My brother-in-law and I replaced all the wheel cylinders on my 66 F-250. We have bleed the lines and 100% positive that there is no air in the lines. The wheel cylinders do not appear to be leaking nor can we find any leaks in the system. But the brake seems to not grab until about 1 to 2 inched from the floor board. If I double pump it the pedal goes to about 5 inches from the board and hold really good pressure. Is that the way the brakes are on the truck or should all the pressure be there the first time the pedal is depressed? We also replaced the 2 read brake lines. Any idea of what else we need to check?

Thank you,

Travis
1958 Mercury Monterey 4dr sedan 383 V8
1966 Ford F-250 Custom Cab/Camper Special 352 V8
1997 Ford Explorer 4dr XLT 302 V8

 

did you adjust the shoes out to just a slight rub
on the drum when spun by hand

 

To my knowledge yes. But maybe it needs to be checked again. We even checked the travel between 1 push and pumping and saw no difference.

 

> should all the pressure be there the first time the pedal is depressed

Yes.

First off, the best way to do this for older trucks with four wheel drums is use a brake caliper to make sure all the shoes are spaced evenly from the drum surface.

Do you have a dual or single mstr cyl?

Do you have power brakes?

First, do a couple of hard stops in reverse.

With the truck off, tighten all four drums until the wheels are locked solid.

If you have power brakes, with the truck running on jack stands (back first then front - only one end up at a time), slightly depress the brake pedal about two inches, then free up a wheel until it just about spins one rev. when using two hands.

Once all wheels are done, jack up one wheel at a time to make sure they spin freely without the brake on and then go for a test drive to make sure the drums do not heat up excessively.

This is how I did it on my 1971 F-100 4x4 without using calipers.

 

I have the single master cylinder/no power although I do have a power brake booster I may add in the future.

BY jacking up the rear I'm assuming you mean get the axel off the ground so the wheels can be turned. I have a posi rear end so I guess I would have to do it that way and then do the front one at a time.

Thanks,

Travis

 

> I have the single master cylinder/no power

Okay, what to do is put a piece of wood under the brake pedal, so you get the same results on all four wheels. Use a "club" or piece of wood to hold it against the wood on the floor by extending the club between the seat and brake pedal.

Your truck probably does not have self adjusters in the front stock, I would recommend adding them. Though I have "heard" from some people on this board (67-72 forum) say they end up getting too tight.

> BY jacking up the rear I'm assuming you mean get the axel off the ground
> so the wheels can be turned.

Yes, mostly so if the vehicle is running, both drive wheels are off the ground. With manual brakes, it does not need to be running. Also, so you can spin them and make sure both have the same amount of resistance. What to do is after they are adjusted and before you take the jackstands off, release the brakes and reapply a few times, and make sure they are still even side to side.

What I found is it is almost always the right rear that will lock up first in a hard stop, no matter how perfect the adjustment, so just be ready for it when coming to a fast stop.

 

K I'll give that a try.

Thank you,

Travis