67 Ford F100 front brakes,,,,HELP!!!

[Cowboy34]

i have new drums and new shoes on the fron,have replaced the drums,wheel cylinders,hardwar and adjusters and brake lines on the rear as well and have to push the brake pedal through the floor to get the truck to stop,HELP!!!

[mrtleavitt]

Sounds like the star adjuster. If you look on the backside of the drum there will be a small slot on the bottom part of it. Each drum has this and there is an adjuster that you need to turn until you feel the wheel starts to drag. There is a special tool for this but a flat head screw driver works fine. Go around and adjust all of the brakes until you spin the tire by hand and feel the brakes apply just a bit. All this does is splits the brake shoes apart so that you don't have to pump as much.

[Cowboy34]

all the brakes are set to where they need to be,i had to replace the bleeder on the right side and had to replace new shoes i had bought from advance with another new set from oreilleies since the ones from advance were causing the right front to lock up and had to have the right front hub turned and still have to push the pedal to almost the flor to get it to completly stop

[seattle67]

Are you sure they have been bled properly? Also, are they manual or power brakes?

[SteveC]

my 67 f250 did this i had alot of air still in the line

[basketcase0302]

Cowboy34,

I'm with Dan on this one too.
Sounds like air in the hydraulic system.

Try to get someone give you a hand with the bleeding or use a Mitivac tool to do it.

Jeff

[Cowboy34]

yes me and a friend bled the brakes 6 times at every corner until just brake fluid was shooting out

[derek7871]

My '68 did the same thing. I ended up taking it to the local muffler/brake shop that I trust. There is a cable that runs to each of the back wheels. It has something to do with the parking brake, but I'm not too sure what the cable is called. Anyway, both cables were broken and that was causing the back brakes to not work at all. After replacing the cables, I have a nice firm brake pedal and she stops as well as you can expect manual drums to. Just an idea........

Cooter

[unclejtl]

by "pushing the pedal thru the floor", do you mean it's hard to push, or just that there is alot of travel?

just alot of travel is most likly air, as the other members stated.

hard to push means probably blockage or miss adjustment. have you checked the front lines? brake lines collapse on the inside.

[seattle67]

That's why I was asking if you have power brakes, there is an adjustable rod between the booster and the master cylinder that could cause what you are describing if it is adjusted too short.

[RTG_RACING]

I just redid the brakes all around my 68. Manual drums and the first pump is soft the second will lock up all four. I figure it's just the way old brakes are. Maybe an internal leak in the master cylinder.

[MustangSteve]

"first pump is soft the second will lock up all four"

That could be indicative of wrong piston size in master cylinder. I do alot of brakes. I have found that suppliers do not always provide the "correct" size master cylinder. If you get one with too small a bore, you may have a longer stroke and extremely high line pressure causing premature lockup. A master with too big a bore will cause you to have to stand on the pedal with all your might to get the truck to slow down, and you probably won't ever be able to lock them up.
You can adjust required pedal pressure by varying the master cylinder bore size.

Best drum brake adjustment: tighten the star wheel as tight as you can get it, then back off exactly 10 clicks. Any looser and the pedal travel increases, alot. Be sure to bench bleed the master cylinder before installing it or you will NEVER get all the air out of the system.

[QC]

" Be sure to bench bleed the master cylinder before installing it or you will NEVER get all the air out of the system.

This is very true!