Hey everyone, I am new here and Have a new old nissan hardbody i just picked up a week ago. Its a 92 4x4 ka24. Its in great shape but have had to do some minor stuff to it e.g. front calipers, headlight switch, radio, etc... I just took it in for inspection it passed with flying colors, however, I feel that my rear brakes arent doing there job. My mechanic showed me the rear shes and they have plenty of meat left, the brake pedal feels good, as far as I can tell, and I bled the fronts when I did the calipers. I guess my reason for concern is because even on snow, with an empty bed, I cant get the rears to lock up. The fronts lock up right away but the rears dont seem to do much. Is this normal? I thought maybe my wheel cylinders might need replacing but they are not spewing any fluid. Thanks a million guys, I have learned so much from this site already. Any and all help appreciated. Jason

I can't get mine to lockup either, fronts are no problem to lockup as a result. Wheel cylinders are generally only bad when they leak. You could have a bad axle seal that would let oil seap into the brake drum. But, if you don't see leaks or oil or grease. Chances are you could have air in your rear brake lines and the rear cylinders need to be bled.

Over time the rear wheel cylinders will loose their movement. They ware out. You can buy a rebuild kit. It's much easier to replace the whole thing.

Have you tried adjusting the rear brakes. Yes they are suppose to be auto adjustable. I always have to adjust my rear brakes.

I would just throw 2 new wheel cylinders.

Thanks guys, maybe I will bleed the cylinders first, if that doesnt work Ill throw some new ones at it.

If you didnt pinch the soft front hoses when you changed calipers (i.e. the master drained completely) then you must bleed the rears as well. I would do it even if I had pinched off the front lines so they didnt drain while I worked. This could be part of your problem, however, most Nissan rears do not lock up anyway--mine dont.

Long story short...bleed the rears.

Scott

the rear brakes are drum brakes and are not really designed to lock up.

70 %of the stopping power is in the front 3o % from the back.

adjust them up and then adjust you parking brake correctly.

that will optimize your braking power..

in a perfect world you do not want your brakes to lock up..

that is what abs is all about..