Hi, been working on this car for a few summers. Got it running and driving good but last year before I put it up, the brakes were doing something odd. When I was at a complete stop and removed my foot from the brake, the pedal came up but not all the way. The brakes felt still a little applied. I then stuck my foot under the pedal and lifted it up and they freed right up. I drove it home and the brakes seemed to work great with the exception that I had to put my foot under the pedal and push it up after every stop because it was returning some but not all of the way up. Of all the old cars and projects I’ve ever done, I have not come across that yet so I'm hoping someone can save me some time and point me at what direction to look for as soon as I get this car out in about a week or two.
I appreciate any info, thanks.

 

Not really sure but did you try bleeding the lines? Are they power brakes?

 

I haven't tried bleeding them yet because other than not coming back up they acted fine and it was time to put it back in the garage for winter. Strange that if I pulled the pedal up, then it felt and worked good to apply the brakes. They are power. I guess if no one has heard of this same problem before, I will bleed out all the fluid, put new in and then bleed the air out.. Hopefully it will be solved. Just seems odd to me because the brake pedal seemed fine and then it seemed to come about out of nowhere. Now that it’s going to be warm here soon, hopefully, I am thinking about where I left off with this car. Thanks for the reply too.

 

i had a car that would go to the floor when it was fired up. never figured it out so i took off the brake booster and bought a diff master.

 

what kinda brakes on the car?

 

The brakes were on it when I got it so I'm not sure about the brand. Rotors in the front, drums in the back. The condition of them looks good and they were working great until that last week when they just decided to only come up 3/4 of the way.., also when they are not up, it is as if a foot is on them. What I mean is that when it is not up, the brake is being applied some. When I pull the pedal up with my foot , it frees up almost as if a big spring behind the brake pedal would solve everything but I'm pretty sure that is not how it is supposed to be... right ??

 

Could it be the return springs on the drums are shot? (someone chime in here, I don't know if that's actually possible! haha)

 

I would look at the brake pedal and rod pivot points first. Insure that they are clean and move easy. Then look at the booster and master cyl. I don't think you have a problem at the wheels. If anything is bad at the wheels, your pedal should still return to the top when released.

 

Thanks everyone for the great replies. I will check out the pedal and or oil all the moveing parts, inspect the master cylinder and booster, swap the fluid, bleed the lines and see what happens..

 

Isn't there supposed to be a return spring on the pedal itself. Might have broke, or popped off, or just gotten weak.