so today i was drivin and had one of those in between situations with a light turning green to yellow..... instead of risking running it, i got on the brakes really hard. once the brake pedal was depressed about half way or so i lost all braking power for a split second, before the power came back and i luckily stopped in time. any ideas what this might be?? the brakes where not changed recently so its not a badly bled system or anything like that.... any thoughts?

 

If you still have good brakes now, I'd guess it's the first sign of master cyl. failure...if they still feel like crap, may have blown a line from the hard braking, esp. the line btwn. the gas tank and frame, very common. Whatever it is, need to take care of it, may not be so lucky next time.

 

You know - you ask a good question. Mine has always done that. Freaks you out. I haven't hit anything yet though........
I think it must be something with the abs system. I have redone my fronts twice and that didn't matter - it still did what you are talking about.

 

REAR WHEEL ANTI LOCK! (RWAL) [8D]

It's by far, one of the best safety features on our trucks and I believe it's standard on all second gens. It's helped me out lots of times. If the rear tires don't decelerate at the same rate as the front, a valve opens for a split second, causing low pressure in the rear lines. It even happens at low speeds sometimes (speed bumps). Excellent safety feature, better than ABS all around.

 

I think I might have the same thing as you. When I step on the brakes hard they shutter for a split second like they are locked up and not grabbing and you get a little tire squeal? then the go back to normal. Happened to me in stop and go one time going like 10 mph/embarassing.

 

Never had that happen but I think i recently damaged mine....not sure, will go off of your feedback. I was runnin an emergency call in my 01 quad cab with the 360....had lights, siren, the whole 9 yards goin. Was goin about 85 and had a sharp turn right ahead of me, jammed on the brakes....well, after a few seconds the brake pedal got "mushy" and slowly went to the floor....with no braking occurring at this point. Luckily by this point i was going slow enough to make the turn. I smelled burnt brakes pretty bad. Question is....do you think i F'ed up my brakes bad? They've done fine since then.

 

Stood on them several times over the years and never had an issue like this. Did have the brake line rust through behind the gas tank. That was a spinkter tightening experience.

Another thought on older spocket rear antilock brakes. If you do not have positraction and one tire slides, the sprocket will still turn with the other side and think everything is fine...Meanwhile the left tire is sliding in the sand/gravel in the center of the intersection...

 

It's definatly not an issue or a malfunction. It's primary function (RWAL) is to prevent the rear tires from locking up and skidding. It's escpecially useful when you're trucking around a heavy load and you have to stop suddenly. I would have made mincemeat out of a deer once if it wasn't for that feature.

 

im kind of at a loss because it seems like a problem but it could be that RWAL stuff some of yall are talking about...... i think im gonna get it checked out this week just in case, better safe than sorry!!

 

seems like mine has two brake pressures. anything other than stomping on them, just slows it down. stomping on them locks it all up and i kiss the windshield.
that said. try applying your parking brake at about 10 mph real hard. if it just slows u down really slowly, you probably have a blown rear axle seal that is leaking grease into the drums.