Problems with 72 CJ5

The '72 cj5 project I recently bought has some problems, and I figured I should run them by you guys to see if you can help me figure out what I need to check on some of them.

The first is the brakes. The brake pedal is there, but with the way it stops, it might as well not be. After pumping for some time, the brakes get a little play, but little is the key word. I plan on bleeding the brake lines tomorrow morning, and any info. on the correct way to do this would be great since I have never done it. I believe I just open up the valve, have someone hold the pedal down, air/brake fluid will come out, close the valve, and have the helper release the pedal, do this until I go through all 4 wheels and keep going around until I get a steady stream of brake fluid? And if this doesnt work, what is the next step? Check the pads? Also previous owner said that he was going down the road one day and the pedal fell off. Not just the pedal piece, but I guess the arm for it and everything. I dont want that to happen again, so what could haved caused that??

As I think of more problems I need help with, I will add them on to this forum, but for now that is the big one. Thanks for any help!

 

Your brake bleeding is right,just dont forget to add fluid as you go. Check for leaks in the lines or pinched, also if you have drums on front adjust them equally. I would recomend buying a Chilton or a Hayes book for your Jeep,It'll have all the breakdown pictures for you.

 

Soak the bleeder screws with PB Blaster (or similar) REAL well before you try to loosen them. If they break off while trying to get them opened, you added to your work ten fold (ask me how I know )

Jim

 

Just a thought here. I bought an older chevy pickup once that everytime I drove it I lost brake fluid. There was a spot under the frame that was packed with dirt and crud. A pinhole leak developed and the dirt was soaking up the brake fluid, so took a while to find where it was leaking.

Walt

 

Hi Sooner - problems with a soft brake pedal could be a lot of different things. Very generally a soft pedal means a leak, or air in the system, or both. Bleeding the brakes is a good place to start, and will get rid of any air. If there's a leak, bleeding won't fix it. More fluid will come out, and more air will go in, and you'll have a soft pedal again. Unless you've just rebuilt the brakes and you need to get the air you've let in by rebuilding out, bleeding probably won't cure the underlying problem.

I went to Google and found these articles on brake bleeding in about 2 minutes - http://www.advanceautoparts.com/english/youcan/html/ccr/ccr20011001bb.html
http://www.teamscr.com/brakes.htm
http://www.fordf150.net/howto/bleedbrakes.php
If you look longer, I'm sure many more are available. It's a good idea to look for technical articles like this, read, and then ask, since we can better answer more specific or difficult questions.

Drum brakes have shoes, not pads.

There's no check list for brake repair per se. To me, the first step is to thoroughly inspect all the brake parts. To do this, you'll have to go under the car and look at the hoses and steel lines, look in the master cylinder at the fluid, look at the outsides of the backing plates, take the wheels and drums off and look at the shoes, cylinders and hardware. The problem may then be obvious.

I'd also suggest you get the factory shop manual and read it. These are available as reprints at www.thejeep.net and other places. There's a '72 manual online at www.c104.net - the Haynes and Chiltons manuals might help at first, but IMO you may as well pony up for the factory manual now, since you'll need it eventually.

Re the brake pedal, a DSPO problem? Unless you know him well, take everything the PO tells you with a grain of salt. Probably it was taken apart and not put back right, so it fell off. Incompetent mechanic is the most likely explanation.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I read up on the links Tim gave and I also took the advice of spraying the fittings, because there was no way they were going to loosen without snapping off. They are soaking, and I will keep spraying them every day until it is ready to be turned. I also visually checked the lines for any kinks, but I dont see any, and I will be checking for leaks as I go. I cant wait to get this done!

 

Also, when bleeding the brakes, start with the furthest from the master cylinder and work your way back.
1) Passenger side rear
2) Driver side rear
3) Passenger side front
4) Driver side front