Brake experts?

This summer, I finished a rebuild job of the brakes on my '40 Ford. I replaced the
shoes, drums, lines, and hoses. I rebuilt the wheel cylinders and the master. I put
in silicon brake fluid. Then I started trying to get pressure.

The first step was to get fluid through the lines. I had my stepson sit in the car. I
would open a bleeder valve and have him depress and hold the pedal. Then I closed the
valve. We repeated this until I got fluid from all four bleeder valves. That was it
for that day.

The next time I tackled it, I used a "one-man" bleeder kit. Following the directions,
I bled the brakes, starting at the right rear, and moving to the left, right front,
and left front. It took anywhere from 6 to 12 pumps of the pedal for each wheel to
get the air out of the lines. The pedal still goes to the floor.

Any ideas out there?

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.

G.R. Patterson III wrote:

> This summer, I finished a rebuild job of the brakes on my '40 Ford. I replaced the
> shoes, drums, lines, and hoses. I rebuilt the wheel cylinders and the master. I put
> in silicon brake fluid. Then I started trying to get pressure.
>
> The first step was to get fluid through the lines. I had my stepson sit in the car. I
> would open a bleeder valve and have him depress and hold the pedal. Then I closed the
> valve. We repeated this until I got fluid from all four bleeder valves. That was it
> for that day.
>
> The next time I tackled it, I used a "one-man" bleeder kit. Following the directions,
> I bled the brakes, starting at the right rear, and moving to the left, right front,
> and left front. It took anywhere from 6 to 12 pumps of the pedal for each wheel to
> get the air out of the lines. The pedal still goes to the floor.
>
> Any ideas out there?
>
> George Patterson
> If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
> been looking for it.

did you adjust the shoes so they drag slightly? If all the adjusters
are backed off all the way the pedal will still go to the floor even if
all the air is out.

nate

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

Nate Nagel wrote:
>
> did you adjust the shoes so they drag slightly?

Yep.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.

Bad master cylinder? Would move fluid as long as there's no resistance
(bleed valve open), but when pressure builds up (bleed valve closed),
the master cyl piston seal leaks, allowing the pedal to go to the floor.

Steve H

"G.R. Patterson III" wrote:
>
> Nate Nagel wrote:
> >
> > did you adjust the shoes so they drag slightly?
>
> Yep.
>
> George Patterson
> If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
> been looking for it.

snh9728 wrote:
>
> Bad master cylinder? Would move fluid as long as there's no resistance
> (bleed valve open), but when pressure builds up (bleed valve closed),
> the master cyl piston seal leaks, allowing the pedal to go to the floor.

Nothing seems to be leaking, though I intend to check again as soon as I can Shanghai
a helper. It's possible that I reversed something in the master, but I would think
that it wouldn't move fluid at all if I had.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.

I didn't mean an external leak; I meant a leaking piston seal. The
piston moves forward when you push the pedal, but the fluid just leaks
past it to the other side of the piston. The fluid is still in the
master cylinder; it didn't squirt out into the world.

Steve H

"G.R. Patterson III" wrote:
>
> snh9728 wrote:
> >
> > Bad master cylinder? Would move fluid as long as there's no resistance
> > (bleed valve open), but when pressure builds up (bleed valve closed),
> > the master cyl piston seal leaks, allowing the pedal to go to the floor.
>
> Nothing seems to be leaking, though I intend to check again as soon as I can Shanghai
> a helper. It's possible that I reversed something in the master, but I would think
> that it wouldn't move fluid at all if I had.
>
> George Patterson
> If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
> been looking for it.

I didn't mean an external leak; I meant a leaking piston seal. The
piston moves forward when you push the pedal, but the fluid just leaks
past it to the other side of the piston. The fluid is still in the
master cylinder; it didn't squirt out into the world.

Steve H

"G.R. Patterson III" wrote:
>
> snh9728 wrote:
> >
> > Bad master cylinder? Would move fluid as long as there's no resistance
> > (bleed valve open), but when pressure builds up (bleed valve closed),
> > the master cyl piston seal leaks, allowing the pedal to go to the floor.
>
> Nothing seems to be leaking, though I intend to check again as soon as I can Shanghai
> a helper. It's possible that I reversed something in the master, but I would think
> that it wouldn't move fluid at all if I had.
>
> George Patterson
> If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
> been looking for it.

snh9728 wrote:
>
> I didn't mean an external leak; I meant a leaking piston seal.

If this is happening, I must have gotten something backwards when I rebuilt the
master. I need to locate a schematic -- the rebuild kit didn't have one.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.

look at your shop manual and make sure you are doing everything they say
is needed to be done for a full bleed. Some systems have a button
on the prop valve (defeats the shuttle valve) that needs to be depressed
during brake bleeding.

--Ken
--
Ken R. Dye '67 Bonneville ragtop "Juan": suncar
Chicago, Illinois '01 Z28 ragtop "???": funcar
www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Track/8746 '82 Chevy Z28 "Jay": racecar
dye1146 at comcast dot net '78 454 ¾ ton Suburban "Brian": towtruck

On Wed, 10 Nov 2004 19:50:54 GMT, "G.R. Patterson III"
> wrote:

>
>
>snh9728 wrote:
>>
>> I didn't mean an external leak; I meant a leaking piston seal.
>
>If this is happening, I must have gotten something backwards when I rebuilt the
>master. I need to locate a schematic -- the rebuild kit didn't have one.
>
>George Patterson
> If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
> been looking for it.
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Joe
--
Heather & Joe Way
Sierra Specialty Automotive
Brake cylinders sleeved with brass
Gus Wilson Stories
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