My Dad asked me to do a brake job on his 90' F250 7.3L 4x4. It has been sitting for 1-2 years but started first try last weekend.

Brake Pedal is beyond "soft" in fact it travels straight to the floor right now.
-brake fluid res is full
-no signs of leaking lines or slave cylinders as far as I can tell
-Rubber line is worn and brake lines are heavily corroded (salt water)
-Park brake does resist some movement when in gear but is quickly overcome
-I did forget to apply the park brake partially and test the brake pedal travel again while I was there.
-Brake light does'nt come on (spool is not shifting to one side due to uneven psi)

I have 2 questions;

1)I concluded that the excessive pedal travel could be caused by ether a bad master cylinder, rear drum brakes way out of adjustment or tons of air in the lines. Am I missing anything?

2)I want to order new shoes among other things by friday but have no idea how to tell if I need the 2.5" or 3" shoes.


Thanks for the help in advance.

 

1. replace all of the lines, if they are this far corroded, not doing so means you are wasting time and youll be forced to do it soon anyways or do it when dad crashes.

2. park brake cable may need adjusting, but it sounds like rear brakes need to be done anyways, so just do them. with how cheap drum brake parts are just do everything. both wheel cylinders, shoes, spring kits, drums.

3. for the price of the shoes, if you cant dis assemble it first, just get both and return the size you dont need.

Cheaping out or skipping things now means more headaches later.

If corrosion is an issue, I recommend getting Copperhead brake lines from O'reilly, they resist corrosion, kinking and can be bent by hand.

Also since your in this far. flush out your brake fluid, it has a high water content and it does have a shelf life, believe it or not.

 

the 90 250 only has one size brake shoes. the 350 has two different size shoes depending on SRW or DRW.
tell the parts monkey what you are working on and the computer will give you the proper parts.

 

Actually no, there is an option for 2 1/2 and 3" brake shoes on the 90 f250 trucks.

 

not on the diesels.
the small shoes are for the light duty F250 with 302 engine and semi floating axle .

 

This post may help.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post12134056

 

What they're ^^^^^^^ all saying, without saying, is that your diesel truck has 3" rear shoes.