spongy brake pedal

[harry3]

the brake pedal of my VL is and always has been very spongy, it seems impossible to lock up the wheels although the brakes work OK
it has power brakes, front disks and rear drums
is a spongy pedal normal or is the master cylinder on the way out or does the system need bleeding to get rid of air?

[bangers]

bleed the system first. see how it goes after that.

[VT-565]

probably wouldnt hurt to change the brake fluid either. you should do it at least every 2 years anyway.

[jono-vl-calias]

start from the rear leftbrake then go to ur right then front left then front right other wise it wont bleed propally

[seventh path]

adjust the drums....the self adjusters hardly ever work properley and don't adjust the brake shoes......when you have adjusted them you will notice that the pedal will be heaps better!!

[megee83]

your brakes should be able lock up (in a VL), otherwise you are not able to apply your full braking capacity which is the point right before they lock up. although they still work your brakes are not working properly at all, you are only using a percentage of their potential and as a result your braking distance is likely much longer then it could be...

[kowan]

I had spongy brakes (front disc,back drums)and I tried everything I changed the master cylinder, slave cylinders on the drums, bled it 20 times, swore at it over 50 times, resorted to turning my back to it for a whole week to see if that would work, adjusted the drums many times, I got my mother-in-law to stare at it even that didn't help. So I changed the whole diff to a VN disc brake...I don't care if its is wide, I don't care that I have to becarefull drive slower and avoid potholes in the road. I HAVE FULL BRAKES.....ok I should have just changed the axel bearings and disc plates but hey !! That drum brake diff was asking for it, I dumped it...oh life is sweet