We bought my son a full-sized short-bed Chevy pickup- '96. Very nice semi-custom. It's got 35" tires on it. Came stock with 31's. Anyway, I can't get this thing to stop worth a demn. I've replaced just about everything. Rotors, high-buck EBC pads, new master, new drums and shoes in the back. Purged it and refilled with silicone. Bled the living hell out of it. I still can't get rid of the vague pedal, sponginess and lack of decent stopping distance.

HELP!!

You might want to look into a rear disc brake conversion, maybe you could get the brakes off a latter model truck
(I dont know for sure if they will work) my 96 Tahoe had very marginal brakes and the ABS left a lot to be desired.

On a non abs pickup, we were able to fit the 3/4 / 1 ton calipers
on the front.

After market brake calipers and braded lines are another option.

96-97 trucks used the worthless Kelsey Hayes ABS module,,,, there was a recall on them sometime back. I believe this to be your problem, they had extensive failure rates. I also believe GM went to war/court with KH over all the problems that surfaced. The KH trucks that were converted to Bosch modules neve rhad a problem.

Jim

As far as I know, the ABS works. Would it cause the lack of stopping power I described?

Switch to stainless braided brake lines up front....made a huge difference on my old chevy truck.....also another thing i've been toying with latley is changing out the vacumboost system to the hydro-boost system out of the 2500 and 3500 trucks...it uses the powersteering pump for brake assist instead of engine vacumm....its a night and day difference...my first time stopping my 99 chevy dually...i about broke my teeth cause i wasnt expecting it to stop like it did!!!

The abs works, but it didnt work right.

On my 96 I could hold a steady pressure on the brake pedal for a minute and get it all the way to the floor, always spongy and at the time the dealer denied any problems existed.

If you hit even a small ripple when braking fairly hard the abs would kick in and dramatically lengthen braking distances.

When we would go out for a test drive they would pick a smooth section of road and stomp the brakes and say no problem here.

I think that these trucks also use a proportioning valve that works off the load in the bed. No load equals little or no rear brakes. A hydro boost conversion and rear disc conversion will fix the brake issues. Also use an adjustable proportioning valve.

Wobble is correct, I had a 96 dually and 97 Tahoe and they both did it, my bro's 97 Tahoe was so bad the dealer service manager refused to test drive it off the lot, and GM bought his back.

JH

i had a lifted 2dr tahoe back in the days with everything from 35-42's on it and the complaint is the brakes suck and the 10 bolt rear will grenade on you. i replaced the stock brakes all around with a Brembo BBK and the rear axle 4 times with 10,12 and 14 bolts before finally having a Custom Dynatrac Dana 70 rear built. Those two items finally solved my problems, but watch the t-cases and drivetrain, i kept snapping my u bolts and launching my drive shaft

That's a cheap, easy and obvious one that I'm ashamed to say I overlooked. I'm ordering them right now.