Brake ??

[purplewg]

I have an 03 PDS I lifted 6 inches. I have not drove this much as I got it for my mom but she can't use it now. I brought it home and put the 6 inch Jakes lift under it. Now it seems to take both feet to stop the thing. I don't recall it braking this hard before. Pedal is up and I have no brake drag. It seems the lifting has something to do with it though.

Any suggestions? Thanks

[scottyb]

Taller tires have more weight which carry more momentum and require greater forces to start and stop...

For this reason Aluminum wheels are worth their weight in gold on lifted carts.

Pull a drum and see what condition your brakes are in... check the torque specs on the Axle nut! It is 90-140 Ft Pds when reassembling.

[purplewg]

Thanks Scotty. I did put aluminum wheels on. I planned on checking the shoes for sure but even at low speed it take a lot of force where before it didn't. I just did a Yam G22 with no real change in braking. I was wondering if maybe it was something in the cables but I crawled under it and did reroute the brake cables for as little strain as possible.

[scottyb]

Aside from the physics of stopping a bigger wheel(s) the brakes should not have changed with the lift.

[purplewg]

Originally Posted by scottyb

Aside from the physics of stopping a bigger wheel(s) the brakes should not have changed with the lift.

I agree. That is what surprised me. It is like going from power brakes to manual brakes if you remember how that used to feel. Guess I will have to dig in a little deeper.

[scottyb]

let us know what you find

[as350pilot]

Mine did the same type of thing when I put my lift on. It seems that the lift cause more tension on the cables. I'm not saying that is true or not, but it seems that way to me. I have since put on the Ausco Disc Brakes with the cable extenders and everything works GREAT. The disc brakes are well worth the piece of mind and money. I know now that at close to 30 mph my cart will stop at a reasonable distance, something the drum brakes weren't able to do.

[purplewg]

Originally Posted by as350pilot

Mine did the same type of thing when I put my lift on. It seems that the lift cause more tension on the cables. I'm not saying that is true or not, but it seems that way to me. I have since put on the Ausco Disc Brakes with the cable extenders and everything works GREAT. The disc brakes are well worth the piece of mind and money. I know now that at close to 30 mph my cart will stop at a reasonable distance, something the drum brakes weren't able to do.

Thanks, I will certainly be looking at cables as nothing else in the braking system changed. I swapped carts with the GF. I am building her a carry box on the rear of hers. When I get mine back I will see what I find and let everyone know.

[yurtle]

Just thinkin' out loud here, since I don't have a lifted cart. The lift raises the chassis away from the axle, which changes the angle of the cable from the compensator to the drums from straight to slightly inclined. Going to bigger tires negates this to some extent. Whether extenders are needed or not, the shoes inside the drums still have to travel the same distance, and nothing has changed from the pedal to the compensator.

Not sayin' it ain't so, since several folks mention experiencing this, but I can't figure out why.

[kab69440]

Remember the taller the tire, the more torque it can leverage against the shoes. It's the difference between your 3/8" ratchet and your 3/8" ratchet with a cheater pipe. A tire heavier than what you had before will amplify the effect. Now consider the fact that the taller tire now has the cart moving faster that it did before. More inertial energy, more effort to reverse the effect. I noticed a huge difference in brake effort when I went from stock tires on my Power Ram to the 35"s I put on it.