my buddy just bought a 97 foreman 400 and the brakes were shot we opened the front drums and replaced all of the parts including the shoes and we rebled the system and the brakes are still not working right. you can still pull the brake handle right the the bars and the brakes are barely working even after we bled the system (with a pump and gravity bleeding) several times making surethere was no air in the system. the only thing i can think of is the master cylinder is screwed up.what do you guys think.

 

does anyone have any ideas?

 

Can we assume that the wheel cylinders are in good shape and that the master cylinder was kept full during the bleeding process? If so then your problem is most likely the master cylinder. I guess one way to check it is to disconnect the brake line that runs from the master cylinder, plug it tight and see if you can build up pressure by pumping the brake lever. If so then the problem is some where farther down the line. That's what I would do if it was me.

 

Do you have the shoes adjusted out properly??? I assume your doing this with the drum in place too. If the shoes arent adjusted right, the handle will pull in with no resistance because the pads never bring up on the drum.