Brake Pedal Issue

Wasn't having this issue in the fall before parking the Jeep over winter. Brakes worked fine... on harder braking applications they would clunk a bit, so I figured at some point more work would need to be done.

However right now, the pedal is traveling nearly to the floor (As if the master cylinder emptied out) and it is also now bumping up against the steering column. When not pressed, it looks perfectly fine, but pressing on it, the path of the brake pedal seems to swing left and ends up grinding on the steering column. Hope this explains it well enough. I guess my first question is how can I fix the brake pedal travel, and then secondly, where do I start in troubleshooting the health of my overall brakes? Thanks

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It sounds like to me that you have two issues going on. If your pedal travel is drifting to the left during the travel, then I would first check the brake/clutch cross shaft bushings to ensure that they are intact. The second being that before you didn't notice it before is that your master cylinder only needed a couple of inches to actuate the brakes, now that you have a leak, (internal or external) or air was pulled into the system, your pedal travel has increased. If you find and fix the leak, then your pedal will come back to where it was and will not rub the steering column.

I'd take a good look at the pedal assembly/linkage. I've been dealing with that on my jeep, it all wears and gets sloppy, which can lead to improper function. That is likely the cause for scraping the steering column. Check your fluid, if the pedal is still pushing the plunger in the master, then you have problems elsewhere. Then I'd look into the master cylinder, maybe sitting one of the seals dried up, so it's not creating pressure. Had that problem last week working on my buddy's corvair.

I agree with gm and 56', you have more than one thing going on. If the pedal goes to the floor and there are no external leaks, the seals on the master cylinder piston are leaking internally. The hitting the steering column issue, something is badly worn or, has come loose/broken allowing the pedal arm to swing way out of position.