The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop Has anyone tried this...

My brake petal is so high I have to raise my foot about 10" to press it. My thought is to cut a few inches out of it. Is there some warning anyone wants to give on this?

I would look at any and all other options before I cut into the one lever that will stop the truck. A panic stop might just just put too much pressure on your new weld and brakes may not brake after the pedal breaks.

Jim,,this is something I've been contemplating myself.
I assume you've upgraded to a more modern dual circuit M/C?

The pedal pad is simply welded to the top of the brake arm so shortening it shouldn't compromise its strength,assuming it's welded back on properly.
I'd imagine the main thing to watch is that the pedal doesn't bottom out on the floor before its reached it's full range of travel.
I'd make very sure the pedal stroke is properly adjusted and that you're happy the system is fully bled before considering any modification.

Ive done it to several trucks. It makes it much more comfortable to drive & looks better. Safer too. The master cyl may not get clear to the bottom but if it goes down that far you are in serious trouble already.

The pedal stroke was designed that way for a reason. It gets the master cylinder piston all the way to the end of its bore, if necessary. If you change it, be aware your epitapth might need to read "Too lazy to lift his foot"!
Jerry

i'd listen to jerry.......dave

Maybe its just us guys who have changed over to the dual m/c's as it seems most of us have the same problem. In fact, mine is the same way and much higher than orignal but then mine is not original.
I need to cut about 1 to 1 1/2" off mine and I'm planning on doing it. I'll weld it up but I plan to drill two small holes and put a couple roll pins in "just in case". The aftermarket pedal arm is plenty thick and wide = strong.

Jerry, I'm not to lazy to lift my foot.... the cotton picking thing is just to high after getting it all set up and I promise, its not going to run out of pedal before it gets to the back of the bore.....but good advice everyone.

Just pulling your chain a little- - - -if it's not running the stock M/C, you've probably got a little fudge factor to work with. You need to be aware, however, that in case of a failure of one end of the dual system, the pedal goes more than halfway down before the remaining system starts building any pressure. The two pistons inside the master cylinder bore have to make physical contact to make up for the fluid loss between them. On a system engineered to work that way, the pedal will be within about 2 inches of the floor before any stopping happens. Be sure you take that into account before reducing the pedal stroke. A mistake in geometry could get deadly!
Jerry

HotRod,
I've recently upgraded to a dual MC on my 52' 1/2 ton and noticed that the pedal gets almost to the floor to stop the truck. Does 1 reservoir apply before the other in a dual MC? Since the new dual MC is turned backwards, I ran the outer port (front port) to the rear brakes and the closer port(rear port) to the front brakes.
Thanks

Hmmm. The front port of a master cylinder is always the port closest to the pushrod, and always goes to the frt brakes. Check for the pedal height off the floor when a bleeder screw for both the frt and back are open, and fluid bled off. You should have about 1 inch of clearance off the floor. Then figure out how much you can safely shorten the pedal.Also, most vehicles have a pedal stop, to keep it from coming up to high, but still have some play in the pushrod to the piston in the master cylinder.

The larger-volume reservoir needs to go to the disc brake system because it takes a lot more fluid to make the large caliper piston move, and there might not be enough fluid to compensate for pad wear if the small chamber is used. The smaller of the two chambers will handle the smaller-volume wheel cylinders of the rear drum brakes. If it's got equal-volume reservoirs like some of the early drum/drum systems had, front to rear hookup won't matter as long as the drum system plumbing gets a 10 pound residual pressure valve. 10 lbs. on a disc caliper will make the brakes drag. It's needed on a drum system to keep the fluid pressurized against the tension of the shoe return springs.

As long as there's a full column of fluid between the M/C pistons, they will move together as the brake pedal is pushed. It's when the fluid between the two pistons leaks away, or air gets into the system that pedal height becomes an issue.
Jerry