Brakes advice (1 Viewer)

[Vaskerville]

I'm not a mechanic - I don't know alot about cars. I do have a 1990 HDJ80 I bought in Spain, used in Africa for five years and now i'm living in Haiti. The problem has always been the brakes and now that we live in the mountains we really need to resolve the problem.

Our current brakes are nothing special. Coming down the mountain they will really heat up even if I'm driving really careful. We've had our car in the shop 10 times adjusting the brakes...brake pumps relplaced, pads replaced, calipers replaced...bah!

What can I do to improve them? Ceramic brakes? Something like Lexus brake systems?

If we can't resolve this...we have to sell it and buy a newer, smaller car.

Thanks

 

[nukegoat]

I'm not a mechanic - I don't know alot about cars. I do have a 1990 HDJ80 I bought in Spain, used in Africa for five years and now i'm living in Haiti. The problem has always been the brakes and now that we live in the mountains we really need to resolve the problem.

Our current brakes are nothing special. Coming down the mountain they will really heat up even if I'm driving really careful. We've had our car in the shop 10 times adjusting the brakes...brake pumps relplaced, pads replaced, calipers replaced...bah!

What can I do to improve them? Ceramic brakes? Something like Lexus brake systems?

If we can't resolve this...we have to sell it and buy a newer, smaller car.

Thanks

If you are asking what to do about brake fade then youre fighting physics. It takes the creation of thermal energy to slow the car down. Ostensibly some pads and rotors deal with high heat better than others.

 

[Landseer]

Specifically whats the problem with the brakes? Is is mainly fade as they heat up? For mountain driving remember to gear down on the down hills.

Does the 1990 HDJ80 have disks in the rear?

 

[Hornd]

Pull over when they start to fade and have a sammich.
Change your fluid often.
Ensure pistons are not sticking and returning home.
Downshift.

 

[GeoRoss]

Down shift frequent and often.

 

[Vaskerville]

Our car is an automatic. I often drive in L3 or L2 down hills.

Ceramic brakes aren't going to help the situation?

 

[Landseer]

Ceramic pads likely wont make a difference. Make sure the brakes are properly bled (remember to bleed the proportioning valve- its located on the frame by the back left tire)

 

[ZackR]

If L3 or L2 aren't doing the job then try L1. Fresh fluid and high quality brake hoses are also key to prevent fade. Driver technique comes into play as well... don't let the vehicle gain too much momentum before applying the brakes and remember that the brakes will fade much sooner with a constant light application than harder applications with a rest between use to cool.

 

[86tuning]

Our car is an automatic. I often drive in L3 or L2 down hills.

Ceramic brakes aren't going to help the situation?

I use Porterfield R4S (street) pads for all of our cars and trucks. The compound holds up well at track speeds on lapping days with the ae86. They have quite a bit more initial bite and also work at high temperatures better than the genuine LX450 pads that came with my truck.

Pad compound does make a difference.

So does brake fluid. For our race cars we run RBF600 which is technically a super DOT4 fluid. But any fresh DOT4 fluid will be better than grungy old fluid.

But, before all that stuff, how are the rear brakes? Are your drums caked with mud? A proper cleaning and adjustment can do wonders for brake effectiveness. Also, any modifications to the truck? Approximate weight? Suspension height mods? Oversize tires? All of these factors can gang up on your brakes and make them less effective. If everything is perfect, you may need to upgrade to the bigger brakes that the later 80-series and LX450 use.

 

[Douglas S]

Your truck is an early model and therefore has the smaller brakes. I would look into the swap to the later ('93-'97) larger front brake calipers and rotors.

 

[Crab Sack]

I fully agree with upgrading the brakes, calipers and rotors to the FZJ style. To this day it has been one of my best upgrades I have done on my HDJ.
Also if your truck is lifted you may need to adjust the LSPV.