The master cylinder (dual chamber upgrade kit from one of the Old Trucks parts providers) gave up after 15 years of service on my daily driver 57 GMC. Yeah, I know this is a TF story, but the guys on the 55-59 board are not near as much fun as you who inhabit the 47-54 board. Found the replacement master cylinder (67-72 Mustang, $19.95 at FLAPS, not on the shelf, but they had it the next morning) and talked Ken into helping me bleed the system. I had planned to have all the lines blown out and the new master cylinder mounted before Ken arrived. The right rear was blocked somehow. 150 PSI air would not flow through it, even with the bleeder completely removed. I removed the line from the RR cylinder and tried again. Air passed through just fine, so it was the wheel cylinder that was somehow clogged up. Pulled the drum from the right rear and it looks like this brake had not been working for a long time. I guess you get spoiled with '77 4x4 disk brakes on the front. Dug through my "file" of the labels of all the parts I've ever replaced on this truck and found one marked "RR wheel cylinder" with a date of 1991. EIS part # 13388. Called FLAPS. They had one on the shelf for $9.99. Picked it up and got it mounted just before Ken arrived. Bench bled the master, mounted it in the truck and started the bleeding process with the left rear wheel. Seemed to take forever to get fluid to that wheel, but finally got there. Never did get the nice spurt I like to see, but I figured that was because of air in the right rear, so I moved over to that side. Finally getting around to the DPO part of the story. When I got to the right rear, I found brake fluid dribbling down the back side of the backing plate. First thought was that I had forgotten to tighten the bleeder. Nope. Had Ken press the pedal again. The fluid was coming out of the connection where the brake line screws into the wheel cylinder. I must not of tightened it. Nope, nice and tight. Must be crud on the end of the line preventing the double flare (everybody knows that brake line connections are double flared STEEL, right?) from sealing. Started to unscrew the connection and realized that the leaking brake fluid had cleaned the black paint off of the COPPER line running from the wheel cylinder to the T connection on the axle. Someone (not ME) had replaced this line with a piece of copper tubing, single flared on each end. Without noticing the copper, I replaced this wheel cylinder 18 years earlier and it sealed up fine. The new cylinder I put on yesterday would not allow the line to tighten down against the single flare enough to seal. Ken went home, with a promise to show up Saturday morning at 9, bless his pea pickin heart. I'm heading back to FLAPS to find a proper brake line.
Holy cow! God's way of saying he had to many other things to do other than watch out over you and your ride another 18 years? By the way, Bill~ I, for one, am glad you hang out here with us! Way to go, Big Brother! You are a good man for helping out! (Did you drive your old truck over to Bill's? Pictures?
The humidity was over 50%, so Ken didn't take his truck out. Actually, he stopped here on his way home from work.
It's ALWAYS over 50% down here! I'm thinking about driving it over to Bill's on Saturday, but I'm afraid it might distract him from the business at hand!
Mechanized death ! Copper brake pipes ! I hate getting home in some new to me rig and finding things like that... Glad you're O.K. and Ken is there to set you straight Big brothers gotta be good for sumpin' , right ?
The Great State Of TEXAS I rather like West TEXAS my ownself as there's far less people and buildings there.... You're right , it's a nice State and folks are friendly .
Can't wait to drag my family down through it all the way to the beach! Might have to stop by Lackland AFB just to stop and thank God for getting me there. The rest is "history".
Spent part of October and most of November 1965 at Lackland myself. I'm sure Air Farce basic training was nothing compared to Army or Marines, but I sure was glad to leave.
U.s.~ air force! I was NEVER so happy to be in the Air Force then the time I was at Fort Polk, LA! Every day we went on base to eat breakfast, those Army guys were out there running. Every day! Sheeze~ we had to run once a year! Thought I'd throw in a picture of me "in a field of talllll grass" OR~ The second one is how I spent my first 2 years at Hurlburt Field. No, I wasn't hitchhiking, and yes, I realize there isn't a babe to be seen on that beach. It musta been me...
Oh My ! I wonder if I have any old pix of me when I was that young ..... I assume you were about 18 there ? .
Copper Lines OK when i was a kid (mind you maybe 10 or 12 years old) My Dan and I had gone to a friends farm to pick up a load of cow manure for my Dads garden. we loaded up and stayed fora bit to visit and his son and I were out playing in the truck at some point like we were big rig haulers and well wont you guess but sitting still there in the driveway a school buss pulled out in front of us and we had to slam on the brakes to stop be fore hitting it!! well my buddy was teh one in the driver seat when this happened and when he hit that brake and put his weight on it it held fora few fractions of a second before dropping to the floor !! Now i was a kid and was thinking OMG Dad is gonna kill me , we were an hour or better from home and there was fluid leaking out from beneath the truck ...think, think , think, tell Dad or let him find out on his own? Well I went inside and told him what happened and then got a pat on teh back"whew good thing that happened now then later on our way down the road home."I was a hero wel Dads friend wasa farmer and had some bopper lines which we madea repair with so we could get it home and well to be honest I dont think that line was ever changed before it went on to teh next owner Oh BTW it was a 55.2 3800 series originally gren and then repainted witha Maroon cab
End of story (I hope) I found a 20" stick of pre-made brake line at FLAPS with the proper fittings already on it. Used a piece of coat hanger wire to mock up the shape and started bending the new line. As soon as I completed the second bend I realized that I had both of the fittings on the same end of the line. Back to FLAPS and bought the last two 20" lines they had. This time managed to get the line bent correctly with one fitting on each end. Installed the line. Tried to blow out the front lines and found that the left front caliper was stopped up. Completely removed the bleeder and still could not pass 150 PSI air. Removed the hose at the caliper. Line back to the master cylinder was OK, but could not pass air through the caliper from the hose or bleeder port. Removed the caliper (no longer had the rotor & pads to contain the piston) and being the dummy I am applied the 150 PSI air to the hose port again. Piston flew out of the caliper, clanging across the garage floor and tearing the piston seal. Back to FLAPS again for a rebuilt caliper ($17.99) for a 77/78 Chevy/GMC 1/2 ton 4WD. Installed new caliper. Ken showed up a few minutes early Saturday morning. It was sunny, but a little cool, so Ken drove his Tahoe over. Said he hadn't "winterized" the '50 yet. I'm still not sure he actually has an Ol' truck, but I welcomed his help anyway. Other than rigging up a Mity-Vac to pump new fluid from the can into the master cylinder the bleeding went pretty well. At the end I noticed a VERY slight leak where an adapter screws into the master cylinder rear brake port. If Ken stood on the pedal for 10 seconds the first thread of the adapter would get wet. Tightened it another flat and it seems to be holding. I'll check it again in a week or so to see how it is doing. Luckily neither Ken nor I got a camera out. He would have had to use a wide angle lens to get a picture of me scooting out from under the cab after filling the master cylinder. Probably would have needed a butt crack filter, too. It is great to be back on the road again. Thanks Ken.
I Only Wish I'd had an old timer to warn me about wrapping the fittings to the ends with a bit of tape so I didn't do this same thing......
