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Final Installation
I got the final touches done to the bracket and painted it. Last week I installed the fittings to connect the master cylinder to the front and rear brake lines. The red fittings are 10psi residual pressure valves, since the master cylinder doesn't appear to have any. All the pictures I've seen of dual circuit systems have a brake light switch on each of the circuits. I have no idea why, other than that the brake lights will work if one of the circuits goes down (if my brakes fail the last thing I'm going to worry about is whether my brake lights are on!). But I figured there's a good reason, so I did the same thing. If someone knows why, please tell me!
I installed everything this afternoon and my boys helped me bleed the brakes. The system appears to work very well. The pedal is very firm, and stops solidly at about 3" of travel, or about 30% of total travel to the floor board. I'm debating whether to add another 1/4" to the booster arm on the next bracket. The longer arm gives less mechanical advantage, and I don't yet know how much boost I will get from the 7" booster. The longer arm may also make the brakes a little touchy, which I want to avoid. I won't know until the truck is on the road. Right now I figure I'm getting 90% of the master cylinder capacity before the pedal hits the floor board.
The last item to figure out is the pedal return spring. I can't use the factory location because the brake rod is in the way. I thought about using the factory spring and welding an arm at the bottom of the brake lever (black illustration), but it hung too low and I didn't like the look of if. After some more head scratching I'm going to try mounting a spring in the area of the red line. Now I just have to find the right spring.
I got the final touches done to the bracket and painted it. Last week I installed the fittings to connect the master cylinder to the front and rear brake lines. The red fittings are 10psi residual pressure valves, since the master cylinder doesn't appear to have any. All the pictures I've seen of dual circuit systems have a brake light switch on each of the circuits. I have no idea why, other than that the brake lights will work if one of the circuits goes down (if my brakes fail the last thing I'm going to worry about is whether my brake lights are on!). But I figured there's a good reason, so I did the same thing. If someone knows why, please tell me!
I installed everything this afternoon and my boys helped me bleed the brakes. The system appears to work very well. The pedal is very firm, and stops solidly at about 3" of travel, or about 30% of total travel to the floor board. I'm debating whether to add another 1/4" to the booster arm on the next bracket. The longer arm gives less mechanical advantage, and I don't yet know how much boost I will get from the 7" booster. The longer arm may also make the brakes a little touchy, which I want to avoid. I won't know until the truck is on the road. Right now I figure I'm getting 90% of the master cylinder capacity before the pedal hits the floor board.
The last item to figure out is the pedal return spring. I can't use the factory location because the brake rod is in the way. I thought about using the factory spring and welding an arm at the bottom of the brake lever (black illustration), but it hung too low and I didn't like the look of if. After some more head scratching I'm going to try mounting a spring in the area of the red line. Now I just have to find the right spring.
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