04 Precedent Brakes Slow to Respond

[brackencola]

I recently replaced my drums and worn out pads on my 2004 Precedent but the braking is not as responsive as it needs to be. When I first bought the cart I could "lock up" the wheels to get the cart to stop quickly. Now it seems that when I hit the brakes the cart slowly comes to a stop which is a problem if you need to brake quickly. Any thoughts or suggestions on how I can fix this? I know the brakes are self adjusting and when I replaced the pads I threaded the adjusters back in to get the new pads and drums to fit. Any insight is greatly appreciated!

[OLD MEC]

There may be a certain breakin period that does some times give you a poor stop for awhile? Its caused by parts seating together to make full contact with each other. This is especially true with drums from after market sources? Did you checked the brake cables and lubricate them while brakes were apart? Often cables get dry and start sticking, often one over the other? Cables should be freed from both ends and lub added and pulled back and forth to spread lub internally. Another thing that could be causing problems is the backing plates where shoes press against. Many times a "groove or rust" builds up at contact points requiring wire bushing and even minor fileing to some surfaces and its very important to use brake lub ( not regular grease ) at contact points so shoes do not stick, and also on auto brake adjusters. With new drums I find that some are covered where shoes contact with some kind of material to stop rust. The Brake drums and shoe faces I always clean with brake spray several times to be sure nothing is left on contact surfaces.

[cheapjeep2]

Sounds as if there is not enough tension on the brake cable, on the Precedent, underneath the floor mat there is an access panel that you can remove to take out slack from the cables, ALL cables stretch and these need periodic adjustments. The other thing I do on all golf carts I service is to resurface the drums and pads with sand paper in a cris-cross X style pattern. This always makes a huge different in response and as they grab better, I have had several customers amazed at the difference.

But the main culprit here sounds like slack in your cable.

[scubabud]

I'll be changing my brakes to disc's soon and even the manufacturer of those disc brakes states it will take a bit for the new pads to seat with the rotors once installed, no different then new brakes shoes with new drums. Everyone here brought up good points and all should be checked but if you sanded the new drums and shoes and adjusted them up to as far as you could without binding wheel movement and the cables were readjusted under the removable floorboard then just give it some time for them to seat in. Try backing up at a good speed and constantly press hard on your brake pedal. Do this as well going forward. This will help bring up your self adjusters to remove any slack between the shoe and brake drum. Worst that can happen is the neighbors might think you're nuts...

[OLD MEC]

CHEAPJEEP2-- Good recomendation as I always sanded cross-hatched contact surface of drums ( same proccess used to seat piston rings ) after they were turned but here I cant find any one that will turn Cart drums?? No different than car drums and until I happened to mention what they were golf cart drums, then the local shops would no longer do them?
SCUBABUD--I always find a quite street and do my reverse dance where nobody will notice. Same with here in park only some one will come out and stare at you like your crazy?

[brackencola]

Thanks for all of your suggestions! I didn't sand the new drums prior to installing them. When I get a chance I will yank them off and run some sandpaper across them in the recommended pattern. Hopefully that helps. It's not the cable adjustment as I have alrady played with that numerous times and with different tension settings between having the brakes activate with almost no travel in the pedal to having the pedal activate much further down. Right now I have it starting to active with a couple of inches of movement. To me it just seems the brake pads and shoes aren't grabbing like they need to. The slider was working prior to the reinstall. When I yank off the drums I will get some brake cleaner and make sure they are floating easily. One other question I do have is when reinstalling the new shoes how far in do you thread the autoadjusters back in? Obviously they have unthreaded while the old shoes were wearing down. I threaded them back in to fit the new shoes but maybe I could have went in too far if there is such a thing? Although I would expect them to autoadjust back if needed. Thanks again for all of you help and I will let you know what happens after I sand the new drums.

[scubabud]

I just installed new cables, both the long cables since mine is lifted and re sanded both my brake shoes and drums. So far it feels great with no pull or quick lock ups like before. But after sanding the brakes and drums they don't stop as fast as before so I'm sure they will have to re-seat once again. As far as the auto adjusters if you went too far you wouldn't be able to get your drums on. Adjust them up so that you can turn your drum freely with just a slight drag for both wheels and once you button everything up your cables should work your self adjusters up to snug for the brakes. Then readjust your brake pedal to take the slack out of the cables, (there is a measurement for the height of the cable bracket under the floor in the manual,) and you should be good for a bit until they start to seat.

[OLD MEC]

I always adjust the shoes until they touch with a small amount of drag when drums are installed. Remember that each time you hit pedal in reverse it only turns adjuster one small notch so its a slow process to get shoes snug against drum. Also its very important to take adjusters apart and clean and brake lub them before reassembly as any sticking will stop process.

[cheapjeep2]

Originally Posted by OLD MEC

I always adjust the shoes until they touch with a small amount of drag when drums are installed. Remember that each time you hit pedal in reverse it only turns adjuster one small notch so its a slow process to get shoes snug against drum. Also its very important to take adjusters apart and clean and brake lub them before reassembly as any sticking will stop process.

After doing hundreds of brakes I can tell you the adjusters work in both direction, They attempt to adjust anytime you hit the pedal.

[scubabud]

Originally Posted by cheapjeep2

After doing hundreds of brakes I can tell you the adjusters work in both direction, They attempt to adjust anytime you hit the pedal.

Correct... they adjust every time the pedal is depressed if there is room for the shoes to get closer to the drums...

I always go forwards and backwards hitting the brakes just because... well... just because... It's an old car thing I guess...