okay so i am very new to the classic truck world.. most things i can figure out myself but one of them is very serious..

this morning upon going to work i was stopping at an intersection... or at least... i tried to... i hit the brake and it went down to the floor... no pressure at all... after pumping it a few times the pressure came back... but i lost it again right away... it seemed to work until i needed to slow down to turn off to my office. (thank god i know how to gear down, or id have been screwed) but once again... pumping it and it comes back...and i cannot replicate the issue on command.

on my lunch hour i am going to check all the brake lines and see if anything is leaking... but is there anything else i should check?

second, i have some sort of electrical demon, every time i turn on my turn signals i will lose the gas gauge (it bottoms out) and my fans. but once i hit the dash (in pure Fonzie fashion) everything comes back on... and will work for a time (even the turn signals, better than before) and then will randomly go out.

lastly, sometimes when i am at crusing speed, i can hear a rapid "tick tick tick tick tick" from underneath me and to the back. like the other two... its very random...

i understand this is an old truck... and i finally have the means to fix some of these issues (tax return) but these issues baffle me... i dont want to take it to a mechanic and spend a huge chunk of my return for them to look at it. the main reason i bought this monster is cause of how its cheap and easy to work on!

any advice, espically on the brakes, would be much appreciated.

 

You could have a rusty brake line or a wheelcylinder(common) or even a leaky master cylinder. Have you checked the fluid level if it is low you have a leak and it is not safe to drive. If it is full and the breaks have been working proper you have a problem with the master cylinder itself and it is not safe to drive. There is no emergency tricks to get home on this one that I can think of. If it is a bad wheel cylinder I have but a 6 penny nail in the line to block it off long enough to get home with the other 3 brakes.

I found long ago when one wheel cylinder goes the rest are not far behind, so this might be a good time to get your brakes back up to snuff.

 

i will check the fluid levels when i am on lunch... a while ago it would pull to the left when braking suddenly... i bled the lines and it was normal for a while but come to think of it, it was doing it when it went out again... could it also be because its cold out?

 

I was going to guess air in the brake lines.

As to the electrical problem, it sounds like a crossed wire or bad connection. Banging the dash just bumps the bare spots from touching each other???

 

its a possiblity, my turn signal has been acting strange.. before this it would sometimes work and sometimes not. or work poorly (like 4 seconds or more between blinks). now that i have some daylight after work i can work on it. but i am wondering if it is my blinker switch... thats causing all this with the electrical.

 

I'm guessing you still have the single reservoir MC. Time for an immediate upgrade to a two chamber reservoir and splitter. This provides seperate braking action on front and rear brakes in the event of a failure on any part of the system. Boosted drum brakes with a dual chamber MC is the minimum solution. Replace all rubber lines. Replace any steel lines that show signs of damage or rust. Stopping is way more important than going. Google masterpower brake they have what you need. On the electrical issue I am guessing that you have the sweep speedo (as opposed to the round one). Sweep speedometers require a ground wire from the back of the speedo case to the brake pedal support.

 

that might be an idea... but for now i have to find the leak and stop it so i can get home! i checked the MC and it has enough fluid, about 90% full, maybe less now cause i took the cap off and pumped it (old trick i was told to try by a guy in the office) there was a little splashage... no biggy cause there is a gas station a block away and i can get some brake fluid if i need it.

i took it for a slow cruise around the parking lot... it felt spongy for a bit when i would depress the brake... then it would shudder down to the floor. so i parked it and pumped the brake and it would give a slight amount of pressure, then break free and hit the floor.

 

If you still had 90% brake fluid, it sounds like you have lost your master cylinder.

 

yeah, i did a leak test with some card board and pumped the brakes... and got underneath and inspected for leaks, none found... the master cylinder is pretty old, covered in rust... i ordered a new one and it should be here in the morning .

 

Seriously time to call a rollback and have it hauled home. Your MC is shot and driving this truck invites disaster.

 

its okay to leave it here at work... the part is coming in in the am tomorrow.

 

PB Blaster and some line wrenches for starters. Bench bleed the replacement. A friend to help with bleeding the system after installation. Plenty of fresh Brake fluid. Good luck, BTDT!

 

well its done, after bunch of swearing, and breaking a few parts (the brake light sender unit...) it is back on... i had to tighten things back up again when i got it on the road cause it started leaking from the MC... but all in all.. only took me 1/2 an hour to do... and maybe 40 bucks in parts.. that is why i love this truck... cheap to fix and i can do it myself..

 

well the issues (excluding brake problems.) are getting worse. i have located the wiring issue... if i wiggle the wires under the dash my blinkers, gas gauge, and fans come back on... until i hit a bump again... just waiting for a nice day to pull it apart...

but on to a more serious problem... i am hearing an even worse noise from underneath and behind. i usually hear a "tink" from the clutch when i let off after shifting... but i hear some sort of clankedy clank noise that varies with speed... looking underneath i could see nothing out of the ordinary... but i did notice that there is some sort of bearing that holds in the front part of the drive shaft... maybe its that?

gettin to the point i am scared to drive the poor old beast.

any help much appreciated

 

Wires are probably a bad ground if many circuits are opening simultaneously, but anything is possible.

I would suggest blocking the tires then crawling under the truck and inspecting the ujoints very closely. Look for misalignments, rust around the caps, and deterioration of the seals. Put more blocks around the other tires, then put the truck in neutral to check the driveshaft for play at the joints. They also vibrate when they are going bad, usually right before they come apart. They can be very noisy, usually two notes that increase frequency with speed.

If the clutch throwout bearing is bad, the noise will usually change as you slowly depress the pedal while the engine is running and truck is in neutral. If the rear gear is bad it will usually howl as you go faster. You can check the trans bearing by checking for play and inspecting the seal. The midship bearing, cv and or slip joints in the driveshaft can be inspected too by looking for rust, play, damage, etc. (not all will apply, but anything is possible when driveshafts get rebuilt).

Bring your grease gun while you are down there, wear safety glasses, and be safe.