Crappy brakes.

[Leagas]

Hi guys, looking for some advice on brakes. I have a 37 ford pickup on a Chevy s10 frame. All brakes Etc are s10, discs on the front and drums on the back. I have a universal master cylinder under the floor with a proportioning valve. I have been told I need to fit residual check valves so I have ordered some and will fit them next week but why is it I have hardly any brakes? Even if I pump them it gets no better. Pedal feels ok but I can hardly hold the vehicle at a stop sign even with stomping on the brake pedal as hard as I can. Anybody have any ideas what could be wrong. I have fitted new pads and shoes, cylinders, drums Etc so I know they need to bed in but surely I should have more brake than that.

 

[Yankee Transplant]

Maybe wrong bore on master ... I have a brake issue just like this but havnt gotten around to fixing it yet. is your universal master the same size bore as the original s 10 ? and there is a difference in a power brake master and a manual ..... Im not sure if it can be used on either set up or not .. Some body will jump in here in a min. or 2 [S

 

[Leagas]

yeah not sure of the bore size of the master cylinder. Is it easy to check it?
I guess, the bigger the bore the better the brakes, is that right?
theres no booster so i expected them to be heavy.

 

[skull]

under

it's probably bleed back, l had the same problem on a few cars and residual valves fixed it on mine.

if the master is lower than the bleeder valves and the brakes slave cylinders, a residual valve is almost always needed.

using aftermarket masters like wilwood or afco may require a residual valve. a lot do not come internally set up like a factory one.

on my 3Osomething l used 2 LBS on both ends as it has 4 wheel disc brakes & on the race car l used 2 LBS for disc fronts & 1O LBS on the rear for the drums.


make double-double sure to get the right LBS residual valve. if the 1O LBS is used on the disc, they will lock up and not release & the 2 LBS will still let the fluid bleed-off.

Later

 

[Leagas]

Thanks, yes I have ordered 2lbs for the front and 10lbs for the back. I'll keep you posted if that does the trick.

 

[Yankee Transplant]

as far as checking the bore size just go to the parts house where you got it from and they can look up the one you bought and see the size and then just look up the one for the s10 and it will tell the bore size on that one . Good luck .....on the residual valves , hope that fixes it ,,, mine is on the cow not under the floor so they wont work for me .

 

[skull]

????????

as far as checking the bore size just go to the parts house where you got it from and they can look up the one you bought and see the size and then just look up the one for the s10 and it will tell the bore size on that one . Good luck .....on the residual valves , hope that fixes it ,,, mine is on the cow not under the floor so they wont work for me .

really

the one on my 3Oish has the aftermarket wilwoods on the upper part of the firewall and l had to run the residual valves on her.

thru in some pics, had to since we are such a visual bunch around here[P

 

[Old Iron]

If you're running manual brakes you need to use a 1" master cylinder.
Power brakes use a 1 1/8" master cylinder.
Residual valves work no matter where your master cylinder is located.

 

[Whyworry]

S10 brakes

Leadgas , FWIW .. my Willys is on a 87 S10 frame ...manual brakes , had 4cyl man trans. now has 460 AT .. brakes worked but really had to push hard (at a light pump & hold) ... ran it like that a couple of yrs. ... last spring swapped the man M.C. out for a used power brake assmy. (booster & M.C.) best idea I ever came up with ! now have really great brakes ! no more scary moments .
Before the swap I totally rebuilt the whole brake system ... new every thing (parts were cheap for ) it just wouldn't stop very well . Hope all works out for you.

 

[Leagas]

Thanks whyworry, yeah I think if I don't get much of a result with the residual check valves I might just do that.
When I bleed my brakes I get a fountain of fluid squirt up through the MC, is that right? Never seen that happen before.

 

[05snopro440]

Yep, sounds like you're getting air in the lines. Typical with an under-body setup. I used the S-10 master and booster on the firewall and have awesome brakes.

With the residual valves and bleeding hopefully you have brakes. The geyser from the master doesn't sound right.

 

[Leagas]

Well I bit the bullet and ordered up a new power brake assembly so I'll keep you updated on how it turns out. Thanks all for your advice.

 

[Dbossa8]

Didn't the s10 have the low drag calipers. A lot of the 80s gm cars had them and I thought you need a quick take up master cylinder with them. Not trying to confuse you more just giving some more info.

 

[BlueNorther]

if you have a lot of pedal travel, adjust the rear drum brakes until you can't turn the wheel, and then back each one off about 6-8 notches. this will insure you are not wasting a lot of pedal travel taking up slack brakes.

 

[King Herald]

The geyser from the master doesn't sound right.

You'll always get a small squirt from it when you push the pedal until your piston has passed the bleed hole. Shove your pedal down quick, you can hit the roof with it. Best to push your pedal slowly.

 

[MercuryMac]

Leagas, you'll be happy with the power brakes. You don't have to push the front pads very far but you do have to push them hard to make them work. I've put power brakes on my '55 Merc and been dang thankful ever since.
You didn't actually say how your brakes reacted; does your pedal go right to the floor or is it solid half way down but doesn't stop your vehicle. I was guessing it was the latter complaint, so you'll fix it with the power booster. Good luck.

 

[Whyworry]

Leagas, you'll be happy with the power brakes. You don't have to push the front pads very far but you do have to push them hard to make them work. I've put power brakes on my '55 Merc and been dang thankful ever since.
You didn't actually say how your brakes reacted; does your pedal go right to the floor or is it solid half way down but doesn't stop your vehicle. I was guessing it was the latter complaint, so you'll fix it with the power booster. Good luck.

Leadgas , how did the swap work out .
RercuryMac that is exactly what was going on with mine . just didn't stop very good .