Brakes won't budge

[63chevy208]

So this truck I got the brakes won't depress. So what would make the brake pedal completely lock up

[PGSigns]

Froze up master cylinder. frozen wheel cylinders or rusted solid lines. First thing I do with a truck that I get is go through all the brakes and replace it all if it has not been done and split the system. When I got my 66 three out of the four wheel cylinders were frozen and would not move. It had only been off the road about 8 months. These old trucks have had water in the brake fluid for 50 years or more and for peace of mind and so I don't wreck another one I just change it all.
Jimmy

[63chevy208]

That's what I was thinking. The truck can be pushed around. So i know they are not frozen in the stop position. So how do I go about this. Take off the master cylinder, replace brakes lines? besides doing a brake job. what else should I do?

[Brandons63]

If it where me, I would disconnect the brake lines from the master cylinder and try to press the brake pedal to see if it moves. If not its your master cylinder that's locked up. A factory master cylinder is cheap and can be found easily at your local parts store for around $20. If it's locked up, I would still recommend replacing the wheel cylinders. From what I remember the rears are like $10 and fronts like $12. This is an easy job. While replacing the wheel cylinders, also replace the flexible brake lines. There are one each side in the front and one in the rear. These are also cheap. When they are old they dry rot and crack or they are soft and expand with hydraulic pressure application thus not transferring the fluid pressure to the wheel cylinders. These 8 items will provide peace of mind. The last thing you want is to have a line fail or a wheel cylinder locking up when cruising in your '63.. Body parts are a lot more expensive if you have an accident.. A friend of mine drove through a barn and hit a RV parked inside when cruising up to his parking spot on his farm in his beautiful 58 Apache when he lost a front flex line... Just make sure to bench bleed the master cylinder. If u need any more help let me know, I just did all four corners of my '63, lines and MS.

[markeb01]

One other thing to watch for is deeply scored brake drums with new shoes installed. I've seen this once, and we had a devil of a time getting the drums off. They had to be adjusted completely open and the given some good whacks with a hammer to knock the shoes out of the drums. Just something to consider if there are any problems getting the drums off.

[63chevy208]

Yeah my 60 I had the bearings went bad so I did a brake job on that one also. So i might as well get the bearings replaced also since ill be doing that. luckily these things are cheap.