Brakes and Traction Control: Description and Operation

DESCRIPTION - BASE BRAKES
consists of the following components:
- Brake pedal
- Master cylinder
- Power brake booster
- Brake tubes and hoses
- Proportioning valves (2)
- Disc brakes (front and rear)
- Brake lamp switch
- Brake fluid level switch
- Parking brake
All brakes are power assist type through the use of a vacuum operated power brake booster.
The hydraulic brake system is diagonally split on. both the non-antilock and antilock braking systems. This means the left front and right rear brakes are on one hydraulic circuit from the master cylinder and the right front and left rear are on the other.
Front disc brakes control the braking of the front wheels; rear braking is controlled by rear disc brakes.
Vehicles equipped with the optional Antilock Brake System (ABS) (with and without traction control) use a system designated Mark 20i. This system shares most base brake hardware used on vehicles without ABS. All components differing from the base brake hardware are described in detail in the Antilock Brake System section.
The parking brake on this vehicle is pedal-operated.

OPERATION - BASE BRAKES
When a vehicle needs to be stopped, the driver applies the brake pedal. The brake pedal pushes the input rod of the power brake booster into the booster. The booster uses vacuum to ease pedal effort as force is transferred through the booster to the master cylinder. The booster's output rod pushes in the master cylinder's primary and secondary pistons applying hydraulic pressure through the chassis brake tubes, junction block, and proportioning valves to the brakes at each tire and wheel assembly.
The pedal-operated parking brake operates in the following manner. When applied, the parking brake lever pulls on cables that actuate parking brake shoes at each rear wheel.