I actually just bought the 6.blow from an insurance auction, was in a heavy front end wreck. A nice (expensive) winter project. All jokes aside, it's actually a really nice truck, honestly almost too nice for me.

But ya, it was a heavy load that's for sure! But the 351 didn't mind too much, the 3.55's don't do it any favors.

 

Yea they really are nice trucks. I've put a few miles on an 06' loaded down throughout CO and man boost sure rocks at 11k feet! That looks to be a newer one too, which I have been told are more reliable than the 03' & 04'. Are you going to repair it and flip it or keep it?

As for what I'm up to in my own truck, I cleaned it out and am going for the first real trip since the engine build. Going to Utah for some desert camping, mountain biking, hiking, and wheeling. Sure will be nice taking a few days off from work and getting the last break in miles on my engine.

 

 

[New Bling] [/QUOTE]

 

Started to fix some of the small rust areas on the body. Fixed a couple rust spots on the lower doors, and rockers. I went the route of spraying rock guard, and then top coating with body color. Real happy with the end results, and should be more durable overall. Next up is the lower front fenders, then the bed fender lips.
Also swapped out the plugs. Picked up a valve cover gasket and upper plenum gasket. So that's on the hit list as well

 

Swapped some rims

went from these


to these
​​​​​​​
A guy I know bought my old rims and I traded a set of factory chrome steelies for these. So gross net gain of $40 and some nice aluminum wheels

 

Nothing looks better than factory alcoas on the OBS half-tons.

 

Just finished replacing the star wheel shoe adjusters on my 94 250. Old ones were really chewed up from who knows what. Now that the rear brakes are adjustable again, I was able to gain some pedal. But it's still not confidence inspiring.

Actually compared to before, they're great. The pedal will still go down to the floor, it just happens AFTER I am stopped now. I've read every drum brake thread in here and may be making my own soon. Stay tuned brake gurus! Haha

 

You either have air in the system or a bypass in the master cly, should be a priority to determine which and fix !

 

It is a priority for the truck. The truck is just not as big a priority. I have another vehicle I drive every day.

In reading all the brake threads, several times... I'm confident I don't have air in the lines. In the time I've owned it, the master has never been dry. I bled from right rear to left, rabs, front right and front left. No air came out anywhere. Even bled the lines on the master and started over at the drums. (a friend on the pedal for all of the bleeding)

That said, I think my next step is bypassing the rabs to see if that changes the pedal... And then bench bleeding the master, in case there's some small internal leak or a bad seal on the piston. I haven't driven the truck daily in 2 and a half years, so maybe something dried up in there. I don't really think the brakes were ever that amazing before that though.

And a new master is $45 so I may just go for it if the rabs bypass doesn't change anything. I'm not familiar with the bench bleeding process though.

 

Loaded up my F350 Dually with some furniture towing a flatbed and an Altima and drove 14 hours from Nevada City, CA to Lake Stevens WA. 804 miles straight and the dually ran great the whole way. Hung around a couple of days and headed home empty. Stopped at my father-in-law's place at 10pm expecting to find a place to park the truck and trailer for the night. Nowhere to park, so while he was packing to leave then and there, I backed up slowly for a little ways. Brakes locked up! Turned to this Forum to see that it might be backed up pressure in a brake line. Loosened up the RR bleed valve to a mighty blast of pressurized fluid. Left was fine. Packed up and drove away. Spent a few hours napping a rest stop, and headed home. Again, not a hiccup in that truck. That truck didn't care if there was a trailer or not, or a car on the trailer or not. It just went smoothly the whole way. Bought it in the summer. Had been sitting for a couple of years. replaced the tires (blew one out on the way home from buying it!) and it just runs great! Great truck.

 

It can be done two ways; on the bench, or in the truck. Either way you install hoses from the brake outputs back into the reservoirs. Then apply the brake pedal, or push in the plunger in the back of the master cylinder until there are no more bubbles in the hoses. It is important that the master cylinder never runs empty. The last time I installed a master cylinder it came with the hoses and fittings to bench bleed. That was on a '69 though; I'm not sure a new master cylinder for an obs truck comes with these.

This can be done with the brake lines hooked up; it just takes much longer to pump the air in the master cylinder all the way out to the brakes.

 

Thank you. I watched a few quick videos showing different methods and I was thrilled I won't have to take it out to bleed. I'll see if I can grab a couple of those fittings on the road today.

 

​​​​​​​it didn't look bad with the factory chrome wheels but you are right the factory Alcoas look the best

 

Just an oil change in the '96 today. Hope to wash and wax it in the next couple of days.