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94 3.0 4x4 bad brakes


orygun

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the old girl has seen better days. thinking of some brake upgrades. twin piston fronts and the mustang rear disc or possibly rearend swap. also, looking for some advise about the abs......it doesn't really work properly...… eliminate?
 


RonD

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orygun

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thanx Ron

I was under the impression of rear only abs and yes the rear passenger locks up under hard braking. also, the dash indicator is on almost constantly....very annoying. for the front I will need non abs lines along with calipers (obviously) and steering knuckle? in the rear I've only read the mustang conversion article as a complete rear end switch seems like a lot more work for my needs? the emergency brake connection is the grey area in that swap otherwise a detailed tutorial. I have owned many Toyota 4x4 trucks and the braking of my ranger has always stood out as a weakness comparing. this rig was primarily a hunting vehicle and has served me well. although, recently it's been my daily, just want to make it as safe and reliable as can be (had a close, scary situation recently). this little truck has really grown on me a lot and will be the only pick-up we have while I start a new full size project.
 

4x4junkie

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If the ABS light is on, I would suggest start by pulling the codes for the ABS ('94 will have the RABS II system) and see where it directs you (fairly common for the sensor on top of the rear diff to go bad, but there are plenty of other possibilities too).

True, the RABS system is primitive next to more modern 4WABS, but it does work plenty well enough to keep you from swapping ends in a panic stop on a wet road (a single rear wheel still turning will suffice for that).

On my BII (has a swapped-in Explorer axle), I welded together a linkage using some flat strip steel, threaded rod & a couple nuts, and a couple pieces of the old cable hardware to connect the OE Explorer p-brake cables to the BII forward cable. I would think something similar could be done with Mustang brakes, but I don't know for sure (not familiar with the swap).




The Explorer cables were shorter then the OE BII cables, so I made another bracket to mount them further back on the frame:
 

orygun

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this truck is about to get a ton of work. was bought and still is (beside 31x10.5 tires) completely stock. had 90k when purchased. brakes have always been sketchy. inconsistent pedal, then when they're there it's violent. I can deal with it but the kids are getting very close to driving age.
 

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Is it during cold & damp / rainy mornings that it happens?

This is one thing I never have found a remedy for (other than switching the rear drums for discs)... The rear drums (shoes) sometimes become very grabby during damp weather until they warm up some (tried three different brands of shoes with little or no change). I've just taken to riding the parking brake for a block or so to heat the brakes up and then it's fine until parked long enough for them to fully cool (gotta do this carefully too, it's easy to lock the wheels with the p-brake before they've heated up enough).

A swap to discs should eliminate the issue (I've never noticed this on my BII).
 
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cstarbard

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Is it during cold & damp / rainy mornings that it happens?

This is one thing I never have found a remedy for (other than switching the rear drums for discs)... The rear drums (shoes) sometimes become very grabby during damp weather until they warm up some (tried three different brands of shoes with little or no change). I've just taken to riding the parking brake for a block or so to heat the brakes up and then it's fine until parked long enough for them to fully cool (gotta do this carefully too, it's easy to lock the wheels with the p-brake before they've heated up enough).

A swap to discs should eliminate the issue (I've never noticed this on my BII).

Not to divert but in case this helpful to the OP, I have had the rear brake lockup you described for a number of reasons on wet mornings and it taught me several things:

In one case it was on a 1984 Chevy truck, what happened here was that a wheel seal was leaking just a little bit, the gear oil began to cause shoe swell, I never noticed the lockup on dry days, but in rainy weather you could lock them up with even light pressure on the pedal. Replaced wheel seal, cleaned everything, no more lockup in wet conditions

Once on an S10, cheap shoes swelled in wet conditions combined with crappy wheel cylinders, would also lock up with the lightest touch of pedal in wet conditions. Swapped them, as well as crappy wheel cylinders, no more lockup in wet conditions

Have had several rangers that got locky in wet conditions, replacing the wheel cylinders always fixed this. Curious about what was going on after having dealt with the s10, I took the wheel cylinders apart on the ranger to see what was going on- they were barely starting to leak if at all, but there was a lot of corrosion in the cylinders where the pistons came out, and I suspect that the reduced traction + resistance of wheel cylinder movement caused by corrosion lead to easy lockup, the pistons would come out of the wheel cylinder and not want to go back in because of the rust. On one of these Rangers the lockup could get so bad that I had to rock the truck in 1st and reverse with quite a bit of throttle to break free again

Anyway sorry to divert just thought this info might be helpful to someone
 
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orygun

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local yard has several '95-'97 rangers going parts pulling. depending on mileage and condition might go with new calipers. if they have appropriate mustang will pull needed bits also. hopefully there will be some improvement. the system is in good shape. I've known the previous owners going back twenty years well maintained never abused...until myself it was never off road

thanx to y'all for the response
try to post some pics
 

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