I replaced the rear brake shoes, drums and springs. When I brake, the driver side rear locks then the other side. Seems like I don't get much braking from the front. I'm on vaca this week and want to get it fixed before snow hits. Can you adjust the proportioning valve or make any adjustments?

 

You can adjust the rear's..

 

I would be a little concerned that the front brakes do not seem to be working well. Did you bleed the front and rear brakes after replacing the rear?

 

I replaced the front rotors, pads and bearings. They seem to be working AOK. I didn't know how bad the front was until I pulled the wheel. They had some pad left but looked really old.

 

i have a 1997 f1504x4 with the same issue. i threw money at it and changed every part and bypassed the abs with no results.
you are right about no front brakes because the back end locks before enough line pressure gets high enough to help. i corrected the issue by putting disc brakes on rear.. you will not believe how much better your truck drives.
i used a aftermarket kit for my 8.8 rear. you can change the whole rear housing to. I think around 1999 ford pickups started with disc on rear.
hope this helps. my truck used to a p.i.a. to drive but i love it now..

 

A few years ago I was having some brake issues so I got into checking prices of replacement brake parts. I am amazed at the great prices I can get for parts at Rock Auto or places out on ebay. Parts may seem expensive to some but compared to taking your Truck in to a shop for brakes they are dirt cheap and you can get a higher quality part. I ended up changing the calipers, pads, and rotors on the front and the brake cylinders, shoes, and certain of the rusty brake lines on the back. The brake drums on the back were good so I didn't replace them or have them turned. I also switched over the a premium brake DOT 4 brake fluid to avoid future issues with the DOT 3 fluid that absorbs moisture and results in an ongoing maintenance chore of doing a brake bleed every couple of years. On all the brake bleeder valves I also put a little anti size grease to prevent the problem of having them rust up from the road salt and snow of the winter. I mentioned earlier about bleeding the brakes because after I replace everything the brakes were still not stopping just as good as they should. Got a friend and we bleed the brakes again and then everything was working great. I figure I had a little air in the lines after the first brake bleed that was causing the brakes to fail to properly engage. Since then, the brakes have been perfect and work as good as or better than new. Did all of this for less than $200 and I figure I shouldn't have future brake problems for a long time. A shop might do a good job but probably won't use the premium parts I used and with a 20 year old truck I could end up with a leaky cylinder or caliper down the line and I might not get the same stopping power as I get with the premium brake pads and rotors. I would also have to spend a lot more money to get the same result. Since brakes are easy to do, I think doing it yourself is the way to go.

 

It's a rare occasion that I can't fix something myself. The only thing I had a shop do was the starter and wiring harness. I had a shop do it out of frustration because I couldn't reach this 1 bolt! Lol

 

I get it with changing the starter. There is one bolt in the back next to the engine block that is really hard to get at. I found this out after I bought a new starter to replace and I went through a number of trys with various tools until if finally got it out and got the new one in. fortunately it was a nice day when I did it so I wasn't freezing cold or in a heavy sweat during the change. If there is a next time, I'm taking it to the shop.