Need help with brakes

[RRuger]

My wife's Rancher is having front brake problems. I have bled the lines once and adjusted the star adjusters, but the lever is still mushy. You have to pump the brake lever about 3-4 imes before you can get resistance in the lever. I think its the pistons in the brake cylinders, they are drum brakes so alot crap get trapped in there.
What do you brake experts think?

[RRuger]

So nobody on here knows nothing about hydraulic brakes??

[grizzled]

You need to tear those Honda drums apart and take break cleaner to everything. Normally once mine start getting mushy on my Foreman I have to replace the pads because they seem to keep a water content in them. I'm sure you Hydraulic system is fine, it's in your actual hub. Been through it many times with numerous Honda's. Make sure you grease up the rubber gasket on the hub to reseal it when you put it back together. If you have a wheel bearing going bad, it aalows play in the hub, thus allowing water to get in there. You might want to see if your wheel has play in it when you raise it off the ground.

[RRuger]

Thanks for the repsonse, I have cleaned them like you suggest once before. And it did help breifly, and while I had it jacked up the wheel bearings felt fine.

[grizzled]

Taking them apart is really the only way to keep up with the Honda drum brakes. You can keep adjusting the star piston all you want, but if there is crud in there, it will just keep letting the brakes slip. Just buy some new pads and make sure you seal everything up good. There are a couple holes in the back of the hub that I always put grease on to. Good luck!

[RRuger]

I took off the front drums again, the left looked pretty clean from the last time I sprayed them down 3 monhs ago. However the front cylinder on the left side was covered once again in oily black grit. I took off the brake lines, took off both cylinders and took them apart and cleaned them out. Front one had some dirt past the piston seal, rear looked pretty good. Cleaned out everything on that left side and put them back together. Bled the system, adjusted the star adjusters, and now the fronts are good. Hope it lasts.