air brakes

[JApplegate]

i'm back! not like anyone noticed i was gone for like a year had computer problems. still not fixed but on a loaner. my truck still hasn't passed inspection. i have resorted to buying one (hope no cops read this) but i'm still having problems with them thinking that my brakes are bad. they say the drift down to the floor. i never got them to do that and have i towed some large trailers this year with no brakes on the trailers. i think they are fine and my father sees nothing wronge with them either. i replaced the master cylinder with no luck. i have given up on them. i have decided that my best bet is to just get rid of this system and get air brakes. i have always wanted to do it but never had a reason for it. well i do now. my question is can it be done and can i buy a kit for it or do i have to make one up?

p. s. my truck is now black with yellow primer dotes, i had to wet sand it and the bumps turned out to be primer. also i'm not looking forward to the letter i'm going to be getting from the gov. next month because i turned 18 last friday.

 

[TKingsbury]

Trying to swap to air brakes is probably a bad idea. There is alot to an air brake system. Alot of know-how goes in to making a system that functions properly and is safe. One of the many issues with this would be finding brakes small enough to go on your truck. It would most likely require an axle swap, or at least housing end mods to make them fit. I think you're better off with repairing your juice brakes. My . 02, take it for what it's worth.

Travis. .

 

[bmoeller]

Do the '93's have RWAL brakes? Could be an issue there. Internal leakage.



Are the rear brake shoes adjusted properly? We had a similar issue on a C-70 Chevy truck. Once we were able to get all the shoes adjusted (4 wheel drum brakes), the problem went away.

 

[1stgen4evr]

That would require you to also have a CDL license. You can fix what you have. Just don't get to fiesty with what you do. Take it one step at the time and eliminate the possibles. Pedal creep is usually the master cylinder.



I have in fact wondered what you were up to. Figured that since you were not posting, you had no issues.



James

 

[dpuckett]

You could have a bad master cylinder, even out of the box. BTDT too many times. Get a new Bendix MC, bench bleed it, install it and bleed the rest of the system. Sometimes you can get away with unplugging the RWAL computer behind the glove box; other times you have to unplug it back at the left rear frame rail. That will most likely eliminate the issue of spongy brakes. Next option is to try another shop. How hard is the "inspector" pushing the brkae pedal? My pedla will go halfway to the floor if you stand on it, but you are locking all 4 wheels at 2" travel, so you would in the real world, never get there.



How go things with the hot red-head neighbor girl? Is she legal yet? Bill is looking for a companion... . :-laf



Daniel

 

[BHiggins]

I had a '90 CTD with the same problem, with mine it turned out to be the rear wheel anti-lock valve (as BMoeller suggested). The dealer wanted close to $400. 00 for the valve if they could get it, which they couldn't, so I plumbed around it with a new brake line... Problem solved.

In response to your querry on air brakes, in my opinion it would not be worth the time, effort, and $$ spent on fabrication, there's way too much involved. But again that's just my opinion.

 

[JLEONARD]

Jimmy, I'm going to ditto Daniels comment about the master cylinder.

PLus the rear brake adjustment is important on these trucks... get them up close and keep them there. I have my box behind the glove comp unplugged... the brakes are awsum now after I replaced the fronts, including new rotors, and adjusted the rears. (Or maybe it's those rims??)

Hope this helps.



You driving up on the 29th for our see-food challenge????



Jay

 

[JApplegate]

ok ok. . let see. . computer plugged in. . smoked... good reason haven't been able to reply. as you might see JLEONARD the answer to your question is no. lol and do u have a problem with my rims... they are great. they just pit during the winter cause of all the salt they use. daniel. . she still hot, still fisty, and me and her are looking worse everyday. lol she is legal now. . she's getting her CDL, going to drive a dump truck. . her and dump truck. . i'm scared! bill you can come down her if you want to risk your life. and no i won't need a CDL to drive my truck. Farmer tags let me get away with it. as i might have siad before i paid a guy to inspct my truck he looked at it and said your good. so i have 2 years efore i have to worry about my brakes... they stopped me and the trailer from hitting a deer so i'm not worried... nice buck too. 8 pointer... i was hopping my brakes failed so i could get my truck fixed and get that buck. i'm currently taking FireFighting 1 class. they training me how to be a fire fighter... you can all worry now.