Ping: All the regular posters who know Ford Truck Brakes

This is my second truck with this issue, and it's my dads truck. He is looking forward to his annual trip to Yuma this February towing my 5th wheel so I got to fix it right. Doing brake work on a 1990 F-250 (the last one was a 1989 F-350) and when all is said and done you have a pedal that is solid when engine is off, but sinks to the floor once you start the engine. Pinching off the ft brake hoses (this is the first time I have done this and don't like it) results in a normal feeling pedal. If any of you all subscribe to IATN, do a search for under Ford Trucks for brakes and you will see this isn't a uncommon problem; many shops have seen this problem or even taken in trucks that another shop has given up on. Many will read along the lines "I have replaced the MC; Calipers Hoses abs valve and booster and still can't get a good pedal under this truck." The repair solution is to replace the MC with one from a F-450; going from a

1 1/8 bore to a 1 5/8 bore. Ford is said to has a notice on this as well as bendix brakes tech line. But for the life of me I can't figure out how a set of brakes that have worked great for 130,000 miles suddenly needs a larger MC. Can anyone enlighten me? PS: I am still researching other solutions to this than the MC
Reply to
Stephen H
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FORD = Fix Or Repair Daily or sometimes their Found On Road Dead!! I used to own nothing but FORDs. One day I realized it's not a joke that you're constantly under the hood!! Not only that, FORD increases their parts prices by about 3% every 3 months..they been doing it since 1965! I used to work in parts department -Take my word for it - Plus FORD parts are designed to fail at a pre-prescribed length of time - dealer parts that is!!!

The issue with Bendix, their parts have been known to warp the cheap ass FORD drums - Hi performance parts seem to last longer! Might try replacing the steel braided rubber lines (2) that goes to the front and the (2) rears as well looking forward to his annual trip to Yuma this February towing my 5th wheel

Reply to
Daryl Bryant

Well obviously if the problem started after you worked on it, your problem has to do with something you modified, replaced or damaged. Maybe a detailed explanation of what "Doing brake work" means would help the less clairvoyant readers.

If the problem is that the currently available pads and shoes are more compliant or that the replacement calipers or cylinders have a larger bore than they used to, than the solution is to either find someone with a stock of old replacement parts from 10-15 yrs ago or follow Ford's advice and replace the master cylinder with one that has a bigger bore.

-jim

Reply to
jim

I wish it was as simple as odd parts. The first truck; 6 months ago was a 1989 F350, 4x4 dsl. He went metal to metal so I replaced ft rotors; calipers and had the Mysterious fading pedal; only when running. I changed out the MC twice and bypassed the rabs valve as it can give the same feeling. Dads truck started out as a bearing repack (he started the work) and I looked at it and said we might as well slap some pads on it. He put the Napa

60$. pads on it and haven't had a good pedal since. We put a New Napa MC on it and finally got the fading pedal; I'm doing some research on this fading pedal syndrome to see if I can figure out another fix that follows along with the theory that it's worked ok for 17 years so far.

Steve

Reply to
Stephen H

Can we presume you've changed the brake fluid?

Reply to
clifto

messagenews:1167663830 snipped-for-privacy@sp6iad.superfeed.net...

My dad has a '89 F250 diesel I just recently drove for a few days when my van was broken, and the brakes on it are firm and it stops well. I'll ask him if there is a trick. Also, check to see if the rear brakes are not adjusted to barely fit w/in the drums, you can get a tool that measures inside/outside. If you have too much distance on rears, it will sink the pedal before you get sufficient pressure. Doubt your other hardware is an issue.

Scott

Reply to
scott

LOL! With the new MC I think we put 1/2 gallon through it. Feeling the ft rubber lines, with the engine running and pedal applied you can feel the lines ---stretch?-- So new ft lines on it tommorow; I think they were only 3 years old or so.... Steve

Reply to
Stephen H

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