Brake pedal adjustment?

[AdamHarris]

These are pics of brake booster rod connecting to the brake pedal arm up under the dash on my 2020 Fx4. Has anyone ever adjusted here to achieve a slightly higher brake pedal engagement?

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[AdamHarris]

Yes I agree anything having to do with brakes should be approached with the utmost care. However, in this case the brake light switch will not be affected or touched. That booster rod obviously has adjustment and the dark grey nut is a jam nut. I see no reason I could not do a couple turns of the rod to make it go a little deeper into the booster thus limiting brake pedal travel.

My brake pedal engagement is so low that I can hit the brakes enough to activate the lights (and allow to be put into drive) but the truck starts moving if I don’t think to Really push the pedal down.

 

[AdamHarris]

The switches are adjustable but have no bearing on booster rod adjustment. The switch is just out of frame of those pics down at the bottom of the pics. At rest, the brake pedal arm is resting against its stopper and also the switch. If you adjust the booster rod then the pedal arm will still be in the same place, it won’t have moved. The movement will be in the other direction, pushing the booster rod in toward the master cylinder.

 

[alcohenusa]

These are pics of brake booster rod connecting to the brake pedal arm up under the dash on my 2020 Fx4. Has anyone ever adjusted here to achieve a slightly higher brake pedal engagement?

Check out this thread. Maybe you should have a dealer do this for you...

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/brake-pedal-travel-gsb.11789/#post-230737

 

[AdamHarris]

it doesnt look adjustable. but im not under my dash actually looking at it.
if you think it can be done, go for it. I'm just not so sure myself.

good luck

LOL again I will be doing absolutely nothing with the brake switch whatsoever. The brake switch will not be touched and the break pedal bracket will remain at rest the entire time through this process. I’ll be working on the other side of the brake pedal bracket at the booster side. So a threaded rod into a bracket does not look adjustable to anyone?

 

[AdamHarris]

Thank you for posting that thread I completely missed it. It didn’t come up in my searches for this issue. So that’s what I’m going to do is take it to the dealer and have them do it first. I suspect they’ll be adjusting this booster rod up under here that I’m looking at though ha ha!!

 

[AdamHarris]

I’m not blowing you off at all I’m trying to get you to see what I’m talking about. And your picture actually shows it better then my picture does. That switch is also the forward travel limiter for the brake pedal. When I adjust that booster rod it is NOT going to move the brake pedal at all (and thus NOT affect the switch in any shape form or fashion). The brake pedal will stay exactly where it currently is while at rest. The rod will simply go a little deeper into the booster thus limiting the travel of the brake pedal. And we’re not talking about a very long adjustment here at all anyway. You’re completely hung up on the switch but I will not be doing ANYTHING AT ALL to the switch in any way.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

I’m not blowing you off at all I’m trying to get you to see what I’m talking about. And your picture actually shows it better then my picture does. That switch is also the forward travel limiter for the brake pedal. When I adjust that booster rod it is NOT going to move the brake pedal at all (and thus NOT affect the switch in any shape form or fashion). The brake pedal will stay exactly where it currently is while at rest. The rod will simply go a little deeper into the booster thus limiting the travel of the brake pedal. And we’re not talking about a very long adjustment here at all anyway. You’re completely hung up on the switch but I will not be doing ANYTHING AT ALL to the switch in any way.

Hi Adam,

Wise to let the dealer handle. I agree the geometry to the switch is likely not changing nor is the pedal height unless the booster rod is the pedal stop, which I doubt. Service Manual is very poor in this area and offers no clue to adjustment

What I wonder is if you lengthen the booster rod it will result slight brake drag and premature brake pad wear.

best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[AdamHarris]

Hi Adam,

Wise to let the dealer handle. I agree the geometry to the switch is likely not changing nor is the pedal height unless the booster rod is the pedal stop, which I doubt. Service Manual is very poor in this area and offers no clue to adjustment

What I wonder is if you lengthen the booster rod it will result slight brake drag and premature brake pad wear.

best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

Yes you are correct lengthening the booster rod too much could definitely result in brake drag and premature wear. If the rod will even spin you would have to go a quarter turn or less of the rod and check the effect that would have on how far the pedal goes down. But yes i’ve got a Wednesday appointment for dealer to hopefully adjust it.

 

[dtech]

What I wonder is if you lengthen the booster rod it will result slight brake drag and premature brake pad wear.

best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

Been there done that - on a 1970 Datsun 510 - adjusted the rod too much and not only did the brakes drag but as the brakes heated up it caused expansion and further drag. The typical recommend free play in a brake pedal is small - usually ~ 5mm but you do need some amount of free play so if the OP decides to adjust - make it very slight. Used to be there was an adjustment rod between the master cylinder and the booster, but I could see how the adjustment could be made at the pedal nowadays removing a master cylinder at the booster can be vexing. One could make the adjustment - noting the no of turns until drag at a wheel is detected then back out half of that adjustment. But some free play in the brake pedal is needed.
If the brake pedal currently has the proper amount of free play - will the dealer even mess with it ?

 

[AdamHarris]

Ok after a successful adjustment (NO parts had to be removed and the booster rod Will spin with the jam but loosened) and 24 hours of testing (truck still rolls freely at idle, even slightly uphill, and brakes get NO hotter than they did before at any time) I’m happy to report my brake pedal feels MUCH less spongy because the pedal is now engaging at the proper height, it no longer

goes PAST the gas pedal in order for the truck to stop. If this adjustment scares you and you don’t think I should have done it (Ranger pride) then go ahead and flame me and then move on to another post. If, however you’re interested in making this adjustment it’s very simple. Get a 17 mm open-end stubby wrench, a good work light, and a good pair of pliers. Loosen the jam nut by turning clockwise. Then take your pliers and spin the booster rod clockwise. You can see from the pics that I made my booster rod end basically flush with the shiny nickel plated pedal bracket. You may or may not have to go that far. Do not go TOO far though

obviously. Re-tighten the jam nut and enjoy.

 

[dtech]

good for you - for making it better and taking the initiative to do it yourself - despite some heavy naysaying comments. That adjustment is there for a reason.

 

[AdamHarris]

Oh god Ranger pride settle down and go drive your truck man. Life’s to short to be Ill all the time.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

This right here made a night and day difference in the brake pedal feel and engagement point. Before the adjustment the brakes would not start to apply stopping force until almost 3/4 the way to the floor. When sitting still and in gear the pedal had to be almost to the floor to keep the truck from occasionally inching forward a small amount. I didn't take pictures of the rod adjustment but the starting point was worse yours was at 6 threads on the inside of the bracket.

I adjusted mine to match this with only 1.5 -2 threads past the bracket like this here.

The brake pedal is now very firm and the soft mushy feeling has been completely eliminated. It now only takes about 1.5-1.75" of pedal travel for the brakes to start applying pressure to the calipers and decrease speed. And the will hold the truck with the brake pedal being roughly 3/8" past the gas pedal height. If holding the brake and giving it gas it will still roll forward at part throttle and can be easily stopped when applying more brake pressure.

To compare the before and after and verify there were no detrimental effects from this I drove around in normal surface street traffic for 30 min. Temperature readings were captured before and after the adjustment on all brake disks with an infrared laser probe. I also did not detect any hint of overheated brake pad smell or rotor discoloration as would be expected from the calipers dragging due to the rod adjustment.

Air temp 89F
Before adjustment
LF: 253F RF: 261F
LR: 224F RR: 218F

Air temp 89F
After Rod Adjustment
LF: 250F RF: 248F
LR: 218F RR: 211F

The combination of having the brakes bled and this have made a night/day difference in braking confidence and performance. This thing will friggen stop like never before!

Worth the 5 minutes it took to adjust the rod.

 

[AdamHarris]

Those without fear of making this adjustment reap the hard pedal benefits. Again, this Does NOT effect the brake switch in any way shape or form.

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