1965 C10 LWB Project Build Thread

[JohnIL]

I want to start this installment by thanking Scoti for his advice on an alternate procedure for manually bleeding brakes. His process is much more controlled and methodical than the way I've always done it. After three rounds of bleeding Scoti's way, I don't think I'm chasing air bubbles anymore. In fact, I didn't see any air bubbles at all. Now, I'm pretty sure I have a different challenge.

After bleeding again, the pedal was still soft. The brakes stop the truck, but the pedal feel was awful. I've felt air in the lines before (on other vehicles) and this felt different. It felt like maybe I wasn't getting enough brake pedal travel, like the pedal was hitting the floor before the master cylinder was maxed out. After thinking about the geometry of the booster and master cylinder, I lengthened the brake rod by adjusting it out one full turn. This improved the pedal feel. It's still softer than I would expect, but I finally got resistance at the end of the pedal stroke. So, I adjusted the rod out two more full turns and the pedal is starting to feel normal-ish.

All of this begs the question, how do you properly adjust the brake rod length?

With the old manual drum setup, I just took all the slack out of the pedal and adjusted the rod so there was 1/8" of free play before the brakes started to engage. I tried to do the same thing with the new power setup, but that appears to be way to loose. With the cushioned resistance of the brake booster, it's very difficult to tell when the brakes begin to engage. Is there a magic formula or should I just keep lengthening the rod until the brakes drag?

As always, I appreciate any wisdom you guys can share.