Just bought this truck and noticed the brake pedal seems to go too far down when applied (don't seem to feel "mushy"). If "pumped" quickly, pedal seems a bit higher. I haven't investigated yet, but wondering if there is there a way to adjust the rear brakes manually? Any thoughts would be appreciated since I don't have a manual yet....

 

Rear drums are adjustable, but they should self-adjust when you brake while backing up. If they are out of adjustment, then your parking brake wouldn't be working. You can't adjust disc brakes. If you aren't leaking any fluid, then your master cylinder may have worn out seals. I've seen brakes get mushy because of old, dirty brake fluid -- this old trick might be worth a try.

Get about a 2 or 3 ft. long piece of rubber vacuum tubing and a big Gatorade bottle. Start at your rear passenger side wheel. Loosen your bleeder valve on the brake slave cylinder just a bit and slip the tubing over the end of the bleeder. Drop the other end of the tube into the bottle. Be ready to add brake fluid to your reservoir as you have someone pump the brake pedal. Do this until you get clear clean fluid coming from the tube. Lock down your bleeder valve as they make the last pump on the pedal. Move to the other rear brake cylinder and repeat. Then do the front passenger side and finally the front driver side.

By starting at the furthest brake cylinder and working back toward your master cylinder, you will purge your entire brake system of the old fluid. This gets out any air that could be in your lines also. I've seen this work more than once to fix a soft pedal on older brakes with dirty fluid.

 

Good explanation...thanks, I'll try that.

 

There is a slot on the backside of the backing plate to adjust the shoes. The self adjusters do not work well. They need adjusting every 15k miles or so. The rear brakes set the pedal height.

 

That is exactly what I was wondering about. Sounds like there's a "star wheel" inside like older model cars? I will investigate that first. Appreciate the input.