brake question

[big mike71]

Can you adjust how close to the floor your brake pedal goes when you apply the brakes?

[spinning wheels]

Originally Posted by big mike71

Can you adjust how close to the floor your brake pedal goes when you apply the brakes?

Yes

[spatz]

The pedal shouldn't be any lower the the gas pedal if everything is adjusted correctly, if it is below that your rear drum brakes could be not adjusted fully and you take a chance of blowing out the wheel cylinder. But this depends on what you have for a brake system, disc on front or drum. Need more information on brake system to correctly answer this

[big mike71]

Disc front drum back. everything works fine but I would like a little more pedal, thanks

[Longhorn Man]

is it manual brakes, or power brakes?

[big mike71]

power

[Longhorn Man]

There's a few things.
The pedal should not go much higher than the throttle. (manual brakes go higher)
After making sure that the brakes are bled properly, and the rear drums are adjusted up properly, then you can check the pushrod going to the master cylinder.
With the engine off, pump the brake pedal untill there is no more assist. Then, with your hand, reach down and lightly push on the pedal. We are talking finger pressure, not brute force. The amount of room you can push it with your fingers is the freeplay.
I never found a way tomeasure it the way the book tells you too, and I'll skip that part. I always shoot for about 1/2 to 3/4 inch freeplay measured at the bottom of the pedal.
If you have more than that, then you need to unbolt the master cyulinder from the booster. No need to open any hyd lines, or anything like that, just the 2 9/16ths nuts that hold it to the booster. Gently pull it away, and either have an assistant hold it, or use a rope or something to support the weight off the steel lines. The rod coming out of the booster should be an adjustable pushrod. You may need some pliers and a small wrench (I think 5/16ths, but not sure) you'll want to unscrew the tip out. Work in small steps, a little adjustment goes a long way.
Assemble everything and use the finger on the pedal method again, and see what kind of freeplay you have.
Repeat as needed.
If the pushrod is too short, you'll get a bunch of freeplay in the pedal. If it is too long, and you remove all the freeplay, or even have npot enough freeplay, then your brakes will start to bind up as you drive from the heat and parts/fluid expansion. The rear brakes will drag on a 3/4 ton, while the front will drag on a 1/2 ton.
If unsure, I would lean towards too much freeplay instead of not enough.