Brakes on 89 suburban

I posted a note about brakes a while back. Read article about how the brakes do not self adjust, So I had them manually adjusted a few months ago and I am back to nothing on the rears. Have been setting the emergency brake since then as someone suggested that helped the auto setting.

On a snowy drive way I can not get the rear brakes to lock up although the front will. The emergency brake will not cause the rears to lock up either on the snowy driveway while moving slowly.


Is there an adjustment on the proportioning valve? Are the emegency and regular brakes the same problem or would adjusting the emergency system help help that system.

My brother has a 90 sub with same problem. He put in new rear brakes. They have disconected his rear electronic brake control which made no difference and they are now recommending a new proportioning valve.

Are we all driving around without rear brakes?

Thisis simply my opinion,nothing more nothing less.I have a 90 Submarine.I bought this hotrod 3 years ago and just this eveining I had the rear ABS work.I cut a nut in the driveway and hit the brake before I hit the fence.For the first time I really knew I had rear brakes. I've been a tech for 23 years and as far as I am concerned,this style of brake just does not work well. That's assuming it works at all. They work just enough to keep your azz behind you.

ive found that my star adjusters on my 89 burb sieze in very short order even with high temp anti-sieze. i would definatly agree that the brakes used on the rear end of the suburban years from 88 to 91 sucked ass however my front brakes work like a charm going from 60 to "whoa bitch" in a relatively short period of time, usualy about 3 seconds when you slam on the whores

I have the same problem with my 1990 Suburban. The fronts brakes lock up on any slippery conditions with just the slightest pedal pressure. The rears seem to have no effect even after turning drums, replacing shoes, adjusting till contact was being made. With wheels off the ground, the pedal stops the rear wheels, but with the pig rolling down the street, it seems as though there is limited shoe pressure aginst the drums. It is very dangerous for me to drive in the snow especially. The pedal is high and firm and master cylinder is full.
One thing I did notice about five times in near 0 temps is the brake pedal was near impossible to depress at start up as if it was frozen. After two-footing it a couple of pumps the pedal would gain the assistance of the booster and would depress fine. That scared the hell out of me the first time as I couldn't stop at all for a second and almost went out into traffic!! What the hell could cause this? HELP!!!!!!!

Were rear ABS standard on the '89 Chevys? "cause if they were, I've TRIED jamming on the brakes, and it doesn't kick back. The front disc work well, but I nearly put myself through the windshield driving our Intrepid with four-wheel disc. If someone does know how to maybe boost the rear brakes, I would appreciate knowing

I've no idea if abs was on the 89 burb, but I know it's not on my 86. I'm lucky not to have to deal with road salt and crud on the highway so I don't have the problem of the star adjusters locking up.

I've had good luck with pulling the adjusters while doing a brake job, cleaning them thoroughly, applying a very light coating of high temp grease to the threads (I've had good luck with disc brake grease), reinstalling and adjusting them with a brake spoon. After that I find an empty parking lot and backup at about 5mph jam on the brakes, I do this 4 or 5 times and I'm good to go for another month or so. this is the way my dad taught me and it really does seem to work. His explanation was that the rotation of the adjuster only adjusts when the brakes are applied in reverse and most of the time there is not enough force applied to get them to self adjust.

This has been successful in keeping my back brakes adjusted. I'd also suggest making sure you have the rubber plug that covers the adjustment hole in place on the backing plate; it is commonly missing and allows all sorts of moisture and crud to get in and gum up the works.

Where is this backing plate? I'd like to check it out. And you say they'll self-adjust in reverse, huh? Will it help to do that even if you don't clean the adjusters prior?

The backing plate is the round plate under the brake shoes and wheel cylinder that bolts to the axle housing and provides support for the brake components. If you look from the under the truck out you are looking at the backing plate; towards the bottom of it you should see an oval approx 1" long and 1/2" high that gives access to the star wheel on the adjustor. Originally this will have a had a knockout cast in place, likely it has been opened up over the years to adjust the brakes but equally as likely no one bothered to buy and then put the appropriate rubber plug back in place. Here's a link that might help. http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoRearDrums1.htm

What I do is the clean the adjustor threads when I replace the brake shoes, manually adjust the brakes at that time and then do the reverse thing once a month or so which seem to keep them adjusted reasonably well until its time for the next brake job. I'd suggest you attempt a manual adjustment of the brakes at this point. If you can manually adjust them then they will likely self adjust. Just keep in mind the self adjust is set up to take up a small amount of slack at a time not to make up for a large adjustment all at once.

I had the rear shoes replaced about 5 months ago. Would an adjustment have been done then? And does the pavement have to be dry when you're backing up? Thanks again. I'd like to get this done before I go into the city on Sunday

Sorry about the late reply. Hope your trip to the city went well. When shoes are replaced they typically are adjusted. The pavement should be dry to get the best results on the self adjusters.

Not a problem. It did go well. We took our Chrysler Intrepid instead. And I'll try, but dry pavement is a bit of a hot commodity here at the moment. It keeps snowing