Hello, my new-to-me 1973 F250 has some break issues that are concerning me (make me not want to drive it!). It's not a daily driver in the first place, but now I am actually worried about driving it around and having brakes fail or just generally be really poor at allowing the truck to stop.

Truck details:

- 1973 F250 4x4
- 390 engine
- manual 4 speed

Originally when I got the truck the brakes seemed really squishy. I bled the brakes for all four wheels with a friend of mine, making sure we never got low on brake fluid. This was my first time doing it, so I re-did it again (this time with me in the cab on the pedal) and had my friend do it who has done it before.

Shortly after that bleeding I ran into electrical issues and the truck sat for 2 months.

I got it started last week and after buttoning-up some loose ends this weekend, I took it for a spin today and on approaching a stop sign going less than 10 mph, my brakes seemed to lock up and caused the tires to screech. I pumped the pedal a few times and continued around the block. Again on slowing down from 30 mph or so, the wheels seemed to briefly lock up and the tires screeched. I proceeded back home (total trip 2 miles) and was very very careful with my speed and applying the brakes. I never got over about 25 mph the rest of the way home.

It 'feels' like the brake pedal travels 80% of the way to the floor before anything starts happening. This was happening before this outing and some internet research originally caused me to bleed the brake lines, but it does not seem to have helped (or I did it wrong/poorly).

Is the squishy pedal related to the locking of the wheels? Is the fact that the truck sat for 2 months while I worked on other issues related? It's worth noting that it's lifted by about 6" (guessing) and it's got big tires on it (the lift and the tires were on it when it became mine) - not sure if either of these things affect the braking but I figured the experts here would know more than I would.

Any tips or pointers would be much appreciated. Thank you.

 

Probably time to spend some money by completely going through the brake system --new MC, calipers, wheel cylinders, flexible brake lines.

My truck blew a right rear wheel cylinder two days after I bought the truck. I also discovered the manual brake MC was leaking out the back end and over inside the cab.

I pulled all four brake assemblies off and replaced all the consumable parts, MC and flexible brake hoses.

 

Hey thanks for your input - I've never done real work like that on the brake system and it makes me nervous. I looked at some online videos and I'm concerned I wouldn't be able to calibrate the shoes correctly. Any encouraging words/links you could come up with to help a beginner like myself would be appreciated. I'm worried I'd mess up on a critical component and am inclined to pay someone else to do it at this point.

Would it be worth considering converting to disc brakes? I've changed brake pads myself on other vehicles so I'm at least a *little* more confident with those, but a conversion seems like a big deal.

 

I'm not as familiar with an F250 or particularly one with 4-wheel drive. --I have a '69 F100 Bumpside although, I did put a disc brake I-beam front suspension under it from a '77 F100.

I don't THINK the Dentside 4-wheel drives got a disc brake front axle until 1976. At any rate, it's probably better for now to just work with and rebuild what you currently have in place and get some experience, before trying to move onto something a little more ambitious.

The best way to learn this stuff is by jumping in and doing it. All the money you pay someone else to do the work for you is just that much less money you have to put towards parts for improving your truck --and in the end, you still didn't learn how to work on those particular parts, if someone else did the work. At one time, I (and anyone else here that does their own wrenching) didn't know anything about these trucks either. We all had to start the learning process at some point.

In reference to the drum brakes, take one side apart at a time and use the other side as a reference (when installing the new parts), to see where/how the various springs and whatnot are assembled.

Have the drums surfaced (if they are not over their wear specs), install new wheel cylinders, flexible brake hoses, return springs, brake adjusters, brake shoes and brake shoe hold down hardware.

After reassembly, it will be very difficult to get a firm brake pedal, when bleeding out the brakes, if the brake shoes are not adjusted out first. When I adjust drum brake shoes, I lift the wheels off the ground and run the brake adjusters up until I can no longer turn the wheel/tire by hand. At that point, I back the adjusters off (10) clicks and they are set.

My '69 F100's left front drum after I rebuilt it (2011) --my brakes went out two days after I bought the truck. I rebuilt the drum brakes at all four corners.
--Last October (2014), I ripped all the front drums/front suspension out and replaced them with '77 F100 discs/I-beams/radius arms.



....I didn't have to remove the rear end to rebuild the rear drums but, I figured while I was at it....






Basic front and rear drum brake component layout.




Then.




Now.

 

Wow thanks for the pics!

Part of my concern in doing this sort of stuff myself (anything which requires the vehicle in the air) is I have a gravel/dirt driveway and would have to work in the street of my neighborhood which is not completely flat. I do have a nice jack and jack stands though.

[QUOTE]Have the drums surfaced (if they are not over their wear specs), install new wheel cylinders, flexible brake hoses, return springs, brake adjusters, brake shoes and brake shoe hold down hardware./QUOTE]

Would you say I could start at the wheels and work my way back to the master cylinder?

Could you recommend brands for drums/shoes/wheel cylinders or is there a site you trust? I use Amazon for misc things and LMC for filling truck specific parts. I think from a video I watched I'll need some special tools for getting into the guts of the brakes themselves.

I like how you have rust protection over everything - I assume other than the shoes and the inside of the drum I can do something similar. Do you use this stuff: Stop Rust with POR-15® - We Know What Permanent Means! ?

Thanks again for your input!

 

[QUOTE=gartlesby;15740544]Wow thanks for the pics!

Part of my concern in doing this sort of stuff myself (anything which requires the vehicle in the air) is I have a gravel/dirt driveway and would have to work in the street of my neighborhood which is not completely flat. I do have a nice jack and jack stands though.

Not having a firm surface to work on does present a problem. You could take some 3/4" plywood and cut it into squares, to place under the base of the jackstands. The plywood should extend several inches outward, all the way around, beyond the base of the jackstands. You could put the floor jack under one side of the frame rail (on the side you're working on) just as added insurance, while working on the truck. --or, just lift one side of the truck at a time and make sure the wheels on the ground on the other side are chocked.

It doesn't really matter if you start with the brakes or with the MC. They all should be replaced.
I don't recommend using a rebuilt MC. They have a high failure rate and you probably don't want to be back replacing it 6 months to a year from now.

As far as brands of brake parts goes, that's really just up to you. I will say that I much prefer dealing with a local parts store, rather than a mail order shop like Rock Auto or through Amazon. If something is wrong with a part, you can take it back to the parts store and deal with somebody face-to-face. If it's mail order, you're going to have to box the thing up, send it off, wait several days for it to get there and then have to wait several more days for the replacement to arrive to you.

If a local parts store doesn't have the parts in stock, they can usually have it in by the very next morning. I generally deal with my local O'Reilly's and NAPA auto parts stores.

I've never used POR-15 or anything like that (although there's nothing wrong with it if you do use it). I live in south central Arkansas and we don't have heavily salted roads because we get very little snow here. If I've put something on my truck that was painted black, it's Dupli-Color Ford Semi Gloss Black DE1635 spray paint. If it's gray/cast iron color, it's Dupli-Color Cast Coat Iron DE1651 spray paint (available at O'Reilly's).

 

Sounds like you need to adjust the brakes or do a thorough brake job to get rid of the soft pedal... air in the lines, swollen or bad hoses, etc. Btw, manual brakes or power brakes???

In terms of the brakes/wheels locking up, sometimes the shoes are "grabby" from non-use or they are just cold. . If my rig hasn't been driven for a while, I'll ride the pedal a little to build some heat into the shoes.

2x... a dirt/gravel work area needs a solid footprint to spread the load for jackstands. Concur with the plywood squares. I went further and made blocks using three layers of 2x6x16 screwed together. Each layer is made of up three planks and screwed 90° to each other.

 

I must be slipping. I can't believe I forgot to ask that.

Gartlesby mentioned the brake pedal moving approximately 80% of its travel before he had any brakes. Aside from the possiblity there's air in the system or the drums are grossly maladjusted, that makes me think there's a good chance that brake fluid may be leaking from the system and possibly there's a low fluid level in the MC. If the brake shoes are wet with brake fluid, this would confirm a leak(s) and also why the brakes are grabbing.

If the MC brake fluid level is currently low or, if it has been topped off recently, that would also indicate fluid is leaking out somewhere --wheel cylinder(s), brake line connection(s), out the back end of the MC and inside the cab (if manual brakes) or, over into the brake booster (if power brakes).

Another question is, is the Brake Warning light lit up on the dash?