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Very soft Brakes

Big J

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The pushrod needs to almost touch the piston in the back of the master cylinder so you can extend it until it does touch the back of the piston & just shorten it a 1/4 turn or so , the pushrod is 2 pieces threaded together so you can hold one end & unscrew it , if the pedal has always been low this could very well be the problem from before you owned it . you can put a felt pen mark on the tip of the pushrod to see if it is touching if you cannot feel it as you slide it into place , often it is easy to start with the pushrod too long , if it is too long the brakes will not release properly once the pedal is pushed .
to adjust the shoes you need to adjust them out with the star wheel inside the drum until they touch the drum & hold the self adjuster out of the way back the brakes off 3-4 teeth .
Thank you I will try this and let you know.
 

MoparCarGuy

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First thing is to do a complete brake system inspection. Jack stands and all. Remove all drums. Go to the brake section of your service manual. It will give you complete pictures of where everything should go and how to properly adjust everything. Just like going to the Dr. with a problem. He/she needs information to properly treat you. Fever, broken bone... Blood tests, x-rays... what ever depending on your problem. Can't just start to take pills and hope it fixes the problem. Don't start changing parts or making adjustments until you know the condition of the system and if the proper parts were replaced by previous owners.
MyMopar - Mopar Forums & Information - Service Manuals
Something else is wrong , are the shoes adjusted correctly ? did you check the length of the push rod in the booster ?

Big J,
Moparleo and Chryco Psycho are spot-on with troubleshooting. Keep it simple. I had the exact same situation. My power brakes were working fine and then one day...wham, mushy pedal that went to the floor. I had no leaks and immediately suspected the master cylinder was bad. What to do? Jumping to conclusions wasted some time as I failed to troubleshoot by starting with a visual inspection of the components. I jacked up the car, put it on jack stands, and began with the removal of the rear brake drums to inspect the shoes and wheel cylinders. I found the left-rear wheel cylinder had one piston that had slipped off of the brake shoe and was wedged against the shoe's curved surface. It did not come completely out so there was no leak but all that extra travel made the pedal mushy instead of firm. As Chryco Psycho said, this is the same problem when the shoes are not adjusted properly and have to travel too far to press against the drums.

I loosened up the brake shoes, put the piston back in position, adjusted the shoes on both sides, and my pedal immediately was back to normal feel and travel. Not saying that is your problem but start with inspecting everything and have a helper carefully apply the brake pedal while you watch what is happening.
The red piston below is the one that popped out of the shoe and wedged against the back of the shoe at the red X. Strange, but true!
1606963792136.png
 

Big J

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Thank you for this information. I will check all brake shoes this weekend. and check the pushrod.You guys are very helpful.
 
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