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. 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!
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97tjMike wrote:

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. Why would this be. Would
bleeding the brakes fix this problem, or maybe I need an alignment?
Please help.

Thanks,
Mike

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:

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. Why would this be. Would
bleeding the brakes fix this problem, or maybe I need an alignment?
Please help.

Thanks,
Mike

You need a professional.

You might be able to get by with a friend that knows this sort of stuff, but
I do not want you on the road behind me if you need to ask questions like
this.






"97tjMike" <MichaelJunior (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

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. Why would this be. Would
bleeding the brakes fix this problem, or maybe I need an alignment?
Please help.

Thanks,
Mike