from City Racer just now:
You must use the tool to get the proper result. This is in all of the mechanic's training. We've seen this before. A customer adamantly insists it's not the adjustment. We send him a new booster. Same result. Then they take it to a mechanic to make the adjustment and everything works perfectly. A booster is a dumb device. It doesn't drag brakes if properly adjusted. A faulty booster will give you a hard pedal.
City Racer LLC
My reply, after a few other back and forths explaining the issue:
Hi again City Racer Inbox Team,
Thanks for the tip, and I understand your position as a company who’s been bitten by this one before, however the fact the that the new booster,
adjusted exactly the same as your booster, immediately solved the problem seems like pretty strong evidence that it was part of the problem. Not to mentioned the same issue happened regardless of where the pin was adjusted (long, short, or right on spec). I’m willing to bet if I took the truck out and adjusted the pin out of its current adjustment the pedal feel would change, but the problem I’ve had with tightening pedal over time will not rear its head. In fact I’m going to do just that to prove that’s not the issue.
And to be 100% clear, the EXACT issue I’m describing is what you’ve seen before with improper pin adjustment in the past? The pedal stiffens changes as it warms up? The brakes are working and adjusted and driving perfectly, then 15 minutes into the drive the pedal starts to get harder and higher until it eventually locks the brakes up? I described pretty clearly the way the pin will affect pedal action. I learned that by trail and error 25 times over…you’re telling me you’ve had customers have this exact scenario I’m describing? Perhaps you can explain how the “simple booster device” would cause that issue based on a pin being adjusted wrong and how this adjustment could be too long, too short, or at spec and still cause the same issue…and then go away when replaced.
Look, this was not a one time thing. This was the same deal for a month, with countless adjustments…over and over and over. Your booster out, new one in, problem solved. Instantly! This is not you shipping a new booster to someone and them having the same issue with the new one. This seems like you trying to use that example as justification that it couldn’t be your part that’s the problem. This was a replace it and it’s solved scenario! Hard to argue with that. Feel free to read through my journey with this. The last 4 pages lay it out pretty clearly.
A New 55 Owner Intro (cgn1976 thread) - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/a-new-55-owner-intro-cgn1976-thread.1221613/
I had lots of folks who know a lot more than me helping me through this, and nobody thought much of the booster being the problem when I said I put a new one in to start. The reason I went and started with all the other parts first, was as you describe, it’s a simple device and this behavior would cause anyone to think of lots of other potential issues first. I went round and round and did every other thing in the brake system, other than the hard lines…and that was next if this didn’t solve it. All I know is yours out, new one in. Problem gone.
Truth be told,
I didn’t expect you do anything for me. Sadly, your reputation precedes you. I will however do something for you. I will be sending this part back to you, on my dime. Perhaps you can send it to your manufacturer for some QA. Or resell it and watch the next poor guy go through the same thing I just did. The idea that there couldn’t be a bad one in the batch is not that crazy. Companies build this into their plans when they make parts. Nobody makes 100% perfect parts 100% of the time. Perhaps there’s a tiny leak in the diaphragm that’s causing some weird behavior once it heats up or generates vacuum over a period of time? It passed internal QA but doesn’t work right in the real world. I don’t know. What I do know is your part caused me an awful lot of frustration time, energy and money and the moment I put a new one in with the
EXACT SAME ADJUSTEMT, the problem miraculously went away.
So be on the lookout for a package. Maybe once you see I’m right you’ll step up and do the right thing, although I’m not expecting much. In the meantime I’ll be sharing my experience with all the wonderful folks who helped me through this on the forum. They can all decide for themselves how to feel about it.
Sincerely,
A disappointed and former customer,
