M135 Advice please.......................??

Crazy thought - think about replacing your right front brake hose. I've heard about hoses that can fail internally and can partly block fluid flow.

You have a very nice looking 135. Be glad that you aren't starting a restoration right now, because parts for the GMCs are really drying up. A friend of mine was restoring one, and he was totally unable to track down a new muffler - he wound up making one from the closest he could find. Also, remember NOT to back up in high range, use low range. I think there was a MWO somewhere along the line to block out high/reverse in the shift tower, but my memory fails me on the details.

February 1st, 2015.

I know that the brakes are driving you nuts, but NOW may be the time to hook up with a local MVPA or Steel Soldiers who have M135's and get them to double check your repairs. Worse come to worse, look around for a really old large truck mechanic and see if he'll look it over for you.

We Had two M135/211's years ago, and if I could have gotten my hands on an M35A2 multifuel, both of the GMC's would have hit the junkyard sooner, as they were really poorly designed trucks. Our two hauled barrels off of barges at the Wheeling Pit plant in Follansbee, W.Va., and when they were done, they were sold to some local guy who had the engines drop out sometime thereafter. They could barely get out of their own way, they were that underpowered. The only thing with less power was a single axle gasoline White Super Mustang truck....with about 115 HP.

Your dad's truck deserves perhaps a little better going over, and if you have the 20,24 and 24P manuals for it, plus the depot rebuild manual for the brake system, you should have a fighting chance to work the bugs out of it. often the old brake hoses will partially collapse, causing an incomplete release of one or more wheel cylinders connected to it. Replace all the hoses on the brake system with new ones and you should not have that problem again. WHEN you rebuild a brake drum, be sure that all the parts go back in the brake drum they came out of, DO NOT mix components, as they sometimes wear in to be in only the position you took them out of. Sure, the trucks were interchangeable sixty years ago, but they are often not so now.

Good Luck!

I had a old dodge pickup 40+ years ago that did the same thing. I pulled the front drums of a dozen times trying to figure out what was causing it to lock up. Turns out (a machinist told me to check) the drums were so wore that they were way beyond maximum ID. The shoes would go out so far that they would grab at the top. Check the drums to eliminate that.