Okay, I replaced my worn out pads about 2 weeks ago with some autozone albany pads. I drove the truck about 2 days later and the brakes didn't feel quite right, they were not like they should be. I then decided to do a 60-0 emergency stop, when I did this the brakes would not lock up nor did the abs kick in and it took longer than it should to stop. I then did another 60-0 and after that one the pedal went soft, I mean went all the way to the floor. After the truck sat for awile the pedal came back but the brakes are still not what they were. Today I pulled the horses with it and after a few stops the pedal went soft on me again. Anybody have any idea what this could be. I didn't replace the back pads but I am going to check them. The emergency brake works fine. I am thinking of taking the pads back to autozone and getting some better pads, I think that is what it is, although I don't see how pads can cause a soft pedal, oh by the way they stink like hell, I mean they are obviously getting to hot even when not towing if I brake hard.

LHM

 

fordtech2001 where are you? do you have any insight?

 

I guess I will just swap out the pads next week and possibly put pads on the back also.

LHM

 

I had something like this happen when I first bought my 97 exp,
it turned out to be the master cylinder. you may want to have yours checked or replaced.

 

If you have rear disc, the pads have NOTHING to do with the Ebrake. The ebrake is a pair of shoes in the inside of the rotors! The caliper for the brakes is a normal caliper.

So the ebrake thing is irrelevant here if you have rear disc.

I would say that you need to flush the brake fluid! YOu most likely have air on there and have boiled the fluid! You may have also glazed the pads and rotors, so the rotors need to be turned the the pads need to be scrapped (rub them on the street a few times to get the glaze off of them).

 

Fortunately it was the pads, I took the junk pads back to autozone and got some type of lifetime gaurantee pads from carquest $17.00 for the autozones and $58.00 for the carquest pads. The brakes are back to the way they are supposed to be now, however I am still going to take a look at the back pads to make sure they are good. I priced them at carquest and they are the same price as the fronts. Moral of the story don't buy cheap pads!!! Matt I had no idea the the e-brake had a different set of pads that's pretty cool.
Thanks for your responses guys.
LHM