"Dan S." wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@sbcglobal.net...
Its hard to know what to tell you because your not clear in your descriptions of your problems.
IE you knew the master was bad because you had no power. Does that mean the truck wouldn't stop worth a darn with a low pedal possibly that fades, or the pedal was hard as a rock? Hard as a rock is not a master problem but a power booster issue. And it doesn't necessarily mean the booster is bad, it could be a bad hose, low vacuum, or the check valve at the booster is bad.
The "smell" coming from one wheel tends to say ether the caliper hung up, the brake hose went to pot, or a wheel bearing is goosed. A bad wheel bearing will let the wheel and rotor lean over and the brakes will be supporting the vehicle, they get hot and stink, hot enough the fluid boils, and regardless the caliper seals get cooked. You will also have a low pedal on intial application as the rotor leaning ovwer pushes the piston all the way back in the caliper bore. Then again the caliper slide could have hung up, or the caliper piston could be stuck which will also over heat the brakes to the point it could boil the brake fluid which will result in the no pedal scenario you described. A bad brake hose can do the same thing. They go bad and peal on the inside, this blocks the hose like a heart valve, fluid can flow in but it cant get out. Brakes over heat, fluid boils. Caliper gets cooked as well, and always replace hoses in pairs from the same manufacturer. There is a plus and minus spec on inner hose diameter, one brand may be to the plus, the other to the minus, and this can cause a pull on intial brake application. Not a real issue on dry roads, but a panick stop on slippery surface could cause a skid. The over heating can also result in piston seal failure which will also result in no brake pedal, but the front brake resovoir of the master will be empty, thats the larger one. The smaller one is for the rear brakes, . I'll get greif here, but replace calipers in pairs, and replace the caliper hard ware. Myself I go with loaded calipers, they come with everything. Raybesto's has some really good ones, NAPA's arent bad ether. Autozones Durastop suck. Another thing to keep in mind, Fords have two calipers that are the same except for piston material. The standard has the "plastic" pistons, the "police" have steel pistons. The police style cause less issues than the standard and cost about the same. There is a difference in the pads, the clip on the inner pad is different between the two styles of calipers, other wise they are the same. And under no circumstances mix the two styles on the same axle unless you like going for wild rides, and love brakes that pull weird when they get hot.
If you think the master is leaking unbolt it from the booster and pull it foreword, do you see brake fluid, or is there a trail down the booster from the bottom of the master?
On replacing the booster, not a hard job its a nut and bolt thing, one vacuum line, remove the master, under the dash four bolts hold the booster to the fire wall.
Whitelightning