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Ok.. the '46 2 Ton is rolling under its own power, after several trips around the property, she's runnin' smooth and the drivetrain is A-OK.

Of course, the truck sat for the better part of 20 years, and the "master cylinder" was dry.

Now I know I need to probably replace all the brake lines, etc etc.. but for the time being, I just want to get her to stop so I can dump the load of junk in the back of it into one of my gullys before I fill it in.

Now I filled up the "master cylinder" (located just under the drivers side floor) pumped it up a bit.. put some more in.. pumped it up more.. mostly just to see if the lines would hold any pressure.. if they did I was going to see about bleeding the lines.

Now what happened was the top of the big screw cap for the "master cylinder" has two holes in it.. if you get any pressure built in it, it starts squirting.

The two holes are parallel with each other, on opposing sides of the cap.. what the heck is this? Does this sound normal?

all the old MC caps are vented to suck air for the displaced fluid, so it doesn't 'airlock' - why the brake system rots so fast! prolly spitting it out cuz it ain't pumping it into the lines due to them being filled w/ air, or you've overfilled it

Bill

My old cap was doing the same thing. I replaced it with a plastic cap, a lot are using plastic now so that you can't crank it down and overtighten it. It works great.

There should be a little buildup of pressure in the resevoir of the MC in the beginning of the stroke.

What about your hand brake, perhaps that would work well enough to dump that one last load.

I went through my whole braking system, it's the only way to go.

The handbrake dosent seem to be doing much of anything.. but i'm not certian that it's actually activating.

This weekend i'm going to get my little brother to man the cab while I have a look at the underside to see whats going on with it.

As far as the load, I went ahead and drove it down the hill.. I kept it in 2nd and let the engine do the braking work, got her all unloaded and skipped right back up the hill with no problem.

Today I rigged a hose to fit on the bleeder valves and put the hose in a jar with fluid and tried to bleed them that way, but the best I got was a spongy pedal after about 5 pumps to the floor.. so it's probably going to be a weekend job when I can have the two of us on it (one to pump the pedal and make sure the MC stays full, the other to bleed)

This truck rocks.. I find myself driving around in one of my flat empty 12 acre pastures just driving it.. and I just love this truck!!

I'm sure once I finally get a SEAT in the cab the experience will be even better!

When I first dragged this old truck home out of that cow pasture, the day I could actually hop in, start it and take off seemed like a distant dream.. but with the help and guidence of the folks here it's a reality!

Thanks again to everyone for their advice (and parts!)

You are Fumblin' no more!

Don't waste any more time--get some help with the brakes. A tree or a fence post at 5 miles and hour will do damage to body parts. I know you think, "It cain't happen the way I'm drivin' 'er," but it can.

Those little holes in the cap really do have a purpose and allow for the balancing act because the brake system is NOT a closed hydraulic system. I would clean up the original cap, get a new gasket for it and use it.

As far as the overtightening part, "snug" is good enough.

I love to read about your experiences and progress.