brakes still soft after bleeding

I just picked up an '01 a few weeks ago and the brakes weren't grabbig too well. This weekend I replaced the shoes and drums (fronts were fine) and bled the system. I didn't have anyone to help so I just let them gravity bleed at all four corners. I put a whole fresh quart of fluid in and they're still soft. It's only six years old so I'm not sure that the hoses could already be stretching, or maybe they can? Do I need to do a regular bleeding with a person pushing the pedal? I had to turn the self adjusters all the way in to be able to get the drums to fit on and then did several hard stops in reverse to make sure they adjusted out all the way. In reverse I can get the front tires (31") to lock up but not forward and the rears won't lock in forward or reverse. Any advice?

a set of "speed bleeders" would allow you to bleed the system yourself - you can pick them up at most parts stores. know that the front and rear use different sizes, sorry i dont remember the sizes. i have them installed front/rear and can easily pressure bleed the whole system by myself - very good bang for the $. fwiw i also have an '01 and have had no probs with the brake hoses. the rear brakes are a pia imho - the only way i can keep them effective is to manually adjust them every month or so.

I noticed the same thing on my 01 with 60K. I was used to driving a newer truck so I chalked it up to that. I inspected the brakes and also put new fluid and bled them when I put the lift in. I think the brakes are just a mushier than I would expect them to be because as I see it there is nothing mechanically wrong.

A good vacuum bleed should clear things up.

Gravity Bleeding (Never Heard of it) by just opening up the bleeder valves, would seem to me to be extremely likely to introduce air into the system. Throw in, how uncommon it is, pretty much confirms it probably doesn't work that well.

Like mentioned, if your stuck doing the job yourself, speed bleeders can be found at your local auto store for about $10 an axle, in the "HELP" section. Take your old bleeder valves with you to find the right size. They are bleeder valves, except with one-way check valves in them and thread sealant on the threads, when you open them, they let the fluid out but won't allow backflow for air to flow in.

Rear Drums way out of adjustment can make the brake pedal seem mushy, actually its called pedal height, out-of-adjustment rear drums require you to press the brake pedal down really far to move the shoes out until they contact the drum, the pedal won't produce much resistance till than, nor will any brake pressure build and provide any brake force to all 4 wheels. Adjust the rear drums properly, pressing down the brake pedal will cause the rear shoes to contact the rear drum immediately and the pressure builds right away and provides brakes much sooner, HIGHER PEDAL HEIGHT.

Changing shoes and then using the self-adjusters to adjust them, is NOT a great idea. The rear axle is already up on jackstands, the toughest part of the job, if you changing shoes, is already done for you, might as well take a few minutes to manually adjust them and make sure its done right.

The self-adjusters are the most likely thing in the rear drums to fail first. As well, I've seen perfectly good self-adjusters NOT work when the shoes were way way out of adjustment, like when you change out new shoes. The ridge that often is present from the wear on the drums forces you too adjust the shoes inward a lot to clear the ridge, you don't adjust them manually, it may take a long while before the self-adjuster move those shoes out to take up the slack, if at all.

I'd put your vehicle's rear axle back up on jack stands and check the adjustment of the rear drums, the tire should spin with only the slightest drag from the drum brakes, and adjust them manually if necessary. Then bleed the brakes again, get the speed bleeders if you need to do the job yourself.

rears are probably not adjusted right

I'll check the rears again but between having new shoes and new drums I could barely get the drums on even with the adjusters all the way in. There was minimal clearance. Maybe there was some "settling" of the parts and there's a gap now.

Rick Anderson said:

Gravity Bleeding (Never Heard of it) by just opening up the bleeder valves, would seem to me to be extremely likely to introduce air into the system. Throw in, how uncommon it is, pretty much confirms it probably doesn't work that well.

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More common than you think. The trick is to remove the bleeder, smear it with grease or anti-seize, put it back in, then run a rubber hose from the bleeder into a jar with fluid in it already. That prevents you from sucking any air in. I sometimes open it way up and let it bleed on its own, or only open the bleeder a little and slowly pump the pedal.

It's the thing at 6 o clock on the drum set up that can be turned(by finger if not rusty). iT spreadsor closes the shoe distance to the drum

ah kinda looks like a cog?