I am being smug for telling you how I got 2 trucks brakes working correctly?

No, you won't find a brand new booster mated to a brand new MC. I actually put work into making mine work.

I am not saying you HAVE to do what I say. I am telling you my experiences, what has worked for me, and how it compared to other vehicles I have driven.

 

Ok, you are being LUCKY that you have evaded the problems that so many others have had. You are being smug for coming off like you do so much better mechanics than the rest of us. That we are responsible for our own misfortunes, that is smug. Also, you advise everyone to just buy new parts and then admit that they don't exist...............

 

And explain, please, how this comment is meant, because it sounds like you are saying that I and others have not put any work in. Do you know someone that will give you an honest opinion? Ask them to read it and opine how it sounds....

 

Please read above.

Meaning I have taken off, adjusted, put on, bled, taken off adjusted some more, put on, etc. Meaning, you cannot just slap it on and expect it to work.

I am really confused as to how I am being smug????

Maybe I was just lucky. I have returned about a half dozen rebuilt MC's before buying a new one.

I have always used O'Reilly Auto Parts and I have had to order a brand new MC and wait for it to come in.

Really though, I was just trying to help.

 

Look, I am just trying to have good brakes, any and all help is greatly appreciated. I am just a little miffed when someone suggests that I have not done my due diligence trying to fix these brakes. I cannot/will not spend another dime or throw another part at the stock system. I get smug out of somebody that says "look at mine, I never have problems, I work at it harder than you ETC. ETC.". I apologize if you are not smug about it, it just sounded so to me. One other thing, there is a big difference between "you should always buy new parts" and "You should always buy a new master cylinder" , I know one thing, "you should never, always do anything, life won't let you anyway"...Mark

 

Some of my hauling partners bought brand-new DRW Dodge diesels way back when they were a new thing.

We were all used to the Ford diesels and GM gas-burners before that; nobody that I ever knew did any serious long-hauling with a Dodge gas-burner.

Without exception, every single one of the guys with the new Dodges, and any of us that often drove them, all lamented the fact that brakes seemed non-existent; you could bend the brake-pedal and the truck would just keep going.

(That, and the way that the Dodge steering-wheel crowded the driver-door, plus crappy mirrors, made all of us dread to drive the Dodge trucks on long-hauls; BUT, man, would that Cummins take the load down the road. )

Back then, an old worn-out GM would stop a trailer-load of cattle with crappy electric brakes as well as the naked truck would stop.


So, to answer your question, I don't remember any of these trucks ever having spectacular brakes.

 

No problem here. It is your money. It is also hard to read tone from text.

I am not saying you didn't work hard. You more than likely did if you are dropping the coin for a rear disk setup or whatever it is you are doing. It is just that some people see "My truck has crappy brakes" threads and without even trying to fix the stock setup, throw money at it hoping to fix it.

Truce?

 

FWIW

I've replaced everything in my trucks braking system, except the RWAL accuator.... which is bypassed.


The truck stops OK. Not Porche fantastic.... but acceptable, bearing in mind I re-adjust the rear brakes every couple of months or so.

Being that said.

I replaced the master cylinder twice with reman units. They were crap. The mating surface below the top seal under the cap was rough and not flat. It had been sand blasted, but they did not resurface that mating surface, hence the things would leak when you made a turn in the truck. When I finally gave in and bought a "NEW" master cylinder, and returned my last rebuilt one, the surface was polished and smooth where the gasket sits, and it hasn't leaked since the day I installed it.

I'll never ever buy a reman unit again, due to this experience.


T.

 

The saga of my brakes is a long sad and sordid affair, well documented on this site, (since 2009 anyway) that has lasted 7 or 8 years. I am in a position in my life where I do not have to worry about money too much, mostly from being out of debt for the last 12 years or so. I am a good, diligent mechanic and do not throw money at cars. As with most generalizations, they are exactly that. I have no problem with you, 26 years on the FD evens one out as good as Prozac Mark

 

Ah! A fellow brother!

Been 4 years on my volunteer service. Got my EMT-B license 6 months ago.

Prozac... Funny calls happen when combined with booze and shrooms...

 

It must be nice. I am proud for you in being financially free.


Myself, it seems like the last few years, each one gets harder and harder.

Thankfully, we don't owe a cent on anything and for years have refused to go into debt; never had a credit-card --- don't desire one either.

But it seems ever since Hurricane Katrina, when they found out that they could triple the prices on stuff overnight and the president would not step in and freeze prices, fuel went from less than a buck to nearly five-dollars a gallon nearly overnight.


Then, Obamanomics and the downfall of the American economy happened, with us still struggling with all of the Katrina price-gouging aftermath.



Around here, it has always been minimum wage or welfare; now you can't buy a job, all our little factories are gone, the school system is broke and laying off teachers by the dozens, etc., etc.


The cost of trucking is four-plus times as expensive per mile as the price customers expect to pay, so I ain't hardly hauled anything unless the money is right --- it seldom is.

The belt is in the last notch.



Sorry for the lament.



Back to brakes; carry on.

 

Yeah, this economy is brutal. I have three or four really old friends that, at one time I used to envy for the amount of money they were making. They were driving new cars and going on expensive vacations, had much bigger and nicer houses than mine, but now all of them all but lost everything. They had leveraged themselves to death, home equity loans, balloon payments, 1000 dollar car payments and when the bottom fell out they owed a ton of money and didn't own anything. All 4 lost their work and I sometimes feel a little guilty for all that I have. I would love to be able to help them all, but, then there would be 5 of us in that boat. Here in Phoenix, 50% plus of all homes with a mortgage are under water,many by 100%, only Vegas is worse. They are saying that the bottom will be in 2012 or 2013 and no recovery until 2014. Something needs to give...it's pretty sad...Mark

 

Is Emt-b basic emt? I taught emt at Mesa CC for 10 years, met my Ex wife there Mark

 

I drove 40 miles today with the e-brake on and smoked my rear brakes, so now i have no rear brakes as well.

Nothing like hitting the brakes and feeling the truck nose dive and go left to right.

I can't believe the parking brake was even tight enough to smoke them, that park brake couldn't hold the truck on flat ground.......I think the shoes were just cheapies or something.

Oh well, time for me to ***** up and open up my 1st set of drum brakes, with guidance from my Dad, hopefully.

The good news is the previous owner already converted it all to 3" 1 ton stuff since he was towing 20,000#- he told me this today when i was talking to him.

 

Yeah I did that not too long ago. I had mine in the "half cocked" position for 10 or so miles and I was thinking how good the brakes felt, , until I noticed it, released the P brake and had NO brakes .
I got my disk setup about 90% installed today. Started at about 6 AM, at about 85 degrees and quit about 8 pm and about 104 degrees. The high around 4 pm was 111 degrees, Just another day in the desert...Mark