How hard should the brake pedal feel

[Crawdaddy]

I know it's hard to quantify into words, but how hard should the brake pedal feel on a proper deuce brake system? Initially my brake pedal had quite a bit of free play and was moderately hard once the free play was taken up, and the truck stopped pretty well. Quite a while ago (year or 2 at this point) I noticed I had a brake hose that was about worn through, so being proactive, I changed all the brake hoses and then bled the brake system using a Recovery4x4 power bleeder setup.

The brake pedal still had a good bit of free travel. I then did a minor brake adjustment per the TM and the brake pedal had no more free play and was still pretty hard. There is little pedal travel because it takes so little travel to brake. The truck stops quite well to the point of being able to lock the brakes if I stand on the pedal, but seems to take a bit of oomph to push.

I first thought there might be an issue when I hopped in the truck when the engine was off and had no air pressure in the tanks and the pedal felt the same as when the truck is running with good air pressure. So, I'm wondering if my air pack isn't doing anything and all my brake power is manual at this point. Frankly, I have no real concerns as to whether the truck will stop when I need it to, but if the air pack isn't helping me brake, I might as well fix it to make sure everything is as good as it can be. So, how much pressure should it take to push the pedal down?

 

[m-35tom]

you should notice quite a improvement in braking with air compared to without. still takes quite a bit of push to apply, but without air you really have to stand on it. without air you are actually applying the brakes manualy. with air you are not really applying the brakes, you are just moving the air control valve on the air pack.

 

[welldigger]

Have you lubricated your air pak? If not remove the plug on the back or the j-pipe and squirt a little air tool oil in there. That may help a bit. This is part of the periodic maintenance procedure. If your air pak wasn't functioning at all you would hardly be able to stop the truck.

 

[Z71]

Until my recent brake light switch failure, the brake pedal feel on my truck was nice and firm. If the pedal is spongy, there is most likely air trapped in the system. And even if your air pack was not functioning properly and id not provide the required air pressure assist, the pedal should still be firm. It would just take a lot of force on the brake pedal to stop the truck.

 

[Crawdaddy]

I haven't driven the deuce without air pressure being built up, so I have no clue whether the truck stops worse without air, but the pedal certainly feels the same with or without air. My pedal isn't spongy at all, it's quite hard. While I can stop the truck fine without standing on the brake, the force required to push the pedal takes a lot more than my car or civvy trucks. It's firm throughout its entire short travel. I checked the free-play of the brake pedal according to the TM instructions, and it seems to be in spec.

So, should I be suspecting that my airpak has issues?

 

[m-35tom]

if you can stop without panicking the air pack is working. it a LOT of pedal pressure without air.