changing brakes over to power brakes on a cj7

I have driven 2 with standard brakes, and both of them will stop faster than my 86 with power brakes and all new components.

A CJ7 is a small truck and just won't stop anywhere near like a car can.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Jet wrote:

I have driven many cars with manual brakes and although you do have to press harder on the brake pedal, you don't have to "stand on it." Chances are that you need new brake pads and/or shoes and may also need the rotors and drums re-surfaced or replaced.

Tom

All the CJs with manual brakes that I drove, had to be stood on except one, and that one was still harded to stop than my 86 with power brakes, which stops as fast or faster than most cars I have driven. Those other CJ owners have driven mine and complain that mine stops "too fast"....It comes down to two factors. the leverage the size of tires put on the system and the condition of all brake stuff. I'm running 29 to 30 inch range, they are running larger tires.

hmmm... I thought CJs converted to power brakes way back in the early

70s... but 86 was the last production year. So if 86 model year CJs don't have power brakes, that probably means *no* CJS have factory power brakes.

I will have to look at my setup again and see what I've got. I must have some kind of modification by a previous owner that I'm not aware of, because my CJ's brake pedal is feather light... there is no way it is manual!

I'm fairly certain power brakes were an option on '76 - '86 6cyl CJ7's and std eqpt on V8s. CJ5s were the same.

They were options. Some 'packages' like the Laredo came with power brakes, tilt steering and a clock and tach.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Joshua Nels>

While it will never put your teeth on the dash with a tap on the pedal, I would sufggest you take a look at the shoes/pads. Not all friction elements are created equal - I just replaced a nearly new set of pads because the house brand was next to useless even with power. Major improvement! First my daughter then my wife both came back in after their first run and insisted that the brakes were locking up now.

So Will, What brand of pads are you running now (the good ones)?

I think they are Raytheon semi-metalic but I'm not sure. I went to a friend's garage (he builds and runs Pike Peak stockers) and he threw me a set and said "try these". I had also put new rotors on when I put the cheapies on and he said that the cheap pads on Warner cast rotors were "worthless". So far, I have to agree.