Brakes lock up

[jakesnake27]

Originally Posted by Stevegrmich

Yes, you adjust the brake pedal free travel at that location . . should be 1/4 to 1/2 inch of travel before brakes begin to engage . . and yes, there should be two nuts on that threaded rod . . one is the adjustment and the second is a locking nut . . once you adjust the cables properly, hold the inner adjusting nut with one wrench, and then lock the two nuts together with a wrench on the second nut . . .

One last question (probably not), where do you measure the 1/4 to 1/2 inch of travel? The top of the pedal, bottom of pedal, underneath cart, etc?
Thanks

[Stevegrmich]

Originally Posted by jakesnake27

One last question (probably not), where do you measure the 1/4 to 1/2 inch of travel? The top of the pedal, bottom of pedal, underneath cart, etc?
Thanks

From the book:

"Measuring perpendicular from the floorboard to the back of the brake pedal, press the brake pedal and measure the distance that the pedal moves before all of the slack is taken out of the brake cables."

[jakesnake27]

Originally Posted by Stevegrmich

From the book:

"Measuring perpendicular from the floorboard to the back of the brake pedal, press the brake pedal and measure the distance that the pedal moves before all of the slack is taken out of the brake cables."

Thanks Steve! You're awesome

[Dingleberry]

Originally Posted by lockman1

And... If that doesn't work...

Myself, and others have found that the axle U bolts stretch a little after time,
causing the axle to become loose and "twist" when braking, in turn, causing brake lock up.

Check the tightness of your axle U bolts!

Hey, I know this is an old post, but I just wanted to say that I was having a problem with my brake on one side suddenly locking up with just one touch of the pedal. And, sure enough, the u-bolt had gotten loose and there was about an inch of play between the leaf spring and where it attaches to the axle. Tightening it up solved the problem!! Of course, I didn't realize this until I had taken off the hub to check my brake pads and re-adjust them...

Unfortunately, I also lost the bottom nut on my shock on that side, so I had to 'jerry rig' that with a lock nut, washers and rubber grommets.

[lockman1]

It's not that old of a thread... and yeah... it took me 3 adjustments, a new set of shoes,
and a lot of head scratching before I saw the scratch marks on the axle tube from the U bolts!
It was just about 2 years after I put a 6" lift on it, and just for the heck of it, I decided to check the tightness of the U bolts...
I got a least 2 full turns out of all of the nuts! and then, no more brake lock-up!

[rockey]

I will have to check on that on mine as well, i'm having the same issue.