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I've reciently done the following to my '49 1/2 ton (stock configuration) new master cyl., rebuilt wheel cyl., all new rubber hoses, new parking brake cables, and new shoes. I've bled the system with a mity vac. (till I'm blue in the face) as well as the traditional 2 person bleed. the problem is when you hit the pedal it goes about 3/4 of the way to the floor. Pump it once or twice and it's firm and up where it's supposed to be. Take your foot off, count to 3 and it's down again. Last night we bled it again using 2 people. I'm getting a steady stream of fluid at each wheel cly. no sputtering. I can find no evidence of leakage and I've gone around and doouble checked my (new hose) connections. What am I missing here? :o

An improved pedal on the second or third push usually indicates shoes that are out of adjustment. Try that and let us know.

As Bill said, the shoes are most likely out of adjustment.
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The other possibility is that the drums are worn way over-size(not too likely but possible)or you have the wrong shoes.
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Try adjusting them first

Did you bench bleed the master cylinder?

When I had stock on my '46, I had a similar problem. We went back and readjusted the wheel cylinders-- there had been too much travel before and I guess somehow some fluid bleeds back.

Thanks for the input guys,
I've not adjusted the shoes yet. Just bled the system down. I'll try that tomorrow and see what happens. Yes, I did bench bleed the master cyl. too. The rear drums were a little scored but, not too bad the fronts looked great.

Stingray;
Just did the whole thing on my '49. As mentioned, adjust the shoes first. Make sure that you adjust both of them until each has a noticable drag on the drum. Then back off one or two clicks of the adjuster. I did this and got a good pedal. Also remember to adjust the brake pedal clevis where it attaches to the master cylinder. Pedal travel should only be about 1/4 inch before resistance is felt. Good luck

Well, that (adjusting the shoes) made a difference. I think I'm going to try a little more adjustment though. The pedal just doesn't feel as good as on my '51. ('course I know it has better brakes) I'm just refering to pedal travel. I also noticed it seemed to "pulsate" a little at the pedal when I dove it, almost like a warped disc rotor does. Could that be a drum out of round or something like that?

Does your truck have Huck style brakes ? If it does, did you adjust the front and rear shoe on each drum ?

Bill,

Yes, It has original huck brakes on it. And yes, I adjusted both shoes on each wheel.

As for the pedal pulsation, you have a warped drum.It will need to be machined or replaced.

OK, yesterday I did a little more tweaking with the brake adjusters and I now have a nice pedal. I still have just a little pulsing when I first hit the pedal. I'm guessing it's one of the back drums (as I stated earlier they were both a little scored). I'll keep my eyes out for a good used one on the swap meet. As this is not my daily driver or my primary ride (the '51 is) It won't get to many miles till then anyway. Thanks for the input. problem solved. Now.....see my new post about the tranny. Let's tackle that one!

Thanks Guys!!!! I'd had a soft pedal since I finished my all stainless brake system. I'd used dot 5 and became convinced that was the cause of my troubles, but really I'd neglected to adjust my rear brakes!! Reading the beginning of this post
I thought it wouldn't apply to me because I have disc brakes in front and 11 inch **** drums in the rear, but the adjustment question applies to brake designs new and Old!!