I'm looking to purchase a '99 f150. when i press the brake it has alot of travel on its way down before i notice the car beginning to slow down, but it hasnt totally reached the floor yet, neither does it need too. My question is what are the possible causes and how can I get the brake pedal to be tight again so I dont have to extend my leg further than necessary.

Thanks

 

I just had to have my front brakes done on my Interceptor. Low brake fluid, low pads, a leak somewhere... those could contribute to it. I'm not a mechanic but that's what I would check first. 'Cause after that all was fixed for me, the pedal felt 10x better.

 

Like sumidor said... I would first check the brake fluid reservoir. Then pads (doubt that is the problem unless your piston came out of the boot). Even if the reservoir is full, I would bleed all the lines and replace with new fluid. Should solve any issues.

I might also get a friend to help check for pin hole leaks and crimped lines. Any air in the lines and your pedal will feel like a clutch.

 

Master cylinder might be bad. I replaced mine a weeks ago and it did help some but I think I need a Hydraulic Control Unit (HCU). Here are 2 different threads that might you.
https://www.f150forum.com/f6/brake-p...-150-a-157374/
https://www.f150forum.com/f6/brake-issues-192007/

 

If you have drums on the back, take off the tire. Check to see how loose the rotor is against the pads, if it wiggles around a lot, take a flat head screw driver and loosen of the golden screw at the bottom. This will force your brake pads apart to fit the rotor better. Causing less travel in pedal. The rotor should just barely fit over the pads. That'll fix the back.
If the pads are worn totally, you'll need to replace them.

As for the front / if you have drums all around, do as ibd2328 said.

 

You have a problem and you need to get it fixed very fast because driving around like that is very dangerous to yourself and other people on the road. It could be a number of thing that are all easy to identify but you need to stop driving it like this. You want a list? Master cylinder, brake lines, brake calipers, brake cylinders, brake fluid, leaks,

Stop driving and get it fixed

 

If you see in my original post, i don't own the truck as of yet.

 

thanks for the guidance so far. any other ideas are more than welcome!

 

Make the purchase contigent on brake repair.

 

x2. Good idea. And make sure the individual supplies proof that the work was done.