The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline brake return springs

guys I'm having a terrible time locating new brake return springs for a 1948 loadmaster 1 1/2 ton Chevy truck, it has dualies on the rear, the right rear spring brake , I've tried many suppliers and no one goes up to a ton and a half, anyone have any idea who may have them, thanks Hotrod Dad

Hy hotrod dad, try Jim Carter p/n ME148. I have provided answers to all your questions on brakes, and in no case have you acknowledged any of the answers, I would appreciate it if you would acknowledge the answers provided to you for your questions, that way I know you got the answers, and I wasn't wasting my time looking things up for you.

I tried rock auto as you suggested and the answer was no to the 1 1/2 bore I needed, so I tried Napa auto, after 2 days of research they were about the come up with them, I live in the middle of Nowhere Kansas, parts suppliers and those with any knowhow are hard to come by here, ty for your suggestions I appreciate all of them, sorry to not get right back but I'm shoulders deep in 12 cars and trucks from a 1957 Belair to and 1946 Internation with a choptop I'm trying to finish, but ty again

you could also try dorman. i was able to get springs at napa. if you have the old ones take em with you so they can reference them. since you got so much going on there, ever think about opening your own parts store.

3B and 51 ashton, my thanks go out to you both for all the help with the brake problems and my lack of parts locating, you guys are tops, I want to thank everyone on stovebolt, a great bunch of guys

now for my next problem project, first off guys I'm a certified Chevy mechanic and was a mechanic in the Air Force for 20 yrs, I built my first car at 13 yrs old, it was a 50s hotrod T-Bucket, so I've been around mechanics for yrs, now I'm working on a 1957 Chevy 2 dr Belair, this is a 150,000$ plus car running a hi-pro 327 putting out roughly 625hp, I'm the 3rd cook in this pot of soup and heres my problem, the last mechanic started a 4 wheel disc brake conversion on the car , kit was supplied by Right Stuff, it uses El Dorado calipers, I finished the installation, and moved on the adjusting the e-brake then bleeding the brakes, I can get great rear brakes as long as I pinch off the rear rubber brake line, once I remove the clamp peddle goes to the floor, doesnt matter how many times I bleed the rears or readjust the e-brake I get the same results, everything in the system is new out of the box and the calipers and master were bench blead, still with no brake peddle, any ideas guys?

Hy hotrod dad, you're very welcome, I'm glad we were able to help.

ditto, as for your latest problem i cant help you there.

Hy hotrod dad, Could you re-read your post about the disc brake conversion, did you mean to say you get a good pedal if you close off the rear flex line? I don't see how you could get good rear brakes with no flow to them through the flex line. Do you have a proportioning valve in the system? Is the master cylinder one designed for a disc/disc system? If you have a proportioning valve, it could be shuttled over to one side shutting off the flow to one system, this happens in the bleeding process when pressure is developed in only one system, hope that helps.

3b the complete system was purchased as an assembly, from the master cylinder to the pads, and I ment when I pinch off the read rubber line I have great front brakes, once I remove the clamp peddle goes to the floor and I do have flow to the rear brakes, just not much like I do to the front, and no there is no proportioning valve in the system, one was not required according to the supplier

Hy hotrod dad, if this is a dual braking system then there must be a valve which separates the two systems, this valve will have a warning light connection to signal the driver if one or the other system should fail. This valve will either shut off or severely curtail flow to the failed system, that is what I think has happened in your situation. Whether or not that valve has or needs a proportioning function, it still must have the signal feature built into it. If you open a front bleeder and clamp the rear flex line and apply pressure to the brake pedal you might cause the valve to shuttle to the neutral position. If you can make that happen, then continue your bleeding while both systems are open. Disc brakes will gravity bleed if the master cylinder is mounted above the level of the calipers (if you are using a master cylinder for disc brakes), hope that helps.

Should you even be able to pinch off a rubber brake line? If its soft enough to pinch I would think it would be soft enough to swell up when you step on the brakes.