Hmm. Does the pedal give you a "spoungy" feeling? I have heard of air getting into the abs system.. I would think the air has no place to go other than back up into the master or thru the lines.. Even after pressure bleeding my brakes when I did the upgrade, the pedal never really got firmer. It did bring it up just a touch, but im thinking I have 3 inches of pedal before I really even start to feel the brakes start to work.

 

Thats my thought too. If there is air in the ABS, it's going to stay in the brake system unless the ABS has it's only little air bleed valve, which I don't think it does, or if the air gets into the lines and can then be bled out through the calipers.

Anyways, I bled the master today. The fittings were 1/2-20 I believe. I started by pulling the reservoir and hosing it out. Then I dried it out and put it back on and bench bled the master. Then I bolted the master back on and tightened down the fittings. Then I had someone depress the brake pedal, then I loosed each fitting to let fluid out, then tightened them back down and had the helper release pedal. Did this 4-5 times for each fitting. This was the method that was in my Chilton manual.

Then I went out and tested it by getting up to around 20 mph and slamming on the brakes to engage the ABS, did this 4-5 times. On the drive home the pedal was much firmer than before, but I would say it's about the same as it was before the 14" brakes and stainless lines.

Going to the dealer tomorrow to have them do the ABS bleed. Hopefully that will help a little more. Then I will bleed each caliper and be done. I'll post some results tomorrow.

 

Im curious as to see the results. I really do just think the vaccum boosters just suck. My 92 2wd chevy has a way stiffer pedal than my 03. Seems like gm went backwards on the brakes.. Hydroboost deffenitly seems the way to go to squeaze maximum performance out of the brakes

 

Welp, the dealer can't do the automated bleed because the trans fluid temperature sensor is nonexistant (T56 swap). So I ended up only paying them for half of the bleed, but they will only charge me half when I go back. So I need to either trick the computer into thinking it has the sensor, or do an operating system swap to a 5-speed truck or something.

 

Bleeding the brakes isn't hard if you have a friend, but you could take it to a Brake Check or Meineke. As for bleeding the ABS module, you just need to activate ABS a couple of times slamming on the brakes on a dirt or gravel road, then re-bleed the calipers. Don't need a Tech 2 to do that.

+1 on hydroboost. Night and day difference, much firmer and more linear pedal feel, not to mention significantly less effort for the same braking effectiveness. I am sad I didn't do this when I first bought the truck.

 

I can do all the bleeding by myself (speed bleeders) but not the ABS. I have tried the slamming on the brakes method and it never worked. I have tripped the ABS I'd say a good two dozen times and no change. I'm going to do the calipers next week and hope some air comes out.