The brakes on my truck aren't bad, but they don't grip right when I get on the brake pedal. The brake pedal has about 3 inches of room where I can press down and all it'll do is turn on the brake lights. Then if I go further down on the pedal it stops fine, the brakes engage fine. If I slam on brakes, it works fine and locks the brake up nicely. I just want to eliminate all of that brake pedal travel before the brakes engage.

My truck is a 1988 F-350. I have disc brakes in the front, drums in the back, and the original brake booster setup (replaced by a previous owner). I just recently adjusted the drum brakes to grip better because the shoes had worn down a little, and they seem to be working okay. Haven't touched the front disc brakes.

Why do I have all of that brake pedal travel before the brakes engage? Do I just need to bleed the system?

Thanks in advance!

 

First thought would be the rear brake shoes need to be adjusted tighter yet. I think they should be self adjusting, I don't think you should have had to adjust them manually.

 

Well, the drum brakes have that little gear thing (not sure what the official name is) in the hole in the back of the drum brake assembly. I adjusted them until there was a very small bit of resistance. Could adjust them further. I'm not too worried about the rear drum brakes because everyone says they only do like 25% of the braking, and the front discs do most of the braking. Can you adjust disc brakes? Don't want to sound dumb, but I've never worked much with brakes. I've done a lot of engine work and electrical stuff, but never had to deal with brakes...

What would you look at other than adjusting the rear drums? How much resistance should there be on the wheel spinning freely when the drum is adjusted right?

 

when you apply the brakes hard (not slam) does there seem to be a delay? Or would you describe the petal as squishy? Cause then definitley bleed them thoroughly

 

The brakes grip a little bit for the first about 3 inches, then they grip much better. If I really slam on brakes, they'll try to throw me through the front of the truck.

 

There is no adjustment on disc brakes. Getting drum brakes adjusted tight enough but not too tight can be tricky at times. The best way I've read was for adjusting the old pre self adjusting brakes. It said tighten them until a heavy drag is felt while turning the wheel, then back off just enough to relieve the drag. With self adjusting brakes, to back them off(loosen them) you have to stick a skinny screwdriver or similar through the adjuster hole and hold the self adjuster tang back at the same time you back the adjuster off.

With the drivetrain drag on the rear wheels it's tougher yet to feel the brake drag.

 

Yeah, it is a little bit hard to tell drag with the differential and driveshaft... When I adjusted them, I listened to the slight audible drag.

 

I wouldn't be too worried about the brakes at all except for towing. The truck never had a tow hitch on it in it's life until I put one on it this winter. I'll be pulling a few boat/trailers around this coming spring and summer. The biggest one is about 6500 pounds boat/trailer/fuel/gear, and the trailer has good brakes, but I want to make sure the truck brakes are decent too. Like I said, the brakes stop hard when I really lay down on them, so that's the most important thing of all.

I recently had about 2k pounds in the bed of my truck on a run to the dump, and there was no questioning stopping, so it shouldn't be an issue. It's just one of those little things that bothers me. I'd rather have brake response within an inch of hitting the brake instead of 3 inches.

 

Also, my brake fluid is gray. Shouldn't it be clear or yellow?

 

If the star adjuster and everything else in the drum brakes are working properly and properly lubed, the drum brakes are self-adjusting. The wheels should spin with just a slight drag, then you get in the truck, fire it up, then do several hard brakes in reverse.

The key is that you have to have them close to fully adjusted, otherwise they won't self-adjust, and believe me, you would know the difference if the drum brakes weren't working. In a '93 F250 I used to have, I did the rear brakes and didn't get them adjusted correctly the first time, so that first day driving to work and back was a little hairy. The fronts got me stopped, but I could smell 'em... Another quick adjustment that night, then the self-adjust procedure, and all was good again.

Jason

 

3" of travel sounds about right. These old trucks never did have the firm brake pedal like todays import cars have.

 

Yeah, I know, and I don't want hard response the second I touch the pedal. I've driven 90's F250s with stiffer brakes though, and thought I may be able to get mine similar.

About the dark fluid, does that mean I should bleed the system and replace with new fluid?

 

Yes, brake fluid should be clear.

 

Okay, so I guess I'll bleed the brake system and get new fluid in it. Maybe it'll help my braking a little bit too if there's any air/dirt in the system. Do drums have a bleeder screw or some sort of equivalent on them like the disc brakes?

 

About how much fluid would you expect the whole system would take?