Re: [Chrysler300] Front Disc Brake problem solved

[Ray Jones <hurst300@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Great report!!
This whole email would be a great addition to the tech section of our
website. Who would have thought?
Shows how something stupid can mess with your mind. The hardest problem
facing a mechanic is to know what's wrong before applying a solution.
Some, tho, are tough to solve.

Ray
Loving life and living large, Com'on down!

On Dec 3, 2004, at 12:49 PM, George McKovich wrote:

>
> My thanks to all with the helpful suggestions regarding my
> power brake (front disc brake conversion) problems on my
> 1957 Chrysler 300C of several weeks ago. I tried most
> everything that was suggested, short of installing the dual
> master cylinder. I wanted to avoid doing that, so that it
> would not be necessary to remove the MC to enable removal of
> the driver side valve cover.
>
> I replaced the calipers, had the rotors turned, replaced the
> pads, ensured that no brake lines were pinched or plugged
> and even tried a different bellows brake booster. The net
> result was always the same.... no additional braking
> achieved. I even went so far as to add an electric vacuum
> pump to increase the vacuum available to the power brake
> system. That pump gave me 21 inches of vacuum but did not
> result in additional braking ability. Through all of this,
> Roger at AAJ Brakes in Portland was always available with
> helpful pointers and encouragement. He even went so far as
> to offer me a refund if I couldn't get the brakes to work.
> He said he had numerous systems, including his own running
> on a single MC, but did recommend the dual for safety. All
> through this period, it seemed like I was getting no power
> assist from the bellows booster. I then sent the better of
> the two boosters I had to Ron Karp in Upland Calif to have
> it checked out. Ron tested the unit and said it was working
> to about 80% efficiency and that should be good enough to
> stop the car very well. I did have him freshen it up with
> new O rings and seals so that I could be certain that it was
> not my problem. I talked with Ron several times while he
> still had the booster and he gave me several suggestions of
> things to try..... none of which solved the problem, with
> the other booster that I had on the car at that time. While
> my refurbished unit was in transit back to me, Ron suggested
> I check out the release lever at the top of the brake pedal
> arm. When the re-newed booster arrived, I removed the old
> one and looked at the lever/trigger mechanism at the top of
> the pedal and compared it to two other brake pedal arms that
> I had on-hand. I found that the lever/trigger was bent out
> quite a bit from the other two. Here is a link to the
> pictures: http://imageevent.com/idsnowman/questions  I took
> one of the spare units and bench tested it with the re-newed
> booster and found that it worked perfectly in the tests. I
> then went about replacing the arm with the bent
> lever/trigger with one of the spares, installed the re-newed
> booster without the electric vacuum pump and now I have
> excellent braking ability. The car will stop as well or
> better than my 2003 Dodge Ram. The problem all along was
> that damned little lever/trigger!! Apparently, that little
> lever/trigger was continually pressing against the button on
> the back of the booster and not allowing any significant
> vacuum boost to the brakes.
>
> Thanks again to all for the help and especially to Jim
> Krausman for the encouragement to continue to quest for an
> answer.
>
> George
> http://imageevent.com/idsnowman/57chrysler300
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
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