So today I decided to be proactive and bleed the brakes on our truck. 95 F-150, 160k. Probably never been bled before.

3/8" flare nut wrench, some PB Blaster, and the right/rear bleeder screw STILL rounded off. Yeah, I'm really pissed. Either those things are corroded in there, or some 2-bit wrench monkey really overtightened it.

How can I remove this? The shape of the metal around the screw makes it hard to get anything on it, and there's only 3-4" of space between the brake and the frame.

It would seem that to remove the drum so I can get good access to it, I'd need to remove the diff cover, pull the c-clip, remove the wheel, pull the half-axle, and unbolt the shoe assembly from the axle.

Dave

 

Have the wheel cylinders ever been changed?

Chances are they are rusted in there. Your next step is vise grips and replace the bleeder.
If it sheers off, you replace the wheel cylinder.

Internal rust from not flushing the system will add to the factors of why it's rusted tight.

 

Well not much I can do about internal rust, since the first 151000 miles weren't mine.

I tried my vise-grips after it rounded and I got nowhere.

I'm tempted to just leave it there and hope it never locks up.

Dave

 

That might be better to do right now. Do the brakes feel mushy? Is that why you are bleeding them?

Figure a new set of wheel cyl in your rear brake rebuild when it's time.

If it was me and I do this to all higher millage vehicle's.

The brakes get completely gone thru and wheel cylinder get replaced. Rotor's and pads too.

You now have a base line as to where your system is at. YOU know what's there. No guessing.

Fords are notorious for blowing wheel cyl if the shoes are changed.

 

Bleh. Not what I wanted to hear. This truck has a lot of underbody corrosion, so I'm sure that these brake parts are really nasty. I'm definitely going to avoid that job.

The front screws don't want to loosen either. I gave up.

Fortunately the brakes are fine, and I was only doing this to keep clean fluid in there.

Thanks for your help today.

Dave

 

A wheel cylinder is about $10. Why fuss over it? And who told you that you need to pull the c-clips and axle shaft to get to it?

 

you can try a 8" pipewrench worked on my rounded bleeders

 

i was just going to write the same thing that andy just said.

wheel cylinders are not that expensive and i do not remember needing to pull axle shaft to do brakes.

 

Wheel cylinder sounds like an expensive part.... just listen to that word. Haha. I thought so, until I bought all new ones, and realized afterwards that I wouldn't have to eat Ramen noodles for the rest of the week.

 

I've never serviced or priced a wheel cylinder before. I could only see the large bracket that the bleeder threads into (the drum frame?) that looks like a bear to remove.

Now I'm looking at the manuals. I take from your comments that the bleeder is threaded into the cylinder, which isn't all that hard to get to. From the inside of the wheel I can't tell what it's threaded into. I'm still too lazy to screw with it now, but if there is a problem, I can handle it.

Dave

 

There are two bolts holding the cylinder to the backing plate. Unbolt it, disconnect the brake line, and it will fall right out.

 

after you remove the brake shoes, of course.

 

Break the brake line nut loose first! [Use a line wrench] Then remove the mounting bolts. [use a 6point socket]

If everything is super rusty a wheel cyl bolt's can break off. No matter, you just need new bolt's to go into the wheel cyl. if they do.

 

**First heat 'em up a bit and soak 'em overnight with PB Blaster or whatever pen oil you like then...***


Can you get at the bleeders with a socket? On my 91 F150 I had to replace darn near all the brake lines, and the rear bleeders were actually the easier of the bunch to get off.. I hammered on a socket that was just a bit smaller than 3/8. Might have been a 9/32 or 11/32 or a metric and got them off. Depends on how rounded, and I probably just got lucky, although there was a good deal of crust underbody.
The fronts? After wasting way too much time on the first one I just went ahead and pulled the wheels (battle unto itself) and replaced the calipers, and before assembly put a little dab of anti seize on the new bleeders and put them back in. Just on the threads so as not to contaminate the fluid.

BTW Calipers cost between $25 and $33 here for single-piston remans

 

good advice.

if the bleeder was that rusted, the brake line fitting will probably be rusted also.