Poor stopping distance

My 2001 Ford Ranger XLT has poor stopping distance if I have to make an emergency stop. Normally most people can time the stop to stop in time, but I seem to keep going. It's been like this for maybe two years. I usually drive 90% highway, so I don't often have to make emergency stops, but I'd like to get this fixed.

2.5L engine, RWD, manual transmission, ~208k miles, had new pads put on the old (turned) rotors last year which didn't make a difference. Rear drums and shoes are a couple years old (fairly new). Original calipers on the front.

Emergency brake cable is a couple years old. Sometimes in the winter, the ice would freeze it. The e-brake works fine though and holds the truck on a steep hill fine if I wanted it to.

The pedal travel is always fine, but sometimes the pedal just has an odd feeling to it, like it isn't smooth.

I went to PepBoys recently to have the brake fluid flushed, and they said I needed new wheel cylinders (rear) because the bleeder valve was broken off. They didn't do a flush. I looked under the vehicle and confirmed this. Not sure if this could be the cause, or if there's a combination of causes. They said the front bleeder valves were stuck, or maybe he just didn't want to bother.

Tires are at 5/32nds. It did this at 7/32nds too. From my research, in dry weather, 5/32 is more than enough. All of this happens in dry weather.

Brakes don't feel grabby/stuck or like they're getting caught on something, or anything like that.

Could new pads but bad rotors cause braking issues?

I don't want to throw money at it have it not work. Not sure how to figure out what the cause is.

I've driven other Ford Rangers that stop fine, so it can't just be blamed as being a "truck" and having slower stopping distances. While this is true, I feel the stopping distances are very poor. If a light turns yellow and I slam on my brakes, I'll end up in or past the intersection. The red light cameras around here almost got me because of this, but I gave it some gas when I realize this would happen and was fine.

Should I try pulling the fuse (which one is it) for the ABS to see if that helps? How will a car brake differently without ABS?

Lots going on here. Easy one first, if you disable abs by any means, you run the risk of locking up your wheels in an emergency situation. This is bad, kinetic friction is less than static friction, etc.

Are your rotors warped? You can tell by detecting a pulsing while stopping. Your front brakes do most of the work to stop the vehicle.

How old is your brake fluid? And is the level correct? You say they didn't flush it because they couldn't drain the cylinders. Sounds like the braking system hasn't had much love in some time.

I think the first thing I would do would be getting those rear brakes whipped in to shape. New wheel cylinders are cheap. You can flush and bleed the system yourself and verify they are working properly. Everything in the Ranger brake system is reasonably priced. You gotta know that you can get stopped when you push that pedal!

fix the rear cylinders so they can be bleed.
manually adjust rear brake shoes.
clean the front calipers & slider pins.
chip rust off the contact surface on the caliper bracket, lube very sparingly. the pads need to move against the stainless guides.
check that pistons move out, and can be pushed back in.
replace front rotors, scuff the pads.
optional, do a break-in procedure on the new rotors.

what suspension up front, coil or torsion bars?
tire size?
how old are the rotors? time and heat cycling change the metal, turning does not fix that.

put the rear on jack stands, run it up to 20-25 and slam the brakes. the rears should stop with an instant thud. its kinda hard to test the fronts that way, for a 2wd you can spin them by hand.

To answer some questions:
Rotors don't feel warped when I stop. I've used vehicles with warped rotors and can tell it's not warped compared to those.

Brake fluid is about two years old. It's filled correctly. Not sure if the bleeder valves were broken then or what.

Front suspension is coil I believe (I see coil springs around the shocks). Tire size is stock 15" tires (I can look outside next time).

Rotors are at least 5 years old.

If I am getting the rear wheel cylinders done, can someone link me to some good rear brake lines that I might as well have replaced too? Are there any better wheel cylinders than others? Or just grab anything off rockauto or Amazon?

computersoc said:

To answer some questions:
Rotors don't feel warped when I stop. I've used vehicles with warped rotors and can tell it's not warped compared to those.

Brake fluid is about two years old. It's filled correctly. Not sure if the bleeder valves were broken then or what.

Front suspension is coil I believe (I see coil springs around the shocks). Tire size is stock 15" tires (I can look outside next time).

Rotors are at least 5 years old.

If I am getting the rear wheel cylinders done, can someone link me to some good rear brake lines that I might as well have replaced too? Are there any better wheel cylinders than others? Or just grab anything off rockauto or Amazon?

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I would replace the rotors. sounds like yours is the expensive rotor/hub combination.
warped rotors do not affect stopping distances, they just shake the truck a lot.

There is no shaking. Like I mentioned, I've driven other vehicles with warped rotors. These rotors aren't warped.