Weird brake issue

MorganMcCann · May 24, 2015

A few days ago, I was coming home and my brakes went out, but only kind of. The truck still stops, but it takes a long time to stop and the pedal will go all the way to the floor. The day before the truck was stopping fine, and nothing was messed with on the braking system at all. I have no fluid leaks, and the master cylinder is full.

My best hypothesis is that I need to replace my master cylinder. Am I wrong?

Mark_88 · May 25, 2015

Could be the master...could also be the booster. I would check the line to the booster to see if it is cracked or broken and also the plug on the booster.

If they check out ok does the truck still have problems stopping or did it go away by itself? About 70% of your braking is done through the front calipers (unless you have them all around) and if the line to them is plugged it can also cause issues...

You can check that a couple of ways, but having a friend assist gets it done safely...without driving the vehicle...just jack it up and remove the front wheel...

I noticed on my 96 that they no longer have a separate splitter for the fronts...mine goes from the master to the driver side and the splitter is located on the flexible hose fitting and runs over to the passenger side from there...so it sorta has a splitter but not a separate part in line...this means if there is a plug in the line downboth fronts go out...

RonD · May 25, 2015

If you are not losing fluid then yes, most likely the Master cylinder check valve or piston seal has gone out, which means replacing the master.

Could be Power booster but with symptoms described I would say no, pedal being stiff and hard to push down would be more in line with power booster issue.

MorganMcCann · May 26, 2015

RonD said:
If you are not losing fluid then yes, most likely the Master cylinder check valve or piston seal has gone out, which means replacing the master.

Could be Power booster but with symptoms described I would say no, pedal being stiff and hard to push down would be more in line with power booster issue.

That is what I was thinking myself. The pedal is softer than it has ever been.

Mark_88 · May 26, 2015

Ooops...guess I didn't comprehend the "pedal goes to the floor"...lol...the pedal usually only goes to the floor once before the reservoir is near empty if there is a leak...had that happen a few times but never blew out a master...

MorganMcCann · May 26, 2015

Mark_88 said:
Ooops...guess I didn't comprehend the "pedal goes to the floor"...lol...the pedal usually only goes to the floor once before the reservoir is near empty if there is a leak...had that happen a few times but never blew out a master...

I blew out one of the lines in my mustang not too long ago, and I thought I did it again on the truck. Hopefully I'll swap the master out tomorrow, and I hope it'll be relatively easy to do.

Mark_88 · May 26, 2015

They are not hard to do, but I think you need to bench bleed the master beforehand...if you are familiar with that then it's pretty easy...just be prepared to and have parts on hand in case the lines turn out to be brittle with rust. Some of those joint connectors are nice to have in case you need to splice in new lines.

My 96 front lines are just about shot...I changed the rear line from the master to the ABS module last year...I know I need to bleed the back brakes and was actually going to do the shoes as well...was in the process of checking them out when my right knee blew out last summer...it's number four or five on my list of things right now...

MorganMcCann · May 26, 2015

How do you bench bleed the master?

Mark_88 · May 26, 2015

This youtube video shows one way of doing it...I've never had to bleed a new master but seen it done a few times...I've always used ones that were already in a vehicle and just needed to be transplanted...when I bled my brakes I did the master first by having someone push the pedal down and I let the fluid out...then I plugged the hole and had the other person pump the pedal again...let the fluid out...just did that a few times and it worked perfectly.

Anyway...this one looks like a Ranger so it could work for you...

Note how he takes the master off...the brake fluid level connector seems to be a bit corroded...lol...when I did my last one I ended up chewing up that connector and now I'm going to have to replace it...so take it easy...spray it with something to help loosen up the corrosion and it will come off easy.

MorganMcCann · May 27, 2015

Mark_88 said:
This youtube video shows one way of doing it...I've never had to bleed a new master but seen it done a few times...I've always used ones that were already in a vehicle and just needed to be transplanted...when I bled my brakes I did the master first by having someone push the pedal down and I let the fluid out...then I plugged the hole and had the other person pump the pedal again...let the fluid out...just did that a few times and it worked perfectly.

Anyway...this one looks like a Ranger so it could work for you...

Note how he takes the master off...the brake fluid level connector seems to be a bit corroded...lol...when I did my last one I ended up chewing up that connector and now I'm going to have to replace it...so take it easy...spray it with something to help loosen up the corrosion and it will come off easy.

This doesn't look too bad. I should be able to get this done today. I just hope I got the right set of flare nut wrenches.

Mark_88 · May 27, 2015

It should be easy to bleed...removing and installing is usually more challenging due to rust, and rounding the fittings...I went and bought a specific "brake line wrench" that is almost like a box wrench with a bit of a space instead of fully closed. this allows you to fit the wrench over the line and then it will fit the nut and get a better grip.

I wouldn't say it eliminated rounding the nuts, but it certainly reduced the number of nuts I rounded with poorly fitting wrenches.

If you remember, try finding a few of those...but check the sizes beforehand...mine are in mm and usually are 11 mm...the larger one is 12 or 13mm but I can't remember...and you only have one of those and that is on the master.

Have fun...take your time!

The line bleeding will require either an assistant or get one of those one-man line bleeding kits...I just bought another one since my original has lost some parts...but it lasted five years and three or four brake jobs...good tool to have.

MorganMcCann · May 27, 2015

Mark_88 said:
It should be easy to bleed...removing and installing is usually more challenging due to rust, and rounding the fittings...I went and bought a specific "brake line wrench" that is almost like a box wrench with a bit of a space instead of fully closed. this allows you to fit the wrench over the line and then it will fit the nut and get a better grip.

I wouldn't say it eliminated rounding the nuts, but it certainly reduced the number of nuts I rounded with poorly fitting wrenches.

If you remember, try finding a few of those...but check the sizes beforehand...mine are in mm and usually are 11 mm...the larger one is 12 or 13mm but I can't remember...and you only have one of those and that is on the master.

Have fun...take your time!

The line bleeding will require either an assistant or get one of those one-man line bleeding kits...I just bought another one since my original has lost some parts...but it lasted five years and three or four brake jobs...good tool to have.

Put in the master today, it went really smooth and my father helped me bleed the brakes.

However, that wasn't the issue.

I found out that the spring in my rear drums snapped for the second time, on the opposite side. I have replace all of them once, when the self adjusters piece broke off last fall. I bought these spring kits from AutoZone, and they really ****ed me over.

However, this time the spring kit pretty much exploded in my rear end, and now I have to replace the axle oil seals, because it ate into one of the seals. I'm buying the spring kit and self adjusters from the dealer this time.

Do you have any tips for pulling the axles out of a Ford 8.8?

Mark_88 · May 28, 2015

Can't help with that much...but there are others on here who could.

Do you mean pull the axels out of this rear end or did you want to just find another 8.8 from a Ranger and swap that in. I know I could probably handle an axel swap, but not sure if I'd attempt to repair an axel that needs new seals.

If it was me...I'd look for another axel with disk brakes and do a proper swap and upgrade at the same time...

You might post in another forum since we are moving away from brakes and into axels...not sure which one would work best for that post...will have a look.

EDIT: Gosh...I feel stupid...the Axel section is just above the brake section and I don't recall ever seeing it...

MorganMcCann · May 29, 2015

Mark_88 said:
Can't help with that much...but there are others on here who could.

Do you mean pull the axels out of this rear end or did you want to just find another 8.8 from a Ranger and swap that in. I know I could probably handle an axel swap, but not sure if I'd attempt to repair an axel that needs new seals.

If it was me...I'd look for another axel with disk brakes and do a proper swap and upgrade at the same time...

You might post in another forum since we are moving away from brakes and into axels...not sure which one would work best for that post...will have a look.

EDIT: Gosh...I feel stupid...the Axel section is just above the brake section and I don't recall ever seeing it...

I'm just going to pull the axles and replace the seals. I don't have the money to put a whole new rear end. Plus if I bought a new one, It would be a locking rear end with a 31 spline rear end with disc brakes.

Mark_88 · Jun 15, 2015

Been a while...how did this turn out for you?

Weird brake issue

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