is this normal?

 

bleed them

 

dont woory about bleeding them that will do nothing for a low pedel. Mushy yes, low no.
Adjust your rear brakes.

 

what am i adjusting? they're drums

 

you can adjust drums you can't adjust disks
if you pull the drums off and the bottom there is a little star wheel that you can turn to push the pads outward. It should only go one way since there is an adjuster pawl that prevents it from rotating inward.
adjust them out untill you get a slight drag and your done
or you can back up and hit the brakes do that a few times and it should bring the pedal back up if everything is working properly.:lala:

 

Doesn't pulling the parking brake a few times also adjust this?

 

Only if applied while backing up...the rear shoe has to move downward with the rotating drum to activate the adjustment levers.

Pete

 

My brakes do the same thing. I have bled them and repaced my brakes.. They sometimes also don't stop me when the pedal is to the floor. I get my adjusters the best I can. And a mechanic told me if I floor it in reverse for about 100 ft it automaticly adjust itself. I manualy adjusted them when that didn't seem to work, and I am still having the prob. . I am clueless I am gonna check my master cyl. but that is less than 2 yrs old. my fluid is full. sometimes its as if only my front brakes are working and no back brakes but my e-brake works... My back brakes where a year old and barly worn at all... I drive like a crazy person.

 

They are self adjusting. As noted above, just back up a few times and apply the brakes fairly hard. that should do it.

 

I've tried that many times.. But nothing...

 

Maybe the prop valve???

 

Ok I don't know much about brakes, but I can alsmost work on anything. I don't know where the "prop Valve" is or what it is.

 

I know I have the same problem. Have you ever worked on the brakes or had them done by a non-mechanic? If so, then you may have an air bubble in the master cylinder, which is hard to get rid of, especially in the primary chamber. I can push my pedal all the way to the floor without power assist but I can stop with the assist even with the bubble.
I'll help with the confusion too. The place where the fluid goes into is the master cylinder. The part attached to a bracket underneath it and to the cylinder by brake lines, with a wire loom hanging off, is the proportioning valve. From then on is the calipers (disk brakes) and the wheel cylinders (drum brakes-rear). And it's a good idea to replace the flex hoses as they are cheap and easily replaced, but the bleeding (for me, anyways) afterwards is a pain in the ****.

 

I consider my self a "backyard Mechanic" I can do most stuff.. Its just that is the only part of a break system I have worked on is the changing of the brakes... If told how to fix it I can do it. I know what the master cyl is and most of the main parts its just when you start talking about different valves of the brake system I'm clueless unless I am told where they are... And I do all of my work myself.

 

I just wish I knew exactly how to easily get rid of that darn bubble. I have all winter, here since I have to earn some dough to get anywhere....

 

hmm i finally tried out the park brake technique and that didn't work...if there's a bubble in the master cylinder, can you just replace the master cylinder?

how much do these go for?

 

I would replace the MC...I have had a few go bad on different cars and the symptom is like you describe...the problem would be that the MC seal internally is leaking and letting fluid past instead of actually allowing the piston to do its job...

The rebuilt ones are dirt cheap...just make sure you bench bleed it according to the instructions...

Good luck.