AWP

I have searched.
Most responses seem to go off track leading me to not know what might really be trouble.
Brake pedal pulse and maybe a little lower pedal. No ABS. Fluid level good. no sign of leaking wheel cylinders. Front brakes done last winter. Just replaced rear drums, shoes and made sure self adjusters are free moving to see if problem would go away based on one search. Adjusted till could feel slight drag when rotating drum after assembly. Backed up (a block) repeatedly apply brakes. Still feel pulse. Drove around a few blocks and maybe low pedal (not to the floor though) and pulsing bad enough I still won't drive it.

jordan96xj

Last winter, were both the pads and rotors serviced on the front? or just pads? Most common cause of brake pedal pulsating is rotors that are in need of replacement.

AWP

I replaced pads and rotors last winter (not felt in steering wheel)
I read here that if its an actual pulse feeling (pedal pushes back) in the pedal only it is usually rear so I replaced the rear this time but no change.

Larry's XJ

Have you inspected the front brakes? They were only new a year ago. Cheap chingchong rotors don't last long ��

RocketMouse

I've even seen some new ones (not the quality ones) be either slightly warped right out of the box, or have problems shortly afterwards. How many in-town miles would you guess you've put on them?

And even though all is moving freely with the rears... check the cylinders. Not uncommon to develop issues with them.

jordan96xj

Front or rear can cause the pedal to pulsate. My experience on the XJ with drum brakes is that it is more likely to be the front. Because unless the rears are working properly and properly adjusted, their biggest problem is that the pads are barely even making contact with the drum.

Regardless of when the front rotors were last replaced, that is the most likely reason your pedal is pulsating.

If you decide to replace them, check out the box and packaging and see if they have a little set of instructions for breaking-in the rotors. Follow the instructions. In my experience, when I did that, the rotors gave me a lot more service life before warping again. If the instructions don't come with the product, just look it up via google.

Btw, have you ever warped a cheap/thin frying pan on your stovetop because it got too hot? Or because it was hot, and then you rinsed it off in the sink? After that, it was never the same? Well that's what happens to cheap rotors as well. So try not to go too cheap on rotors, they are more prone to warping.

RocketMouse

Yes... "bedding in" or "seating" the new pads & rotors correctly will make a huge difference...it's easy and doesn't take that long to do. Just find an out of the way flat paved road. And make sure there's no traffic behind you for a long ways... make sure you get up to at least 50 mph. And do at least 5 or 6 hard stops keeping it straight... not so hard that you lock up or activate ABS, but just short of that... and then repeat. You want to do it in quick succession one right after the other, as you are trying to intentionally get your rotors & pads nice and warm. After that you should be good to go. You'll notice the brakes will also have a lot more "bite" to them when you do normal braking from that point on. That's a good sign that you seated them in properly.
Remember, you want to be up to at least 50-55 mph, and then when you do your hard braking, you want to stay on the brake until you get down to around 10-15 mph... Do NOT come to a complete stop before accelerating again. Once the brakes have warmed up to temp, if you hold the brake to a complete stop you could imprint/transfer pad material onto the rotor... you don't want that.
And find a straight stretch of flat paved road outside of town maybe.. like a county road, so you don't have to deal with any traffic while you do it.

AWP

I am red faced.
Took the front apart and they are bad. Both inside pads were worn the most but the rotors almost look dusty on the inside as if the pads were not touching. One rotor actually looked like the inside was flaky or peeling off layers.
Will replace with better rotors and ceramic pads and "Bed in" as the RocketMouse explained.

IJM

Just an FYI for those monitoring this thread: The most common cause of brake pulsation isn't the rotors warping (they rarely do), but instead it's pad deposits, mostly caused by cheap pads and/or improper driving habits resulting in overheated pad compound depositing itself on the face of the rotor. Bedding in the pads/rotors again can often help reduce or eliminate the problem, but not always. Regardless, bedding in new pads/rotors is always a good idea for better stopping power and pad life. Cheap pads love to overheat during high-speed or repeated stops while the pads are clamped to the rotors. A great example of this is cruising along at 60 mph when the light turns red. You slow down and stop, then sit at the light for a minute. Those pads get hot and the cheap compound gets deposited on the rotor face. Get better pads, and the problem becomes much more rate. Quality of the rotors is less important than the pads.

I regularly use Chinese-made rotors on my track car and never have problems with pad deposits or "warped" rotors as long as I'm using the correct pad compound and don't apply the brakes when hot.

PatHenry

Also make sure you do a very good job cleaning the new rotors so you get all the packaging gunk off. That stuff will chew through a set of pads like it's nobodies business and may have been part of the OP's problem considering how much wear he stated after only a year.

Don't neglect the brake grease on the caliper bolts either so you don't get the caliper hanging up when it needs to back off.

RocketMouse

^^ true...but also with what the OP added in their most recent post.... should also verify that the calipers are functioning correctly. They are pretty cheap to replace and occasionally do fail.

PatHenry

Calipers are surprisingly cheap.

If there's any question, replace the calipers.
The downside of doing the calipers is then you have to bleed and either need to get speed bleeders or have an assistant available. Minor inconvenience, of course.

IJM

Yup, good points. It's always handy to have a couple cans of brake cleaner around for various purposes. Sometimes I'll even use it to clean brakes.

AWP

Thank you all, I have smooth operating brakes again.
I bedded them in. I replaced one (the oldest) caliper, purchased the higher Carbon content rotors and ceramic pads.
I am going to have to adjust the rear brakes some more though.

investinwaffles

Did it end up being the front rotors then?

I usually use Centric or Brembo rotors and have yet to have a problem. The one time I used crappy DuraGo rotors, the parking brake drum was too small and it ended up not fitting over the new parking brake shoes. They were $10 each so I really could only learn my lesson - didn't even bother shipping them back to Rock Auto, gave them away on Craigslist