Hey guys, I got a 2000 Sport 4x4, 360 gas. I recently just swapped the rear axle to a Dana 70 and am working on swapping a 60 to the front. Both of these axles came out of a junked 95 5.9 Cummins that I got for $500. Everything has gone smoothly for the most part, but while driving the truck with the 70 in the rear it now the brakes lock up super easy. They are super touchy now especially when I’m rolling through a parking lot slowly. I’m wondering if this is maybe because the brake booster/master cylinder are struggling to put fluid out to the bigger axles? If this is the case, could I swap the booster and/or just the cylinder from my parts truck into mine?

 

Did you disable the abs system? I assume you have the 8800 lbs axles witch will have a larger master cylinder.

 

I was looking through a Rockauto catalog for a master cylinders, and whether it is a '95 2500 diesel with either 7500 or 8800 axle, or '00 1500 gasser or 2500 diesel, they all have a master cylinder with a 1.25" bore.

What I would do, is to pull the drums and check that brake shoes are good and nothing is stuck, and adjust them properly. I had a stucking parking brake cable, and it made the adjusting really hard. They were good for a while, but really easily started to act up. Being touchy couple of first brakings. One time again I had brakes apart, and noticed that RH cable did move, but had a little resistance. I figured that the spring at the end of a cable doesn't pull the cable all the way out, leaving parking brake lever under tension, which leads to a adjustment issues. New cable, and there were no problems on adjustin the brake balance between the left and right. There were still some touchiness occasionaly, but much better overall.

 

I'd wait until you get the front axle in. It will have bigger brakes and may solve the problem.