I am having a hell of a time on this one. the car in question is a 1938 Plymouth coupe. It had brakes when this all started but the two front wheel cylinders were leaking. the left rear wheel cylinder had been replaced. that is the back story. we called kanter and ordered shoes, rubber lines, wheel cylinders and then took the master to a place here in town and had it gone through. we have easily bleed half a gallon through the system at this point. no pedal no matter how much we bleed. at this point we put a plug in the master instant pedal. so we then blocked the rear and had instant pressure. ok now we are getting some where. so we went to rear axle at the t. block the right rear instant pedal. block the left rear to the floor. so at this point we think we have it. pull that wheel cylinder have it checked out shop says it is good. we can't find any leaks. the master pushrod is adjusted correctly and all the shoes are adjusted correctly. throw me a bone here I don't know what else to do. we also replaced that wheel cylinder just to rule that out.
Do you have the bleeder screw on the top for that wheel cylinder? They don't bleed so well if you accidently put them upside down, I'm no guru though!
I'm no guru , but try adjusting all the brakes till the shoes are tight and drums won't move then try bleeding again , when bled back off adjusters..it's possible there is a volume issue and you run out of pedal before you are able to push all the air out of the line
Which rear wheel cylinder did you pull for examination, left or right? Seems the right one is the problem....and I suspect you agree.....but I only ask to clarify, since you did not specifically say which you pulled. Ray
the shoes have been adjusted I am comfident that is not the issue. yes we pulled the trouble one. master was bench bleed. it's a single. this a completely stock 38 Plymouth brake system. thanks everyone for let's keep it going!
I understand you said the shoes were adjusted I'm saying to bind them up so there is no movement of the wheel cylinders at all ... For every wheel cylinder that moves takes away volume from the master and it probably is not coincedental your problem is the right rear that is the wheel with the longest brake line. Did your master get rebuilt with a sleeve, thus making the bore smaller? Also with two guys you can have one guy push pedal down with bleeder open and shut it before brake pedal travels up , this sometimes works better than "pump and hold "to get things started
I am sorry I misread what you said. I will give that a try. I will say that this system for sure moves some fluid. so that might be a great idea. the master has not been sleeved. we also tried the push with the bleeder open with no change in the result. thank you yes identical bore.we even called kante and confirmed we had the correct part numbers.
Based on what you've done so far, I would say the problem is downstream from where you blocked off pressure to the right rear. If everything is assembled and adjusted correctly, I would guess is there trapped air somewhere in the right rear.
How is the fluid stream out of the rear bleeders, about the same? Take both bleeders out and look at them, make sure nothing is in them, look into where they seat into the wheel cylinders. Did you blow out all the brake lines while it was apart? Just for laughs, try bleeding the rears with the back of the car jacked up.
Can you clarify what you mean by 'block'? Did you plug the line going to the right rear to create the hard pedal? is that what you are saying? You blocked the right and have hard pedal. When you blocked the left and got soft pedal did you re-open to the right? If so, isn't the right the problem as that one is the one seeing brake fluid?
Are the brakes correct centered in the backingplates. If your car is like my 53 you need to be sure the brakeshoes is centered to the drums. Every thing is adjustible so you can finetuning it.
Get someone to help and have them slowly step on the brake while watching the shoes with the drum off...see what the hell is happening on the offending wheel. Has to be something simple. Maybe even something like a cracked drum, flexing
Sounds like, as others have said, that there is a problem between the block and the right rear cylinder. Does that line have a belly or a hump in it? I would open the bleeder to that cylinder and let it gravity bleed for awhile without applying any pedal pressure.
also when bleeding new parts I have to tap them lightly as sometimes a air bubble will form in it and not bleed out and the tapping dislodges it . also double check your lines going into the cylinders for tightness as I have had some where the pressure will seal it but the release would suck air and screw up the bleed .
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