hey guys whats up, got another couple of questions for ya regarding brakes and suspension on an 89 bronco

lets start with the suspension, today i went to price a set of balljoints for my truck and the clerk asked me if i had a heavy duty or standard suspension, i mean theres two set-ups that i know of one with dual shocks and one without. i have the dual shock set-up in mine so i figured that would indicate that it has a heavy duty suspension package in it, but i figured id ask to be sure.
my next question regards the brakes, i redid the system awhile back and i bled em and bled em' and bled em' some more but still the pedal feels "off", when the truck isnt running its nice and firm, but when i have it running its squishy just enough for someone to say "that shouldnt feel that way" but the truck stops just fine, ive always wondered that mabey the problem is related to that bleeder screw thats located on the sign of the proportioning valve?

 

as for suspension i think they might of had a plow package that had firmer front springs but that would be it besides the quad shocks. as for the brakes maybe your rubber line are starting to expand. when they get older they lose some of their strength. pump the brakes with the truck running and have some one look at both fronts and the rear rubber lines to see if you can notice them bulge under pressure

 

The quad-shock setup was part of the factory "tow package". It also included a significantly larger radiator and sway bars front and rear. As for the ball joints, I'd replace them with HD's regardless. I seriously doubt Ford changed the size of the hole or the mountings between standard and HD ball-joints. Can you imagine a assembly line headaches?

As for the pedal being softer than you'd like, Its an odd idea but how big is the vacuum supply line to the booster and where does the line tap vacuum?

 

it absolutlley cant be the rubber lines they're only like 2 months old front and back, im not so sure about the vacuum either for some odd reason this always happens with the aluminum master cylinder, its just as good as the cast iron one up until it comes time to bleed the system for whatever reason, then this happens and no mater how well the systems bled it never feels right again, ive even considered converting to the cast iron master cylinder set up, id just get a proportioning valve out of a mid 80s bronco and buy a new mater cylider, from what i can tell the calipers and wheel cylinders are the same so those are all set they dont need to be changed for the conversion i know id be losing the ABS but personaly i think abs is more of a burdon than anything else
ill check out that vacuum line and see how big it is and where it goes but just for the sake of asking, the cast iron master cylinder conversion, can it be done?

 

I don't see why it couldn't. I know nothing of the actual dimensions or mountings to the booster/firewall on the cast iron units but if there is any hindrance, I would imagine it to be there.

 

i dont think there would be, thats why i like ford so much, there is alot of interchangeability between their vehicles, which is the very reason they did away with the straight 6 (couldnt fit it into their compact cars) personaly i wish they'd bring the good ol' 300 straight 6 back, at least the 2.3 4 cylinder is still around
anyway but yeah i think ill go with cast master cylinder, its more reliable, cheaper to replace, and gives the brakes the feel im looking for.

 

They dropped the small inline six for that reason perhaps. But the 300 was never intended to be anything but a truck and industrial engine. There are more 300's driving industrial machinery than there ever were in trucks.