I'm sure this is an obvious question but I really stink at brakes so I'm going to ask anyway! On my 71 Ranger, drums all around, the brakes are real wimpy the first two times you push the pedal down. If you pump it two to three times, they feel great. You really have to plan ahead before you stop in this one! What do you think doc? will she make it?

 

Have the rubber lines ever been replaced? Older rubber lines swell out when you get on the brakes, leading to a mushy pedal feel. Get a mity vac hand pump, when you bleed the brakes with it first pull all the old fluid out of the resovoir then refill it with fresh fluid that way you get fresh fluid to the wheel cylinders instead of a crappy mix of fresh and old!! Start at the right rear and pump that mity vac until you get fresh fluid into the bottle. then bleed the rest of the brakes!!

 

You need to adjust the drums better. On my 71 F-100 first push would lock them up solid if you were crazy enough to do it. You can add brake adjusters to the front too. That helps.

 

May need to rebuild the master cylinder.

 

Have you tried bleeding them? Cause thats what normally happens when air gets in the system, you have to pump the pedal a couple times to make it stop.

 

If the rubber lines are old replace them. As was already said they will swell and the pedal won't feel good. It also sound like you have air in the lines. Bleed all four of them after you put the rubber lines on and see how they feel.

 

Thanks for all the advice!. I think I will get one of those pumps and flush out all the ond fluid, then bleed them and go from there. I'll let you know how it turns out, thanks again!

 

Does the pedal very slowly travel to the floor after you pump it? If so , you have a leak somewhere. (If it's not visible it is an internal leak in the master cylinder.) If not, you have air in the hydraulic system. Get a friend and bleed the air out.

 

If the metal lines are rusted, the hole could be small enough to let air in but not let any fluid out, So bleeding would cure the problem, but the problem would come back eventually since it will bring air in whenever it cooled down, as well as some humidity to contaminate it with water as well!!

 

they are out of adjustment. plain and simple.