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1996 F-250, 4WD, Extended cab. New NAPA calipers, front brake hoses, and a pair of Bilstein 4600 shocks while I had the wheels off. I did a gravity bleed on the two front calipers but not sure if it was enough. The truck stops, but the pedal doesn’t feel all that great.
I usually drive another late model Ford truck daily, so every time I use the OBS the brakes feel terrible. Can’t really tell if they are better now or before.
I put the new calipers on because I had one sticking awhile back.
How do you know when you have bled the lines enough?
If it's always been bad feeling on the pedal. Bleed it all.
if caliper was sticking. Double check booster to MC clearance for .02 in clearance. If too close, vibrations can make it contact and engage brakes. I chased this for weeks and only take a few minutes to check.
I gravity bleed to get the main **** out while I do something else, like change the oil or make a sandwich. Once the fluid is clear, I will use a length of hose into say an old Grey Poupon jar/mason jar/etc and flush the rest myself. No air sucks back in, not to worry. You would be surprised how much more crapola comes out of the calipers with flushing via the pedal. I have done a few vehicles that took over one gallon to flush clear.
Also, go backwards a few times in a parking lot (SAFELY) and dynamite the brakes. This will help set the rear drum auto adjusters. I try to about once per month of daily driving the dually.
Are your rotors new or at least turned? That could pose an issue with the pads attempting to bed.
Thanks for the advice, looks like I’ve got some more work to do, as the pedal is still soft. I did nothing to the rotors as they seemed smooth to the feel by hand. I considered new rotors, but they seemed good and still in spec.
I guess the pads will eventually conform to the rotors??
I’ve driven less than 5 miles with it, just to test the stopping ability. I could get some of those Summit Racing extreme performance rotors. They have a decent price on them.
I gravity bleed all of my junk. I've got spare time and I'm by myself.
One trick that has helped me immensely over the years is to tap each caliper on the back (piston) side with a small hammer while the bleeder is open. The castings are ROUGH on the inside and air bubbles will often cling to the inside walls of the caliper bores. Tapping the caliper will cause the bubbles to "break off" of the casting flash.
caliper pistons hold enough fluid that i put back in my old pads, pumped pedal till hard and compressed the caliper fast with big c clamp and put in new pads
that did better than bleeding it for an hour
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