mbarr101

at this point I'm starting to think to myself... ok- i'm spending a week hitting this bleeder valve with penetrating fluid in hopes this works but the bottom line is, one is stripped and the other aint moving... so why not just by new wheel cylinders, brake drums and spring kit? this is supposed to be a project truck and the idea is to learn all this stuff at some point anyways... the cost on all these things doesn't look bad. probably start making some online purchases soon... any good brands? bad brands? ebay?

Manuellabour247

Honestly, if it were me and my truck.....I would do exactly that. If the outside is rusted that bad I'm sure the inside is getting bad too. I would also replace the flex lines just to be on the safe side. The parts aren't that expensive.

You could also get a brake cylinder hone and break down the old one, then clean it up for the experience. They are great emergency replacement parts if anything happens. I've had to do that on the side of the road before when my truck blew the seals out of mine. Lol.

Chris93XLT

That is my thinking too on my truck....Its paid for so putting new parts on it is not that bad and for the most part pretty cheap to do myself. I get to learn more DIY wrenching with my son and I learn / know more about my truck.

Lazarus-F150

Check out www.rockauto.com. The prices are typically much better than local auto parts stores, even if you factor in shipping.

Merfman

Agreed. Buy new wheel cylinders and a spring kit. Remove the drums first to see if they need replacing (probably not). Don't forget to look at the shoes. Rear brakes last a lot of miles, if there is an ~1/8" of material on the shoes, reuse them, they will last at least 20-30,000 miles. And use anti-seize on the new bleeders. 5-10 years from now you will still be able to bleed the brakes.

Boombots

I just redid my 94. I had the same bleeder issue. I did both rear wheel cylinders. I actually couldn't get the brake line off either so I had to replace that as well. As for the brakes being soft, hopefully the bleeding solves it. Look for swollen rubber lines on the front calibers, that can also be a cause.

I was lucky, mine sat for 15 months during my resto (moved out of state for 10 months) and when she was all done I took it for a 6hr round trip drive the next day! Fired up and purred. That is after I had the same white smoke puffs you did. Mine was accompanied with horrid valve chatter for a few minutes too...

I'm liking the progress. I got mine for a grand as well. Mine was running and plated, but needed the body work, so kind of opposite as yours.

I had 3 digit codes, I think you do too, I believe it changed in 91 or 92 to 3 digit codes. Read the sticky in this section of the forum. No need for a code reader. There are a few blinks before the codes but once it starts those rapid blinks you are counting, that's the codes. It then repeats them again. Just did this today to figure out my transmission o/d light code...

mbarr101

Spent this lovely afternoon today replacing brake drums, spring kit and wheel cylinders on both sides (thanks to some urging from some members on here)... probably should have only been a 2 hr job but for someone like me who has never done anything quite like this, it def took me all day. Def pumped I decided to go for it and change everything out myself (especially after I did a random search on the mechanic's price to do this!) And as you can see, next weekend's project will be installing the new parking brake self adjusting kit- the old one was literally non-functional. Anything I need to worry about with the next job? The new rear brakes work great. I still have some air/squishy-ness in the brake pedal but I can tell they have improved slightly. I think I remember hearing that rear brakes only account for roughly 30% of our truck's overall braking power? Anyways- I'll be looking into the front brakes this week as well. Thank you AS ALWAYS for the help and encouragement on here. This truck is teaching me a lot and I'm having fun getting her back to a normal operating truck- I'll mark today down as a small victory for sure!

Manuellabour247

Sometimes the best thing to do is start fresh with new parts. Glad you got it done.

mbarr101

Just checking in here... I've been busy on the truck but nothing that's very visually stimulating up to this point. But I've bled the rear brakes (which was a breeze w the 1-man kit!) and now my truck stops on a dime... I installed the parking brake self-adjusters on both sides but I think my parking brake cable needs adjusted cuz it still feels too loose. I purchased a new washer pump and wiper motor but could not get the old wiper motor out as it was completely rusted on. So couple days ago I finally drove it to my mechanic and I'll have him replace the wiper motor and also install the horn (as I have no clue where that thing goes) and he'll throw a bumper on it and inspect it. Boom! Long time coming from seeing this thing sitting in a field... once the inspection comes back I'll be digging into sand blasting the frame, new alternator, new tires and a nice paint job! ... any color ideas? I'm thinking navy blue at this point. I

Manuellabour247

Paint is completely a personal preference. I would just say, make sure you take your time prepping for the paint or have a qualified ship do it (expensive). There are quite a few write ups on here of how people have prepped and then painted their trucks. The hardest part is the patience it seems. Lol