Look at your fluid reservoir.  The level should help you determine what is
happening.  If the fuid is low then you have a leak.  Since you still had
some brakes then most likely you have a leak in the rear.  It could be a
bad metal line or a leaky rear wheel cylinder.  You could be ripping into
your front brakes for no reason.  Let me know what you find.

Ken Wilford
www.vanagain.com
John 3:16

On Sun, Jul 5, 2015, 8:17 PM Vincent Dow <ianvincentdow@gmail.com> wrote:

> Howdy,
> Had the braking power seriously diminish on my 82 westy. What a bummer, we
> were headed to San Luis Obisbo county, to bring the dog up to a beach (and
> ourselves)
>
> Had to turn back to L.A. at Thousand Oaks.
>
> The brake pedal felt tall in the morning when we started out. 50 miles into
> the drive, I felt the pedal bottoming. A couple pumps with my foot would do
> the job, but I knew I was losing pressure.
>
> I got the wheel off, and am looking at the caliper. The flexible brake line
> is attached to a bracket, that's under huge nut for the main big suspension
> piece whose name alludes me. The one that's under spring tension.
>
> I'm thinking I have to open up the brake line and drain before I can even
> get the pads out. Haven't come across a caliper like this before. Don't
> like it.
>
> I'm wondering if I shouldn't rebuild calipers now. I'm seeing lots of pics
> of nasty old ones. Brakes are important. Does this ring true to experienced
> owners? Bit the bullet and rebuild the caliper? Or is that going overboard?
>