My '96 Ram has ALWAYS had poor brakes,.. Bought it that way,..
I've replaced everything during the last 4 years of owning it.
Rotors, pads, better pads. Drums, shoes, Calibers, The soft-line
rubber hose's for them and, Nothing, I mean NOTHING had improved
my braking. All the hardware for the rear brakes. Bled the line with so
much fluid the parts store ran out of the stuff! New master-cylinder &
new proportioning valve,......... Nothing,... Not one inch of better
stopping or better pedal feel.

THEN, i came across a thread about using a 1997 or newer master/cylinder
That has a longer and larger piston throw that was improved over '96 and earlier.
Also at the same time a thread about bigger rear wheel cylinders,.. Great I thought.
Maybe this would do the fix for my crappy brakes!............ Nope,.......... STILL
stopped worse than a runaway lead-ball rolling down a hill.

A good friend of mine who happens to be a mechanic Helped me do the better
mater cylinder trick and bigger wheel cylinders yesterday. 1st, The master cylinder,...
Did that first and then bled the brakes. Test drive,.... HORRIBLE!! Back brakes would
lock up then, go into ABS-MODE and the pedal would go to the floor with only a tiny
amount of front brakes!! What would cause this we said,.. Bad new Master-cylinder??
Maybe, let's get another one,... Nope, same thing Stopped horrible once again!
after bleeding and bleeding my friend happened to notice as adding brake fluid to
keep the resevior from going dry was that the WRONG side would drop in fluid when bleeding the fronts. And, the wrong side AGAIN would drop when bleeding the rears!
He then went once again under the tuck following the lines through out the whole
system,............... And found out that at sometime, before I owned the truck, sections of
replacement brake line had been installed to replace the rusted out ones.
And during that time whoever replaced them CROSSED THE LINES WITH THE FRONT &
BACKS!! So the front and the backs were hooked up to the wrong sides of the master cylinder! Always making the rears do most of the work and the fronts less.
.................... Go-Figure................
Oh-yeah,...... My truck now stops like a sports car.

 

thats quite a story. its nice when you figure out a problem that has been giving you a headache for a good while. i never did figure out my thunderbirds last issue and just let it be and got a camaro.

 

thats a good thing, glad you got everythign worked out

 

Glad you finally found the problem!

On a side note, I noticed that I had better braking after I installed my Hughes Intake Manifold, since the brakes get better vacuum from it.. Just some food for thought.

 

Daayyummmm!

And here I was thinkin' Laurel and Hardy were just in the auto electrical business, not brakes.

 

i would have never thought of that. glad you got it worked out.

 

Yeah, I can now put my seat back and relax when I go out for a drive
in it! I'm stopping now 5 maybe 6 car lengths short of the car I;m behind in traffic.
Or coming to a red light or stop sign! LOL!! Gotta re-learn how to stop with this truck now.
I really can't believe how great it stops.