How to add brake fluid?

[Andersun]

Very common to find an M37 (T245) engine and flat topped master cylinder in 3/4 ton WCs. I advise replacing the flat top master cylinder with a correctly rebuilt sloped top to avoid any more issues. Braking (especially under emergency conditions with non directional tires) can be one of the challenging aspects of driving a WC. You don't want to compound that with brake issues!

After skidding into an intersection due to a quick changing traffic light, you quickly learn to leave much space between anything in front of you and to pump the brakes without panicking if you have to make a quick stop!

[Kaegi]

yes copper is no good. cant handle high psi well. and it doesn't like the vibration of a road vehicle and can crack. I would probably get all 4 new hoses. these trucks are OLD! I think you can get the correct armored hoses from VPW or Midwest. maybe from Dave at jobrated.com too
the master cylinder rebuild kit number is 1. most the kit makers use that or ad some letter to it. But if you go into a parts store and they enter the number one the kit should come up. Because in the beginning.....there was only Dodge......

in WA state we use frame numbers. some states use engine numbers. you could probably get it changed with the licensing dept and an inspection from the state patrol who verifies frame numbers

[jim lee]

So the banjo fittings that hold the rubber line onto the wheel brake cylinders, aren't they supposed to have copper crush washers? 'Cause there were none when I pulled these apart. I thought they were necessary to seal the fitting. Or am I missing something again?

-jim lee

[Kaegi]

yes there should be flat copper washers in there.

[jim lee]

Thanks! That rests my mind.

I wish there were pictures somewhere I could look at. So I could to see how the original Dodge people wanted these things put together. Typically it makes sense, but sometimes you run across something that's odd. At times like that I have to stop and wonder, "Am I missing something? Or did the last guy that worked on this really not know what he was doing?"

Then there's the discoveries that make you say; "Who thought jamming wood screws into machine screw's threaded holes was a good idea?"

And, who always takes off the glovebox doors? I mean really.
Is there some written rule that when you want to store your truck you must :

A) Remove hood. Hide in a damp place, cover with leaves.
B) Remove battery. Lay out in hot sunny place.
C) Remove air filter, fling into bushes.
D) Remove glovebox door. - This one is the big mystery. Where do they end up? With all the lost socks?
E) If flat head, remove at least one spark plug.
F) Extra credit. Remove carb. Bonus - Chop gas line.

-jim lee

[Kaegi]

I think too much alcohol is involved when some of those decisions are made.

[SteveJ]

Just a note about copper washers wherever they show up on these trucks. Brake banjos, drain plugs, you can reuse them. Just anneal them first. Just hang the washer on a piece of wire and hold it over a propane torch till its nice cherry red then quench it in a cup of water. This anneals the copper making it nice and soft so it seals well. just an old trick from working on aircraft radial engines.

[jim lee]

I needed to reuse one a few years ago. I looked at it and thought, "Well, it has the pattern crushed into it from the last time it was used, I'll sand it out." And seeing I was in a fiberglass shop at the time I "went through the grits" on the washer. It ended up flat and mirror smooth. And it worked fine! I think its still in there, never leaked again.

-jim lee

[Kaegi]

I used to work in the brake business and have installed 1000s of them. we tried to always re use the old ones. we never did anything to them. getting new ones to seals was more risky. we would have to go new sometimes and that's the only time we ever had leaks. the grooves are good because the fitting and the cylinder have grooves and they need to mesh to create a good seal.

[motto]

Sounds like the brake hoses are blocking off Jim. It's not unusual for old hoses to swell internally, even NOS after a couple of years in service. They still look good on the outside but I've never known one to fail (burst). You can normally apply the brakes but the wheel/s supplied by the blocked hose will not release. Pedal action will force the fluid through but the brake spring will not push it back.

David

[jim lee]

I think I have the brakes working now. The front hoses were blocked. The rear one seemed ok, I have a new rear one on order. The line from front to rear burst when we tried to pressure them up. The frame rail & rear cross member was full of dirt & gravel. This stuff rotted the brake line out. Cleared it all, (most?) of it out and put in a new line. Anyway, after many adventures laying under the machine I "think" its going to stop when the brakes are applied. Or at least good enough for the once around the block trip we have planned.

Got the motor fired up and the oil line between the engine & oil pressure gauge burst. Luckily the hood was open so we caught it pretty quickly. My poor M37, parked next to the Carryall caught it all. There was this huge brown arc of oil that sprayed out and covered the M37. Looked like we burst a major artery there. What a mess!

Now its fuel issues. Carb's been rebuilt/cleaned up. The fuel tank is from an M37 and is full of rust. So, we bought and plumbed in a boat fuel tank in the back to get the thing running. Fuel pump has been cleaned up as well. I primed the system with a vacuum pump. Pulled gas through the system 'til it ran clean. I can't see any issues, but its just not doing the job. This was yesterday and so I spent last night pondering on why I'm not getting fuel to the engine. I'm thinking there's a small hole in the line between the tank & the pump so its loosing vacuum? My theroy is that the fuel pump can't pull vacuum as well as an actual vacuum pump. We'll see..

Here's some pix for you following all of this nonsense.


Pulling the machine out of the shed where it was stored.



Home in the driveway.



This is the rust I cleaned out of the carb. How can something run long enough to get this much rust in the carb?



The carb and upper filter bowl all cleaned up.


So, if it'll stop raining, the plan is to run a new fuel line in there to see if that solves the fuel feed issue.

Finger's crossed!

-jim lee