I just got done doing brakes on my 95 2500 2wd. New ceramic pads, rotors, calipers, bearings, hoses, shoes, hardware, Chevy dually wheel cylinder upgrade and drums turned. My question is the brake pedal feels a little soft compared to what it was before I started. I took my time bleeding the system and I'm sure there is no air in the lines. For you guys that have done the WC change to the 1 3/16" cylinders does this change the way the brake pedal feels. More fluid would have to be displaced compared to the old smaller diameter ones. Any input would be great as I plan on doing a 1000 mile tow this weekend. This may get better with more stopping as everything is new.

 

If it feels spongy, you probably have a little air left in the system. Try a rebleed to make sure. Drive it a bit and do some reverse stops to self adjust the rears up. Some times it takes a few hundred miles to seat the rear shoes. If the brakes stay spongy after driving it a while, pull the rear drums and check the durm contact on the shoes. Should be mostly in the middle of the shoe, and little to no contact on the heel and toe. Good luck

 

Had to have my rear shoes arc'ed to improve contact. As said check contact pattern of shoes after a wear in.

 

I'm surprised to see you found somebody that still has the shoe grinders. Those are becoming meuseum pieces and rare to find someone that has one. Usually they just exchange the shoes now.

 

I never heard of such a thing, sounds to me like they are just wearing the shoes in!

 

I'll check the wear pattern next week. I adjusted the rear shoes with the drums on so they should be fairly tight. I ebrake works great now and it didn't hardly hold before I did the brakes. I just got done doing new upper and lower ball joints tonight. Hopefully I can get onto the real mods soon. If anyone out there has done the wheel cylinder upgrade and wants to chime in on their opinion please let me know.
Thanks