Yes, exactly. The ABS hydraulic valve will only cause a mushy peddle. It won't cause your peddle to slowly bleed off.
An internal leak in the master lets fluid return to the reservoir, that is why the level doesn't drop and you don't see any external leaks.

 

You hit upon two things.

#1 (highlighted) that you do not open the valve more than the absolute minimum to get the fluid to move.

#2 make sure your bleeder hose that you attached to the bleeder valve on the wheel cyl is pointed vertical towards 12 o'clock and loops back down (upside down U ). This forces the fluid up into the tube (whether it's 6" long or 45 feet long) and creates a "column of fluid" barrier against sucking air back into the bleeder valve. You barely have to do any bleeding, as you lose almost nothing down into the mason jar, and have the perfect visual reference whether or not air is being released out of the bleeder valve.

What used to talk me hours to do (from doing it wrong), now only takes me a few minutes utilizing these techniques


Yeah, and you are / were way before your time.... we'll have to admit. Don't worry though, time will catch back up to you before you know it..

 

I'm getting great advice here.

Thankyou everybody. I will do the MC and then see how it feels, and look into bypassing the ABS control unit.

I unplugged the RWAL brake module behind the glove box yesterday, and it changed nothing about the way the pedal felt.

In fact it seemed as if the rears hung up even easier than before (wet pavement).

 

Anyone that maintains their own vehicles should have a power bleeder (of some sort). You're wasting time and brake fluid and probably not getting all the air out without this thing. I've been reading this board for 4 years now and among other things I've learned the rear brakes need to be dialed for the system to work as advertised and bleeding the air out is tedious. Brake lines are consumable items and need to be replaced, same for brake fluid, this makes the job much more enjoyable.

The 4x6 black plastic deal below is for our cast iron MC. I have the anodized aluminum optional part and instead of the ridiculous chain and hook system they provide to secure the adapter to the MC I just use a large C clamp between the bottom of the MC and adapter.

 

Someone on here said "make sure to use the proper brake fluid". Is it something special other than regular DOT3 fluid?

 

DOT3 is fine.

 

Yes, dot3 is correct...Mark

 

Going to tackle this today if I can find a little kit to help me bench bleed

 

something is clearly leaking drivers side



pass side is the one that always hangs up

 

i took the old master cylinder apart... seals look fine really...

so now that i have the new MC on, the rear bleeders are so rusted and siezed that i can not get them loose. vice grips wont fit in between the drum and the leafs. small needle nose vice grips do but they still roll right off the bleeder valve. 3/8' wrench rolls right off.

so now its axle shafts out, drums off. the hole 9. what a huge pain in my ***.

so now that i have to yard everything out, new drums, shoes and wheel cylinders? disc conversion? what is more practical and cost effective. im fairly handy with fabrication if it came to a disc conversion, but i dont want to spend a thousand dollars.

i dont care if its discs or drums. i just want a working parking brake, i want my brakes to work properly, my pedal not to sink, and my rear brakes to not hang up, and i would like it done as quick as possible.

 

Wheel cylinders aren't very expensive. If they're that rusty, might as well replace them.

When it comes to getting frozen bleed zerks and brake lines loose, a #1 or #2 aircraft oxyacelylene welding torch goes a long ways. You heat just the fitting red hot quickly, let it cool off, hit it with penetrant, let it sit a little while, then back it off. Lines are trickier than zerks.

I think the zerks are 10mm. I always start them with a 6 point socket. On lines I use a 6 point tubing wrench.

 

thanks for the tip. truck is back together for the day. got the MC in. i bench bled it before installing. then cracked the line to the distribution block once installed, and bled right there quickly to make sure there was no air in the MC when pulling the plugs and installing the hardlines.

unfortunately i didnt get to bleeding the rears because of the siezed zerks. i did test drive it though and... no more sinking pedal. rears still tend to hang a bit. yes i know they probably need new wheel cylinders and be bled completely, but i was not prepared to pull axle shafts today. didnt want to run into other problems as far as needing new bearings or axle seals and get into a lengthy project.

but now that my pedal is atleast not sinking, i can plan for something. like a disc conversion.

or 1 ton shoes and wheel cylinders.

blackbirds custom trucks has a complete disc conversion kit with parking brake for $590

does anyone one know of any compareable kits?

or should i stick with drum.

 

I converted mine to disk, I used the EGR kit, which uses Cadillac Eldorado calipers and 1 kit comes with parking brakes. It is the best move I ever made and no more pulling axles to do brakes. It is a very easy installation, too. They have different kit options and are here ...Mark

 

I'll bet that is gear oil on your passenger drum. Leaky seal or scored spindle, or if really unlucky, a cracked hub.

Spindle cure is in the sticky.

Might as well do it right now. Like was said, wheel cylinders are cheap and new brake line is easy to bend. Can buy factory stuff from places like inline tubing and classic tubing but kaching$$$

It certainly could snowball if your nylock nut retainer came loose and destroyed the bearings....

It would take just a morning or afternoon to fix all this...

 

i know it is gear oil. and i am fairly certain it is just the seal. i dont drive the truck every day so im not too worried about it right now, and like i was saying, i think id like to go to a disc set up, because it is a little more user friendly. but, i need to get some cash together for it. so it will have to wait a few weeks.

yes, it would take just a morning or afternoon to fix it, if i knew whcih seal was leaking or that i was or was not going to need bearings.

if i take it all apart and find out "oh wow, the hub is cracked" well then it is probably going to take much longer than just one morning, depending on parts availability and such.

so yeah, perfect world, all it is is one bad seal? so i get some gear oil, RTV, a seal, and a couple wheel cylinders and go to town. but my workld is never perfect.

plus i would rather just wait, and take it apart once.