[AT] OT--Farm Truck brakes

[Gene Dotson]

    I had the same problem with my old IH 160. The brakes were very hard to 
bleed through the booster. Driven regularly, the brakes would work fine. 
When parked at the end of the season, the fluid would all leak out and 
require filling and bleeding. After some unsuccessful attempts at bleeding, 
I would fill the master cylinder and let gavity do the work. The fluid would 
find its way to the wheel cylinders and evacuate the air through the relaxed 
and worn wheel cylinder cups. Replaced all the wheel cylinder cups and had 
no further troubles as long as I owned the truck.

    Over time the cylinder cups dry out and let the fluid leak past so 
slowly that the fluid evaporates with very little evidence.

                                Gene



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Hall" <jthall at worldnet.att.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 31, 2009 9:19 AM
Subject: [AT] OT--Farm Truck brakes


> I have a problem with the brakes on my F-600 Ford grain truck. I have had
> the truck for a about a year but have never put it on the road. We have 
> been
> making some odd and end repairs to get it roadworthy. The guy I bought it
> from had tags on it through 2007. He put a master cylinder on it some time
> back. I noticed an empty can of brake fluid in the floorboard when I 
> bought
> it. While using it around the farm last summer we needed to add some brake
> fluid. Then this winter while sitting under the shed untouched for a few
> months, all the fluid disappeared from the master cylinder. We refilled it
> but had no brakes. Parked it to work on another day. When we went to get 
> it
> to take to the shop, we had full pedal/brakes and the master cylinder was
> still full. I have looked on every wheel and cannot find a leak (didn't 
> pull
> the wheels--with this much fluid missing it should be easy to find). We 
> also
> pulled the vacuum line of the booster to see if it was leaking into it and
> burring the fluid--dry. Don't see anything leaking from the master 
> cylinder
> either.  What is the chance that when the guy changed the master cylinder 
> he
> got a huge air block in the line and was able to drive the truck for a
> couple years and not know it--and then it finally worked its way out 
> sitting
> under the shed? If that is not a possibility, then where could all this
> fluid be going?
>
> John Hall
>
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