The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks No brakes on '65 this AM!!!

I am the very proud owner of a 1965 Chevy Shortstep who has no mechanical knowledge.In other words if i ain't out of gas I can't fix it. This morning I went through a four way stop with no brakes.When I got to work I was telling a friend about this experience and he recommended that I check the brake fluid,and told me where this was located. Upon inspection I found the container to contain no fluid,which I filled. The brakes seem to work fine now. My question is, other than continuing to check the fluid level is there any thing else that I should have checked as long as the brakes continue to work? Someone mentioned that once the truck was driven with no fluid that I may need to "bleed" the brakes. Any help given to this novice 'bolter would be appreciated!!

first you must find the leak and fix it. there is probably a leaking wheel cylinder on one of the brakes. so you have 4 wheels check and see which one is leaking. you may be luckiny enough to see the wetness around one of the brake drums.
brakes are fairly importanr so if you are not mechanically inclined , maybe you should hire some that knows how to do it
it may be someone else;s life that you may save if not your own
ron

How long have you owned your your truck?

Do you intend to work on your truck?

Assuming the last time it was serviced, oil change, lube, etc., the brake fluid should have been checked and filled if required. Then the brake fluid has gone some place recently. 8) Check the inside of the tires for streaks of brake fluid, and check the inside of the cab where the brake pedal rod thru the firewall to see if it is wet.

Yes your brakes need to be bleed, and check for the previous.

LG

This is actually the perfect thing for you to learn about your truck and gain some skills!!

Brakes on these old trucks are a pretty simple system. The only kind of hard thing to do is to work on the drums. But that is another lesson for another day.

You need to put on some old jeans, and a crummy sweatshirt, and go crawl around under the truck. Check the backside of each brake drum. There will be a line about the size of a #2 pencil running into the brake drum. Where this attatches is the 'wheel cylinder' this is probably leaking. With a leak that bad i would expect to see a lot of fresh fluid on one of them.

It is also possible that one of the lines is broken and needs to be worked on. Just start tracing brake lines from the master cylinder.

Once you find and fix the leak you will need to refill and bleed your brake system. Let me know when you are to that point and I will post more.

Crap...here comes my boss

Kyle

DON'T BE AFRAID TO WORK ON YOUR TRUCK!!!

Thanks for all of the information and suggestions! I really appericiate the help!!

actually rear brakes can be a problem for one who has not tackled to many automotive jobs before, esp getting rear drums off , how to disassemble the brake shoe pieces and emergency and how to get it all back together properly without putting things in backward. how to ttake off frozen brake lines with out rounding off the fitting.
when a cyl leaks it usually doesn't show on the backside of the cyl but runs down the inside of the backing plate and out the bottom unless the truck is driven then it get distributed around by the rotation of the drum. remember a vehicle that can't stop is dangerous to others as well
ron

How did the truck pass State inspection in the first place? Get your truck to a qualified old school mechanic immediately. He can look to see the where the leak is. If it's simple you'll be out of there for a few bucks. It not so simple, you'll have saved some kids lives in the process. While the mechanic has your truck on the lift, have him show you what to look for. You don't say what state you're from, hopefully it's not mine!