[sp1086]

I'm sure others that have Vitara's have come accross this problem before.

Since I've lifted my Vitara 60mm higher than standard spings and spacers (no body lift) I find that the front breaks are doing all the breaking. I've since found out that there is a break bias setup for the rear breaks. It all depends how much load is the the rear of the vehice to how much breaking power is given to the rear breaks. Good idea mind you!

However since the lift was done the adjustment on theis little thing located near the centre diff mount is out of wack. I've tried moving the adjustmwnt either way but dont seem to have any luck.

Has anyone ever removed this device or made modifications so it still works as intended?

[royce]

just extend the shaft from diff to bias thingy 60mm, back to normal, lifted cars to break funny though

[sp1086]

Ok yeah I guess I can do that with not much trouble. But I cant remember if the adjustment is up or down for no load in the vehicle?

[royce]

the shorter the shaft is the less it will brake the rears

[sp1086]

Thanks for that I'll get cracking.

[christover1]

I just discovered the little spring thingy yesterday while measuring stuff.
I'll be fitting a diff spacer equal to my lift,
hoping that will put it right and stock.
I am assuming previous owner didn't adjust it.
My brakes aint as good as I thought they'd be, so maybe this is why.
i just blamed Big tyres etc.
LWB Vit has bigger better brakes all round I'm told.

[atari4x4]

The Calmini A arm has an extended brake bias thingo. When I replaced the heim joint a few months ago I forgot to hook it back up & it was amazing how poor the brakes were, the fronts were working overtime. With the new slotted rotors/pads & the larger SV420 drums (way bigger than the 1.6 LWB) with machined drums & new shoes it's actually pretty nice to do emergency stops with the 31's.

[christover1]

Guess I should make sure it is actually connected, but will have to wait a while, can't get near shed without nesting birds attacking me

[atari4x4]

christover1 wrote:

Guess I should make sure it is actually connected, but will have to wait a while, can't get near shed without nesting birds attacking me

try these....

[christover1]

tempting, only India Minors and Starlings, not really important

atari4x4 wrote:

christover1 wrote:

Guess I should make sure it is actually connected, but will have to wait a while, can't get near shed without nesting birds attacking me

try these....

[christover1]

Birdies left me alone long enough to crawl underneath.
Brake bias has about 10mm of adjustment, it is connected, but at rest position of A=arm it is slack.
Can't tell if it has been adjusted before.
So will look again after diff spacer fitted

[christover1]

Still getting too much front braking,
even now that I have rear discs,
so back to hunting for info.

The split system brakes has me head scratching a bit

[TheOtherLeft]

How does one tell if their brake bias is out of whack after a lift?

Is this the LSPV people are referring to when adjusting?

[christover1]

TheOtherLeft wrote:

How does one tell if their brake bias is out of whack after a lift?

Is this the LSPV people are referring to when adjusting?

If front brakes work very much better than rears,
chances are its a pronblem..

The load sensing valve (LSPV) on my Vitara is connected by a spring,
to the upper A-arm (REAR).
As car gets lighter, back rises and you get less pressure to rear brakes.
When you do a suspension lift, valve thinks rear is extremely light, and reduces the pressure to rear brakes.
In my case I spaced rear A arm, putting LSPV roughly in right place.

I pulled my LSPV all the way down,
and rebled it, found heaps of air bubbles.
My guess is it was easier to bleed out old fluid,
with no pressure restrictions.

Also noticed amount of restriction is adjustable,
in spring position,
and a bolt to restrict how far up it can go.

Off road, extra travel coils etc, going down steep hills,
LSPV thinks its time to reduce pressure to rears,
I adjusted it for very little change.

Just came back from test drive,
seems to be all fixed now.
Time will tell.

[christover1]

[alexvitara]

i never knew about this, i better look at mine

[shandy92]

christover1 wrote:

that bar that is going across the screen, does that move up/down with suspension lift? and is that how it should look?....flat?

cheers

[christover1]

shandy92 wrote:

christover1 wrote:

that bar that is going across the screen, does that move up/down with suspension lift? and is that how it should look?....flat?

cheers

Yes it moves with up suspension lift, connected by spring to A _ Arm.
I chose flat, as I want full rear pressure,
because of heavy LWB and lots of tools/spares.
may not be right in lighter, soft top, SWB et al.
Mine won't move now,
keeping my pressure on rears always the same.
Not necessarily right, legal or safe in other peoples cars.

My A-arm spacer means no big issue.
Without A arm spacer, you may need to extend spring bracket

[shandy92]

ok so in stock form (suspension) was position(angle) is this arm in? and when lifted suspension is fitted, this bracket angles up? right side goes up?

[christover1]

shandy92 wrote:

ok so in stock form (suspension) was position(angle) is this arm in? and when lifted suspension is fitted, this bracket angles up? right side goes up?

yes right side goes up, where the spring holds it.
After lift lever can go all the way up.
This is how mine was, yours could be different.
Mine may nor have been right before my lift anyway.

[shandy92]

ok sweet, thanks. so i guess factory would be around the middle...blue?

might have to go check mine.