E-350 2350 brakes - especially rears

While getting ready to get our 2004 2350 ready for a week on the road next week, I was backing my 2004 2350 up onto blocks today and when I stepped on the brakes the rear tires kept rolling off the blocks and the front tires locked up and pulled the front blocks back with them.   

I'm thinking this is not a safe situation.  But it stops fine while driving.... but that's going forwards, of course.

Before I take it in to a shop and have the brakes bled (the brake pedal feels awfully soft as well) I thought I would ask others if there is anything special I need to look for, provided others have had similar issues.   It's on the E-350 chassis.

Edit: I have an appointment Monday morning for a mechanic to check it out. 

First... Good idea, have a professional look.   2 places never to skimp is brakes and tires.

Second... Car, truck, rv, etc. Brakes apply more stopping power to the front brakes than to the rear brakes.  Without going into all the dynamics, that proportioning prevents the rear end from losing traction (skidding).  That's whether you have ABS or not.

Third... Yes, a soft pedal is not a good thing, not even close.

In general, the front brakes will be more sensitive.  But given your example along with a soft brake pedal, I am concerned that your rear brakes have something more serious going on.  Definitely start by get your brake system bled and all brakes inspected.  You should not have a soft brake pedal.  It starts there.

It just might be that your rear brake rotors have an accumulation of surface rust and the rig needs to be driven to clean the rust off.

If you had rear drum brakes, I would say that your rear brake shoes need to be adjusted.  But I don't believe a 2003 or 2004 E350 chassis has rear drum brakes.  It is quite remarkable, the stopping power of rear drum brakes when they are adjusted properly.

Do Not try this test if you have any doubt as to your safety, or the safety of others and property around you. I put it here as a reference only.

Using hose clamp off pliers like the Snap-On PHP1's, you can clamp the two front brake hoses and see exactly what the back is doing.  The front brakes will be isolated and not give any braking power.

DO NOT use regular locking pliers, the squared off sides of the jaw can damage the line. Use only pliers designed for safely clamping off hoses, I happen to own the Snap-On ones.

DO NOT drive on paved or busy to test, find a gravel parking lot or similar low traffic/low traction area, and keep it SLOW.

First test, be ready to shift back to neutral quickly if you find you have no back brakes. You should be at walking speed at the fastest, even slower is best for the first tests. You should not exceed 10mph.

Use a light to moderate brake pedal pressure at most.  You should know quickly if the rear brakes are not contributing stopping forces. Pretty sure the rear axle on yours has a speed sensor, so if the rear locks up on the gravel during testing, you may hear the ABS deploy.

Pressing on the brake pedal with greater forces may eventually force fluid by the pliers,  and may lock the front wheels. If so, release and re-apply the pliers.

Do Not try this test if you have any doubt as to your safety, or the safety of others and property around you. I put it here as a reference only, to show one method of how the rear brakes operation may be diagnosed.

While getting ready to get our 2004 2350 ready for a week on the road next week, I was backing my 2004 2350 up onto blocks today and when I stepped on the brakes the rear tires kept rolling off the blocks and the front tires locked up and pulled the front blocks back with them.   

I'm thinking this is not a safe situation.  But it stops fine while driving.... but that's going forwards, of course.

Before I take it in to a shop and have the brakes bled (the brake pedal feels awfully soft as well) I thought I would ask others if there is anything special I need to look for, provided others have had similar issues.   It's on the E-350 chassis.

Edit: I have an appointment Monday morning for a mechanic to check it out.

The air in the lines may affect the rear brakes more than the front. The question is how did the air get in the lines? How old is the fluid? Best case is it's just old fluid and a flush and bleed will fix it. Have the pads been changed? Were they all the pads changed at the same time? Also possible you have a rear caliper leaking and it's getting onto the pads.

My PC (2004 E350) had a caliper sticking last spring. I replaced the one caliper and the pads on the one wheel. They brakes never felt right after that - pulsing and pulling. So I just finished replacing the other 3 calipers, all 4 rotors and the pads on all 4 wheels. Parts were around $400.

Thank you to all who replied.  I really appreciate the advice given here.  The shop I took it to determined that all was normal (could not get the pedal to drop or "hiss" in testing -- or since), and we had no problems on the trip - Enjoyed almost every bit of it! 


Dee Wright Observatory in west/central Oregon - could have been a clearer day!