59 6100 brake troubleshooting

[dmazzillo]

hey, i have a 1959 viking and i removed all 6 wheel cylinders and the master cylinder, honed them out and bought and installed rebuild kits for all of them. I then bled them untill i was positive all of the air was out. when i though i was done i pumped the pedal a few times and the pedal got hard about half way down but once i let off and pushed the pedal about 5 seconds later it went to the floor. i then pumped it another 3 times and held it when it got hard and it did not lose any pressure even after holding the pressure on it for about 5 minutes the pedal still remained hard. If anyone has any idea what might be going on i would sure be greatful to any help or suggestions! thanx!

[Mega_Dave]

did you leave the brakes adjusted the way they were or did you losen them to take the wheel cylinders off? i would say you might have the brakes to tight and you might not be getting the proper flow of fluid to the cylinders which explains why your pedel is tight. losen the brakes A LITTLE and see if it helps. And you said after you put everything back and pumped it a few times and let it sit and then it went back to the floor? your rebuilt cylinders could have gave out. I wouldn't have bought rebuild kits for the cylinders, i would have bought them new. they sould cost as much as you paid for your rebuild kits.

i hope this helps.

[NovaMan]

I then bled them untill i was positive all of the air was out. Did you start with the wheel cylinder farthest from the master cylinder and work your way to the one closest to the master cylinder?

[dmazzillo]

yes i bled them from the farthest to the closest but i forgot to adjust the shoes back out so that could be the problem but they were only like 3 or 4 bucks a peice so it wasnt that big of a deal but the cylinders leaking is what i thought but i figured i would ask on here before i went tearing everything apart again. thanx yall.

[frank alguire]

Did you bench bleed the master cylinder before re-installing it? If not, you may be plaqued with captured air for a while.

Frank

[dmazzillo]

no im not exactly sure what bench bleading consists of so no i didnt do that...can someone give me a quick summary of what i should do and do i need to take the master cylinder back off the truck? thanx!

[NovaMan]

The way I understand it, bench bleeding is just directing the output of the master cylinder back into the reservoirs and pumping it many, many times. So you should be able to do it with the master cylinder on the truck... and then you'll have to bleed all 4 corners again.