Gimmie a brake!

As if I haven't bitten off enough with this major servicing, I decided to overhaul the braking system.  I'd previously replaced all of the rubber high-pressure lines, but now was the time to do the rest.

The master cylinder is an easy swap, but like with all of the brake components you need to be very careful when removing the hard hydraulic lines.  Many of mine needed some encouragement from a MAPP gas torch.

If you're doing the master cylinder, you'd better do the rear proportioning valve as well.  It regulates the amount of braking power applied to the rear wheels under different loading and road conditions.

As it turned out, mine was totally inoperative until I replaced it.  Who knew?

Next I rebuilt both front brake calipers.  There is a caliper seal kit to do this, but it does not include the 2 seals that joint the fluid passages between caliper halves.  I could have skipped splitting the halves but am very glad I didn't - they were filthy and starting to corrode inside.  Now they look almost new!

The rear brakes were original to the truck, and very ugly.  All of the hardware was corroded and the automatic adjuster seemed stuck.

After liberal amounts of brake cleaner and a wire brush I was able to make the backing plate and other parts look great.  The adjuster got a dab of PTFE & silicone grease on the adjustment threads, and I bought a new hardware kit so the springs and such would be ready for the future.  Even the parking brake cables got replaced just because the old ones were corroding under their skin, although they did work.

Wheel cylinders were of course replaced at the same time, and boy did they need it.  This thing should stop like new when it's done!