Although elastic hoses could make for a mushy pedal, they couldn't
reduce the braking force, unless they balloon so much that something
bottoms out in the master cylinder.
It is hard to figure out that the original poster's problem is.
Maybe a blocked passage in one side of the PDWA,
or a messed up MC? But these should be easy
to see while bleeding the brakes.
I had a problem like with weak rear brakes; it turned out to be due to
brake fluid leaking all over the shoes from a bad slave
cylinder. This was obvious once I took off the drum.
But remember that 80% of the braking is done by
the front wheels anyway, and you certainly don't
want the rear wheels locking up before
the front ones!
Actually, there may be nothing at all wrong with the
original poster's rear brakes.
Doug
'72 SPit
At 09:50 AM 1/21/01 , D.T. Gebhard wrote:
>Weak hoses is an important thought. I replaced mine with S.S. braided hoses
>and the difference is something else. Firm,firm,firm!!!!
> Dave Gebhard
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Dan Buettner <danb@thelittlemacshop.com>
>To: <spitfires@autox.team.net>
>Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2001 5:05 PM
>Subject: Re: Weak rear brakes
>
>
> >
> > On weak rear brakes:
> >
> > It might also be that your rear hoses are bad; the rubber can go soft
> > with age, allowing expansion when pressure is applied. They could
> > also have swollen internally, possibly due to moisture or grease
> > contamination, thus not permitting as much fluid to flow through as
> > would be optimum for braking.
> >
> > I think it's doubtful you would ever notice either of the above in a
> > casual inspection or while bleeding the brakes.
> >
> > Just a suggestion - hope it helps!
> >
> > Dan
> >
> > '57 TR3
> > '77 Spit
> > '97 Nissan truck
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