GQ Patrol Brakes

Hi angry
Patrol brakes typically need a bit of pressing but should pull up very well.

You do not mention which year patrol you have - if pre 96 or over 150,000 ks do the whole brake system. No matter what though I suggest you do check the load sensing valve on the rear brakes - this is possibly not adjusted correctly if the adjuster is wound too far out rear brakes will not work at all - if too far in you will lock up the rear brakes in the wet or in the dry -(POTENTIALLY FATAL) When the brakes on a gq are working well (ie correctly balanced between front and rear) - they pull up very well with no fuss. - too many 4wds on the road are relying on the front brakes too much especially if lifted)


If just purchased I suggest you spend some time or money and check out the disks, the pads, the slave cylinders and the master cylinder and if in doubt the vacuum assist - once done this system should be ok for a few years. The master cyl on some models is expensive to service and or replace but easy to service ($225 for a kit $350 for complete cylinder (trade)
Its a good idea do check your brakes out on a quiet deserted road in the wet (yeah I know a bit hard in the drought) just to see whats "locks up" and how it performs in the wet. Just so you dont get a surprise in an emergency situation - you need to establish if the brakes have been serviced correctly - never leave it to chance cause once it rains its a bit hard to keep 2.5 tonnes of vehicle under control in a slide.

Good maintenence is to replace your brake fluid annually - very few do but at the price of patrol brake parts its a great saving in the long run.

cheers

kezza

Agree with comment above about Patrol brakes needing a bit of pushing. Our GU is the same. I don't notice it because I drive it most of the time. Hubby only drives it on weekends and he always notices it going from one car to the other.

:o) Melissa

Thanks for your advice. Oh, and it's a '97 model with 84,000 km. So far I'm very happy with it except, of course, with the lack of power at low rpms.

Angryant
I too own a RD28T but an old '96er. Have owned since new and done over 140,000km. Drive a Mazda Astina most of the time but love getting back into the Patrol. Prefer its brakes any day. I wouldn't say mine are very hard to apply. Suspect you might have an issue there???? Drove my mates 2000 GU 3.0 with 75,000km and hated the brakes. Kept over shooting the turns. Just didn't want to pull up or I wasn't pushing hard enough. Maybe the extra half a tonne. No probs (touch wood) with my truck so far. Keep up your scheduled maintenance and don't forget your timing belt at 100,000. Some rumours going around about head gaskets blowing but what can you do about that. No worse than your GU doing a water pump and being at the dealer for over 5 days because they don't have a spare one. Makes you wonder. Quickly learn to live with the power (or lack of) and enjoy the capability of a top truck.

in respose to an aswer above regarding rear brake proportioning valve i recently did a 2inch lift on my patrol gq and didnt adjust valve silly me did that and work much better now

brake pads have a lot to do with it, metal type pads are harder to push the pedal but seem to pull up better than a softer make of pad, which are softer in the push dept, but dont seem to pull up as well. Have been told the metal pads are harder on the rotors but have never compared on the same vehicle. Col

Hi,
We own a 97 RX 2.8TD. It now has 170,000klm on clock. I do find that you need a bit of pressure on brakes. Ours is serviced every five thousound and all has checked out ok. We use a castrol oil. The only problem we have heard of is 5th gear going due to the use of in town.
The power is a problem if you have high expectation. We owned a V8 prior to the GQ so the lack of power was noticable but we drive to what it is capable of and we have no problems. It towes a 1.2 tonn camping trailer and has done efficiently. We did get a snorkle fitted along with the second battery. We did have a problem just after we got it with it pulling left quite badly, wheel alignments did not fix this we had to get another part to put in hub. Not sure what that was called but if your interested can look it up for you. We have had ours for 3.5 years and done 100.00klm without any major problems other than regular services.
Hope you enjoy your 2.8
Chel

Angry, I have a 2.8td GQ and found that by fitting a turbo smart gated waste gate controller, $99.00 from Autobarn, that the boost comes in approx 600 rpm earlier, and you can set the boost at factory setting of 13psi, verus actual of setting of 9psi. Very noticable difference on road and on dyno.You may have to remove blow off valve or slighty lower boost pressure. Cheapest mod available for my mind. Hope this helps.

Its funny because I say the same thing that the brakes suck. I run 33's lifted etc

But most on the Patrol List with 35's etc say the brakes rock. ??

One mod is to go slotted rotors, and metal pads. Wears yor discs out faster but hey nothing is for nothing.

Pre 93 discs are thinner than later, by 6mm I think and this apparently makes a WORLD of difference ... maybe maybe not!

Im thinking of the new 4.8 discs, they are larger diameter, and thicker by 12mm. Involves moving calipers etc but might work.