97 TJ Braking

Hello,

First of all thanks to everyone that helped me with my transmission problem a couple of weeks ago when I had mud in it. It's now 95% back to normal. Gonna drive it for a while so the rest of the mud will clear out. Anyways now I have braking issues. When I slam on the brakes, the vehicle swerves to the left. If I slowly ease onto the brakes, it goes straight. Why would this be. Would bleeding the brakes fix this problem, or maybe I need an alignment? Please help.

Thanks, Mike

That usually means something mechanical is bad, especially after a bog run.

I would be checking things like the control arm bushings, tie rod ends and track bar ends 'after' I inspected the brakes themselves for foreign material or other strange marks on them.

I had a brand new rental car last week that did that. It made a screaming scraping noise and pulled like mad. I figured the brakes had failed so pulled off the road to inspect them. All I could find was a deep gouge in one rotor. I then slammed on the brakes a few time on the side of the road and the 'rock' or whatever was jamming the brake broke out and they started working again.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06 (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

97tjMike wrote:

As Mike says, you likely gummed up the brakes. More than likely you will eventually have to tear down all 4 corners for an inspection.

Disk brakes tend to work or not work at all after a mud trip, drum brakes tend to get all sorts of ills. I'd take off both drums, hose out the mechanism throughly. If there is a of debris, that might do it. The front shoe is different than the rear shoe so see if the two front shoes and the two rear shoe look about the same thinkness and texture. If one is shiney glazed, that is a problem. Make sure the adjuster is free to move. Reassemble, set the brakes by backing up at 5mph, hit the brakes hard. You should hear a clunk from both sides. Drive forward at 5 mph, hit brakes hard, listen for the clunk. Repeat a dozen times or so until the brakes firm up.

Brake shoes are cheap, $15 or $20 a set. Consider replacing the shoes, set the adjuster, and get on with things.

97tjMike wrote:

well the problem seems to have gone away. Must've just been something stuck like suggested. It now pulls a little right, which is what it had been doing before this. I'm pretty sure that that's due to an alignment needed, because the steering wheel is currently offcenter. Thanks

I'd still pull the rear drums and hose them out. After you play in the mud you have to pay the piper.

97tjMike wrote: