey balls, but it did say to only torque that nut to 12 ft/lbs, then back off a full flat? Is that right?

Thanks for the help.

how'd you adjust the rears?
I heard a few weeks ago that you can adjust them out to where you can barely turn the drum, then put the wheels on, drive in reverse a few yards and slam on the brakes, and they will adjust themself perfectly...giving you a lot more braking. I plan on doing this this weekend.

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Originally posted by uglyota
how'd you adjust the rears?
I heard a few weeks ago that you can adjust them out to where you can barely turn the drum, then put the wheels on, drive in reverse a few yards and slam on the brakes, and they will adjust themself perfectly...giving you a lot more braking. I plan on doing this this weekend.

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I had to take it to a shop for the power bleeding and they adjusted them there. I am really unsure on how exactly you adjust them or how to check to see if they adjusted them properly.

no the nut doesnt have to be tight, it has been really lose on all of the 2wd trucks i have done. The soft pedal might be the brake booster, or master cylinder as you stated above. As for putting it in reverse yes that does work. Most brake systems now have self adjusting breaks in the rear. get going like 10 15 mph in reverse and then get on the brake pedal. Usually seems to make some difference but nothing major. does the brake pedal still have good response up and down, and does it come back up as quickly as it did when they were working correctly.

they check for adjustment with a special brake tool that you put inside the drum and see how much it measure then that measurement is correlated with one that measures your shoes and then you know how much they should be adjusted.

if your having sopft breaks it has absolutly nothing to do with the front breaks(unless there is air in the lines) i would check the rears for any leaks....also you can get the rear pretty close to the correct adjustment by tightening them down until when you spin it and it turnis 1/2 - 3/4 turn once you release it. i usually get them fairly tight and then let them wear themselves to the correct thickness...:D

pedal returns better than it did before.

For some reason, they seem to be getting better the more I use them