I Need A Deal !!!

[MN Rooky]

I'm finishing up on my truck and ran into some trouble with my brakes. I went through them myself a couple times and couldn't get them to be solid. Took it to the garage and got some bad news. I need 2 new drums for the rear end and a brake booster. Where can I find my best price. I have ran out of fun money. The truck is a 71 3/4 ton with a Eaton rear end.

I have check the normal spot. Napa, LMC, Brother, ect... It looks about $200 for each piece.

Is there any other truck with the same parts?

[tcb-1]

you may call around to the salvage yards in your area and see if they have any. then get them resurfaced and you'll be gold. I'm thinking the whole thing for under 100 bones.....

ohhhhh, just reread your post. a 3/4 tonner may be harder to find at that. but, I'd still give the salvage yard a try. could'nt hurt.

[spinning wheels]

Good luck, I did mine over 7 years ago and I spent easily over $400 on the rear brakes alone. If '71 are anything like the '72s, you will have more than one type of rear brake drums sizes. So the odds of finding the right one at a junk yard is slim, but you may luck out.

The brake booster, I found a local shop. I got the 9" dual diaphragm. That was just under $200, but it included the mounting brackets and push rod.

Try just installing the booster first. Get some new shoes on the rear and pray.

At that time, I called around and found Auto Zone to have the lowest prices.

Not sure about them anymore, as the auto parts business is always changing.

Check with RockAuto.com

[Longhorn Man]

when you try and order the drums, you may find they are actually no longer avalible.
Double check them yourself, and see if adjusting the shoes up is all thats needed. Bad drums won't make for a bad feel in the pedal, noise, poor braking performance... but not a soft pedal.
Don't turn them unless they actually need it... considering the fact that they are so expensive, and turning them just takes years off of them.

[willyCJ]

I assume you've bleed the brakes several times? I spongy pedal is typically a sign of air or a leak (check all the fittings/lines/hoses). So I would try bleeding (again). Degrease all the fittings so you can see if they are leaking.

I've never dealt with a bad booster, but it should make the brakes harder to push (my expectation anyway).

Try jacking up each corner and see how much resistance the wheel gives when you turn it. Once you have a wheel spinning it should only go another 1/2-full turn before the brakes drag it to a stop. This is the easiest way to see if you need to spin the adjusters. Speaking of adjusters, the next time you have the shoes out, make sure they spin easily.

Personally a new booster and drums seems like an expensive fix the shop would like to bill you for, but I'm guessing there are deeper problems that need solved. I just did my 70 last week, it needed 1 set of shoes, 1 adjuster and 1 wheel cylinder. Now I can lock up the wheels, before it barely stopped.

[MN Rooky]

Thanks Guys, I have new pads on the back, new brake cylinders and new brake lines on the rear. I have bled the brakes 2 times and they were soft. Took it to the garage and they changed the master cylinder and bled the brakes a couple times. The pedal is hard now but no brakes. They had it on the lift and pushed the pedal and the rear wheels kept spinning. The pads were fully extended.

It looks like I have to start saving my pennies.

[Green Machine]

Could be the proportioning valve, we were getting almost no fluid to the rear of our 71 C20, new prop valve fixed it, spendy but worth it.

[spinning wheels]

Originally Posted by MN Rooky

Thanks Guys, I have new pads on the back, new brake cylinders and new brake lines on the rear. I have bled the brakes 2 times and they were soft. Took it to the garage and they changed the master cylinder and bled the brakes a couple times. The pedal is hard now but no brakes. They had it on the lift and pushed the pedal and the rear wheels kept spinning. The pads were fully extended.

It looks like I have to start saving my pennies.

Did the shop or you check the small plastic check valve, on the booster? See picture. This is where the vacuum line connects to the booster. I had one go bad on one of vehicles. The brakes were ok the first time you pushed on the brake pedal. If you tapped the pedal, the pedal would get rock hard and the brakes would almost work.

[MN Rooky]

Because of the price of drums I'm looking to change over to disc brakes on the rear. It looks like I can change everything over for less then the cost of 2 drums.

What's your experience with rear disc brakes?