Is my brake pedal high?

[mzsigler]

I just picked up this truck as a project. I don't have anything to compare it to, and I haven't driven a truck like this in maybe a decade or more, so I'm just checking before I start chasing a problem that isn't there.

The brake pedal seems insanely high to me. The brakes are also SUPER weak, like, if I stomp the life out of them they will eventually lock up the tires a little, but there's what feels like 12" of very spongy travel first. i drove it back from picking it up leaving like 15 car lengths between me and the nearest car because the brakes were downright scary to me. Also, I found a NAPA receipt for a master cylinder the in the glovebox, so the previous owner was obviously working on the brakes too.

Like I said though, it's been a long time since I drove one of these and my current weekend fun car is a 96 Miata with aftermarket pads, so maybe I'm just not used to 35 year old truck brakes.

Here's a pic of the interior where you can at least kinda see the pedal position. I turned up the exposure to make it visible.



I can take better pics and measure on Tuesday when I'm back at the shop, but I was wondering if anyone can tell me if this is abnormal just based on this picture so I can do some research while I have downtime.

I'm short, 5'6", and I have to like fully bend my knee to raise my leg up high enough to hit the brake pedal. Seems F'ed to me. What do you guys think?