What do I need for Normal Braking

[Caseyjay]

I am getting ready for travel and will get my brakes checked. I want to be able to tell them what to change to get this right. I have owned this 2019 Ranger F4X for two years and it has always had grabby brakes. I see many threads about mushy brakes. I don't want either, just normal steady smooth braking. Since I didn't buy it new, I don't know what previous owner did, if anything. If I put steady pressure on pedal, as the truck slows down, the brake start braking harder. So I have to keep letting off the brake as I slow down to get a even stop. It also seems like I feel a tiny bit pulsing or shudder, like it was driving over a cobblestone road. I know the first thing is to have service inspect it, but they will want to do something about it then, so I am try to be prepared. Any ideas or suggestions?

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[D Fresh]

Having to gradually release the brake pedal in order to stop smoothly sounds normal to me.

As you slow down braking force, while being equal, will feel greater because your speed is decreasing. As your speed decreases the same pressure slows the vehicle down more.

In your other vehicles does steady pressure elicit a smooth stop? Doubtful, I don't think I've ever driven a vehicle where you can just mash the brakes and expect to stop smoothly.

The brake pedal is analog, just like your throttle. It is not simply on or off.

 

[RangerBill]

I am getting ready for travel and will get my brakes checked. I want to be able to tell them what to change to get this right. I have owned this 2019 Ranger F4X for two years and it has always had grabby brakes. I see many threads about mushy brakes. I don't want either, just normal steady smooth braking. Since I didn't buy it new, I don't know what previous owner did, if anything. If I put steady pressure on pedal, as the truck slows down, the brake start braking harder. So I have to keep letting off the brake as I slow down to get a even stop. It also seems like I feel a tiny bit pulsing or shudder, like it was driving over a cobblestone road. I know the first thing is to have service inspect it, but they will want to do something about it then, so I am try to be prepared. Any ideas or suggestions?

As you get to slower speeds while braking, the transmission is also downshifting causing engine braking to be added to the braking effect. Possibly this is what you are noticing.

 

[Dr_Strangelove]

@Caseyjay - so if I understand you, you're saying you can put even pressure on the pedal but the truck continues to apply additional braking force until you let off?

Does this happen even if you apply gentle pressure to the pedal?

 

[got3fords]

I think I experienced something similar before. It was as if the braking power greatly increases as the rotors heat up.

 

[Trigganometry]

Have you ever done the Forscan ABS bleed? It’s really noisy but my brakes felt significantly different after doing this simple procedure. There is a thread on 5G about how to do it

 

[Caseyjay]

Thanks all for comments. I don't have fore-scan. I have had lots of cars and trucks. Never had this sensitivity to pedal pressure. With me just out of knee surgery, I cannot go look for myself, but I thought that the previous owner might have responded to the mushy brakes that so many have posted on by getting high performance brakes and thus lots of grip. I guess my real question is that if I need brakes and/or rotors, can I get Ford factory parts and expect to have normal braking?

 

[Frenchy]

Since you will be Towing make sure you have tow mode engaged the entire time you are driving. That said every time you turn the key off and turn the key back on you will have to re-engage tow mode. Do that and just make sure you're being easy with the brakes and you should be fine

 

[D Fresh]

Thanks all for comments. I don't have fore-scan. I have had lots of cars and trucks. Never had this sensitivity to pedal pressure. With me just out of knee surgery, I cannot go look for myself, but I thought that the previous owner might have responded to the mushy brakes that so many have posted on by getting high performance brakes and thus lots of grip. I guess my real question is that if I need brakes and/or rotors, can I get Ford factory parts and expect to have normal braking?

There really aren't any "performance" braking options available for our trucks that would explain what you're describing.

Was your knee surgery on your right side? Have you driven other vehicles since the surgery? Is it possible this sensation is a surgical after effect?

Have you had somebody else drive the truck at all?

 

[Canadian Ranger]

I'd definitely get a servicing done. I'll go out on a limb and say they need greased properly.....contact points where the pads are held in, sliders, on the back of the pads, and plenty on the piston gasket. Grase is a brakes friend.
I'm able to do my own and do it twice a year.

 

[Caseyjay]

Thanks all, I used to do my own brakes until knee problems. Had partial replacement just a few months ago. This issue has been noticed since I got it (the truck that is). The wife also thinks the brakes are very touchy. I will have them do a through job on them just like I would have done.

 

[RedDakooter05]

Mine are the same, have yet to address it but seems to be a caliper issue and I'll occasionally hear my rear calipers "clunk" as if they were partially stuck.

 

[FunInTheSun]

The Forscan comment is an aftermarket program that allows you to perform some service procedures that otherwise would require a trip to the dealer to have them use the official Ford Scan tool. The particular procedure they are discussing is a bleed procedure for the ABS system. ABS systems come with extra plumbing in the brake lines, and if all the circuits don't get properly bled, it can cause strange things, but the usual symptom of improperly bled lines is a mushy pedal that you have to push too hard, or that fades. The ABS controller has a self-bleed routine built into it, which can be triggered by sending the proper command sequence from a scan tool. The Ford Scan tool can obviously do it, or the Forscan tool can trigger the bleed routine, too, if you have the correct OBD2 scanner and the Forscan program.

In this case, I would do that if you can, just to rule it out. But I don't think what you are describing is an operational problem. It's just how the truck feels. I feel that the brakes are quite powerful, but sometimes I feel that because of the lag required to calculate downshifts, etc, that sometimes the engine braking is not only not helping when you are braking at speed, but the engine is actually "pushing" a bit until the truck is almost stopped, at which point, the idle speed drops and it quits pushing, so you feel like all of a sudden the truck slows down harder. I've never actually looked at the tach or analyzed this too closely, but I've noticed this in several other automatic transmission vehicles I've owned. It's one of the reasons I WISHED for a manual transmission option.

To check if this observation holds any water, try popping the transmission into Neutral and then do the same stop to see how much different the behavior feels. I think you may be surprised. I don't think it's a malfunction, it's just a consequence of having to downshift 7 or 8 times vs 2 or 3. Just makes it more noticeable. Not a malfunction, just a feature of having so many gears.

 

[RedDakooter05]

To check if this observation holds any water, try popping the transmission into Neutral and then do the same stop to see how much different the behavior feels. I think you may be surprised. I don't think it's a malfunction, it's just a consequence of having to downshift 7 or 8 times vs 2 or 3. Just makes it more noticeable. Not a malfunction, just a feature of having so many gears.

Interesting, never thought about that myself.

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