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So I thought I had parked Dan for good at the end of February when I made the foolish choice to drive it with a sticking brake pedal. Pair that with the weak braking power made for a mess in your pants situation where I would have creamed into the back of this Buick if the adjacent lane was not clear, I left it for the warmer weather to start taking care of the issues piling up.
Today however my brother wanted to use the truck to run down the road and drop off a small engine for repair. I told him that it would be sketchy but down a country road a few blocks was doable but I would drive.
To my surprise the pedal was back to it's spongy feel and retracted like it normally would. So I am little dumbfounded but set to work on things in the coming weeks. To replace the front passenger rotor (main issue for bad brakes), I wanted to replace wheel bearings since the hub has to come off. Those are ordered along with seals and tools.
Not that is really matters, but what would cause a sticking brake pedal one day and then back to "normal" a couple months later?
I chased brake issues after having the brake booster replaced because I had to pull the brake pedal back up with my foot. for the next few years I felt the brakes were not what they used to be. The trusted mechanic told me back then (about 2011) that they were having to replace some of these a couple times because the parts they were getting were less then perfect. I few years later I replaced the brake booster and M/C again. The brakes were much better since.
The booster and M/C are cheap for these trucks. easy to replace, just make sure you bench bleed the M/C before install.
I have replaced both front calipers and brake lines over the past 5 or 6 years.
I also bought a Motive Power bleeder with the plate to fit the M/C.
Search for the early Ford adapter plate and buy a few qts of dot3 brake fluid from Walmart. You'll want to flush the system to get all the old fluid and air out. after your fix the old parts in the system.
Last edited by Max Capacity; Apr 16, 2021 at 08:10 AM.
Brake booster is one thing I still need but always in stock at my local Autozone. I have a hiss when off the pedal and higher idle when ported to the brake boosters. And spongy pedal could be the M/C or the lack of rotor material on the front passenger wheel
Would love me a hydroboost but saving that for restomod down the road.
So I thought I had parked Dan for good at the end of February when I made the foolish choice to drive it with a sticking brake pedal. Pair that with the weak braking power made for a mess in your pants situation where I would have creamed into the back of this Buick if the adjacent lane was not clear, I left it for the warmer weather to start taking care of the issues piling up.
Today however my brother wanted to use the truck to run down the road and drop off a small engine for repair. I told him that it would be sketchy but down a country road a few blocks was doable but I would drive.
To my surprise the pedal was back to it's spongy feel and retracted like it normally would. So I am little dumbfounded but set to work on things in the coming weeks. To replace the front passenger rotor (main issue for bad brakes), I wanted to replace wheel bearings since the hub has to come off. Those are ordered along with seals and tools.
Not that is really matters, but what would cause a sticking brake pedal one day and then back to "normal" a couple months later?
Air, moisture, there is no telling what's in the brake system. Add a little cold weather and anything could happen. A faulty rotor is not going to cause a spongy brake pedal. Figure on all the rubber components in the system have gone bad if they are original. That would be the calipers, the wheel cylinders, the master cylinder seals, etc.
Well there is like nothing left of the outer rotor surface. Ran way too long with no brake pad left on the shoe that it started chipping off. Nothing there to press against the caliper so I am sure pressure is going path of least resistance right? The portioning valve only handles front and rear pressure I am pretty sure and the bed is empty so not a lot of pressure going to the rear drums. I imagine I have like 1/3rd of real braking power.
This was taken like 2 years ago and still was driven fairly regularly.
Ha, yeah. Had the rotors, new reman'd calipers and pads on hand. Then found out how the D44 rotors are BEHIND the hub and pressed together with the wheel studs
So put it off for a couple years. Got new studs and an arbor press to tackle it like last fall but then thought I should drop in new wheel bearings and seals. so put it off some more...
Wheel bearing kit comes in this afternoon so might look at working on it this weekend. New booster and M/C for funsies too.
How are the flex hoses going to the calipers ? those are cheap while your there.
A couple years back I got picked up the easy to bend lengths of brake line from NAPA for a few bucks each. I replaced the long line from the proportioning block to the right front. I needed a length about 48" long. It came with the flares and nuts, plug and play.
I did think about the flex lines. Would not hurt to get fresh ones.
As for brake line, I have a coil left over from replacing a line that broke away from rusted together bleeder at the rear axle. Though my flare tool is crappy. might rent a nice one or just pick one up.
I totally understand that thought process. My son once told me, he was walking in the Tool section at Sears, and realized there really wasn't much of anything there we needed...sad isn't it...LOL
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