I have a 95 Dakota (5.2 V8, 5 spd manual) with many, many miles on it.
Recently one of the brake lines broke, it was the one that goes from
the front at the MC to the back axle where it tees off to the drums. So
I lost my back brakes and wow I was surprised at how much stopping
power I'd lost, even with the front discs still working.
I was on my way to work, which is about 45 min drive away from home and
I was almost there. To get myself back on the road asap, I eased it
over to the nearest Monroe shop and had them replace the line (from the
MC to the rear axle tee), refill the brake fluid, bleed the system,
etc....
I had the stopping power back, however it wasn't until several days
later that I noticed the rear wheels would lock up, and sometimes it
doesn't take much to make them lock. Just a quick, somewhat firm press
of the pedal will make them chirp as they lock up. I have rear ABS
only, and the ABS light is not on or anything like that. It seems the
ABS is still functioning as I still hear a clicking sound when I use
the brakes hard as it's always done. Is it possible something happened
to the proportioning valve? Maybe it got stuck in position to one side
when the line broke and lost fluid? I haven't checked for any computer
error codes (no lights so it would seem okay to me) and I'm assuming
the prop valve is right there mounted next to the MC. Looks like it
anyway. Is there an easy way to check to see if the prop valve is
functioning properly?
Any help is most appreciated!
-Troy
SnoMan - 07 Jul 2006 22:59 GMT
"tml1138" <tml1138@softhome.net> wrote in news:1152196984.080944.275760
@j8g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
> I have a 95 Dakota (5.2 V8, 5 spd manual) with many, many miles on it.
> Recently one of the brake lines broke, it was the one that goes from
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
>
> -Troy
I had a very similar issue that I dealt with. It was easily fixed and
the cost is minimal. I remember having three other people look at it
until the solution just popped in my head.
Once I knew what I was dealing with, we had all running just fine in
less than hour.
If you require any further help, please let me know.
SnoMan
SnoMan120264@hotmail.com
tml1138 - 10 Jul 2006 21:31 GMT
> I had a very similar issue that I dealt with. It was easily fixed and
> the cost is minimal. I remember having three other people look at it
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> SnoMan
> SnoMan120264@hotmail.com
So what did you do? :-)
krenelka@bowie-cass-ssac.com - 08 Jul 2006 01:47 GMT
My answer is not as vague as some but it might help.
I helped a friend set up a break system on his 62 ford unibody. I remember
there was a pressure in line going to rear breaks. check to see that it
wasn't bypassed when the line was replaced.

Signature
Billy
1995 Ram 2500 4x4 Cummins
tml1138 - 18 Jul 2006 14:19 GMT
Alright now it's behaving slightly different than I had thought. Just
ONE wheel is locking up during light braking (the driver's side rear).
Both rear wheels will lock up when I do a really hard stop/brake. Most
of the time it's just the one driver's side rear wheel though, and the
truck will want to steer to the left as a result of it.
Can improperly bled brakes cause this? Anything else?
-Troy
tml1138 - 27 Jul 2006 00:08 GMT
Figured it out. The wheel cylinder was leaking and I was told brake
fluid actually makes the shoes grab. You'd think it would make it slip,
but such is not the case. After replacing the wheel cylinder, and
putting a pair of new shoes on, the problem went away.
-Troy