My 4 wheel disc brakes suck! Help me!

Hello all! I need help with my brake setup. I have a 57 dodge sierra wagon. When I bought it it had a 8.8 Ford rear end in it (I know I know) with disc brakes. Also it had a disc brake conversion on the front with a corvette style 7" booster and mc. I have no idea what brand the mc and booster are (most likely an el cheapo). We have tried a few times to bleed it and the most recent I had fluid come out of the front within seconds. The back I had open for 30 min and nothing. I had a friend come over to help me bleed them and after a few times of pumping had fluid at the back both sides. When I stepped on the pedal it almost went to the floor. Just out of curiosity I disconnected the vacuum on the booster and now the pedal feels excellent but still doesn't stop like it should. Tomorrow I will pull the back wheels off and see it the back calipers are functioning correctly. My first thought was maybe the mc is setup for disc/drum but both reservoirs are same size. Any suggestions or can you tell me what setup works for you? I need to have a small booster or at this point manual brakes would work too

i have seen calipers put on upside down (left to right) cant bleed them---son recently fixed the brakes on a cool 32 ford with a 392 hemi--couldnt bleed out the rear brakes--he pulled off the drums to find the adjusting hardware wasnt even there---also on dodge MC the front line goes to the rear brakes---on a gm MC the front line goes to the front brakes--good luck....

also, make sure your e-brake is set up and working properly. some rear calipers need constant use of the e-brake to "ratchet" up the piston so the pads are in close proximity to the rotors. failure to do this will result in a pedal that is real low, and lack of stopping ability.

Been my observation that the generic 4 wheel disc M/C based on the Vette in a lot of these aftermarket kits are worthless.

As a note, with an all drum M/C the reservoirs are both the same size as well.

As for the rear calipers, you will have to look at them, my 96 Mustang had rear calipers that required the use of the E brake to keep them adjusted, my daughter's 97 Exploder uses an E brake shoe inside the rotor hat as an e brake, so it doesn't. Both are 8.8 axles.

Ok thank you. I don't have an e brake so I will check it out. Right now I have a new problem. My car is sitting in about 3 ft of water from flash flood!

oh my....

My friend, I suspect your brake issues are the least of your issues right now.

i hope you and your loved ones are ok ! the toys can wait.

The car was at a shop getting the exhaust fixed. The guy didn't get the job done by Friday night, but Biggie was going to pick it up Sat morning to check into the brakes, and drive the car to the Mopar Happening at Belividere. The flash flood came in Friday night, and went from nothing to 3 feet of water at the repair shop between 3 am and 7 am! The water was already too deep to pull the car out by 7 am. There are 7 or 8 cars & trucks at the repair shop, all of them under water. I went by about an hour ago, and all you can see of the wagon is the roof. The water is 4' high, and rising, really. It is expected to crest sometime tomorrow morning, but it is not expected to drop much until late in the week.

Then the real work begins. I believe Biggie has arranged for a specialist to clean up the body & undercarriage, we are more concerned about the body then the mechanical. A 5.7 Hemi & trans are pretty easy to find, a nice 57 Dodge wagon body, not so much so.
The whole deal sucks, but we have to keep moving forward. Biggie's dad, Gene

Hagerty insurance?

Kevin

American family. I have had them almost 20 yrs and have treated me well!

Figure it was time for an update. After a 2 month battle with insurance they paid me what I had it covered for. My car is currently sitting at a body shop. Went thru the engine. It looked pretty good after we got swamp water out of it. I had the trans rebuilt. Bought all new engine and body wire harness. Cleaned out 15 gal of water from gas tank. Tore all interior out and wire brushed the floor so we can put bedliner down. Cleaned the rear end out and relubed it. Gears looked really good. I will be repainting the car blue and silver. I know the body shop owner and he was kind enough to let me work on car and even gave me a key to his shop so I can come in whenever I want. If I can get it to load I will give a sneak peak of new blue.

it looks good ! i'm glad you could save it !

Hey guys, Biggie wanted me to give you an update on the wagon process.

Yesterday afternoon he drove it away from the body shop under its own power!
There are still some details that need to be addressed, but my son wanted to drive the car for the remaining cruising season this year. When the season is over, it will go back to the body shop for those finishing touches. He and the shop guys have done a ton of work on this car over the last year.

He was able to save the 5.7 and the 8.8 rear end. The trans was rebuilt, he didn't want to take that chance. All the wiring, and all of the interior, in the car has been replaced, All the light bulbs, shift cables, and the instrument cluster as well. The brakes have been cleaned up and the pads, master, booster, have been replaced. (By the way, the master cylinder was the route of his brake issues.)

We have pictures! These were taken last night at my shop. We need to modify the rear seats, so his kids can ride along, and the car is at my shop so I can do that. Gene

Nice save guys

Love it!

looks great !

Nice wagon and good to see it alive and well.
After that flood, I would maybe pinstripe a name on the tailgate like; Desoto "SierraFlood" or something.

Thanks everyone! Should I also mention it survived a garage fire? Guy before me had it in his garage and rafters caught fire. Charred all trim that was laying on the roof and got part of hood that was up before he rolled it outside. lol

Ok, wow.
Then, next to the FireFlite and FireDome models, you could call yours a Desoto Sierra FireFlood!

Its not a desoto but ya I like dodge sierra custom fireflood. lol