Picture ?...No ...Illustration ..?Yes

 

That little bleeder rod makes all the difference in the world!

My truck had been in the family since it was new. When my dad gave it to me he told me that he had only changed the front pads once since it was new and this was in 1998! (My truck is a 78')

The brakes never felt right to me and when I started inspecting them, the front pads were barely worn, but the back drums were so worn that I barely got them off. There was a quarter inch groove worn into the brake shoes. My dad had been hauling a hay trailer and a bass boat for years, but only the back brakes were stopping the truck.

When I tried bleeding the brakes, I barely got any pressure at all, so I changed the master cylinder. Same problem. Then I changed the front calipers since the whole system was contaminated with water and I thought they might be frozen. Same problem.

I had done a lot of brake jobs and didn't figure I needed to read a manual, but I was stumped and finally I bought a Chilton's but it never mentioned that rod. Finally one day I just happened to read about it in a Haynes manual that I only bought for the wiring diagrams. (I guess it proves you might learn something if you read the manual. Just don't tell the wife I had to read the instructions!)

But as soon as I did as the manual said, I got pressure to the front brakes and it stops great now!

 

It depends on the Truck though.

On F250's with a GVWR of 6800lbs and HIGHER plus all F350's ..the valve stays IN during bleeding,

 

Thanks Dennis...Where is this thing located at on the truck?

 

Right under the cab drivers side mounted to frame

 

Timken on bearing preload you might like:
http://www.timken.com/products/beari...htips/tip5.asp

I polish the the sliding surfaces smooth and smear anti-sieze to assist the caliper float for even pad wear.

 

I put some high temp silicone blue grease on the machined "ways" on the caliper and the mounting brackets that mate to the caliper, as well as the "key", so she has some inboard/outboard friction prevention...

Drove her today, and I was not sure if I was just balloon footing the brake pedal since the brakes were new, or if the organic pads just don't have the "grip". MAybe I will get on them a bit more tomorrow.

 

If you didn't turn the rotors, the pads are only in actual contact with about 60% of the rotor, which is probably causing the problems you are experiencing. Eventually the pads will wear to the grooves in the rotor. If you did turn the rotors, I would look to see that the brake hoses don't have any bubbles in them or excessive cracking.

 

Rotors are new...

 

Is the pedal spongy or does it fall all the way to the floor when you are braking?

 

Pedal went deep on first press - I had to compress both caliper pistons pretty far to get the new pads in - after a bit of pumping on the pedal, it started to firm up...

 

Did you clean the protective film off the new rotors with brake cleaner ?

 

Yup I did, both sides

 

Actually, it appeared to be a very light oil film...