I have never locked up the front wheels but the back ones have twice.

 

Wow. That is way different from how mine acts. Even with an empty bed mine will lock up the fronts first. Just to check, at about 20 MPH on a wet road, I progressively increased pedal pressure. The fronts locked first (evenly, no pulling) then the rears. This one isn't as bad as the old school bus, but my front's locked first w/o a doubt...empty!. My brake and antilock lights are always on, but I heard this is a "feature" that many of these have. Em-brake seems adjusted correctly, holds very well, and normal stopping is car-like. Good, firm pedal, and the modulation feels right.(pretty much neutral)
Make no mistake...I love this truck. It's just something I need to look into. Because there is a soccer-mom out there in her Explorer wearing out her cel phone, applying her make-up just waiting to pull out in front of me.

Has anyone had brake symptoms like mine? Thanks

 

Ron, what year is yours? The newer ones have ABS on the rear wheels, I'm not sure when it started but '92's and up have RWAL. So yes, mine will lock the fronts first at speed. If I'm putting around in a gravel parking lot, it'll lock the rears first because the speed is too low for the RWAL to work.

 

According to the "experts" you want the fronts to lock up first to prevent the rear from coming around. This is one reason for rear anti-locking brakes. I haven't put a load in mine yet to see what will happen, but there is a 2x3x1/4 steel plate bolted in the bed with a disapearing goose neck ball attached. The truck tips the scales at 7300 pounds.

 

FWIW, my 89 has RWAL.

 

I second that with my 89

 

Mine is a '89. reg cab,2wd,5sp. w/ 3.54 rear. It has a light that says "antilock". I was guessing it had it in the rear, but I managed to lock the rears up too. So, I guess it doesn't. Well, since the antilock light never goes out, maybe it's trying to tell me something.

 

Uh, yeah. Like maybe the ABS isn't working?

There's a valve back there that releases the brakes when the RWAL box senses lockup, maybe there is a problem with that valve that is causing you to have very little rear braking.

 

I'm going to check into that. All the symptoms point that way. I was waiting for another light that would say "hey stoopid" pay attention!

 

I wasn't gonna say that!

 

Couldn't have blamed you if you did.
For some reason, I thought the red lbrake light at the top of the light-stack pretained to the emergency-brake. I have no idea of the (lack of) logic that led me to think this was the case. With the anti-lock light also lit, I assumed (don't say it) that I had some electrical problem. I mean, my em-brake was off and my brakes worked fine, under normal stopping... Anyway, I'll start investigating.
BTW, Is there a source for owner, and service manuals? It's pretty obvious I could use them.

 

The red "brake" light should be lit when the key is on and the parking brake is set. After the parking brake is lit, the red light should go out.

The red light can be triggered by low vacuum and also by an imbalance between the front and rear brake systems. I think the latter is the cause of your red light.

www.techauthority.com is where I got my FSM. They only do online ordering for stuff 10 years old or newer, but if you call them they can often help you out on older stuff. The FSM is worth the price, it's better than a whole stack of Haynes or Chilton manuals.

 

Thanks. Yea, front to rear imbalance describes it. I have a friend who has the All-Data system at his shop. I'll see what shows up there. Thanks again.

 

Well the new booster is in and has been for a week now. Wanna was right, my idle was a little high. it seems I failed to adjust the linkage correctly after turning the fuel up the last time. Now the brakes are just the way they should be. The booster leaked and the rubber goods on it were dry rotted. Definitaly needed changing. Next............I need to change the steering gear box. Sometimes the truck wants to go its own way. Any tips?