Wow! Almost 2 years ago since last post.....
Today, I got in the 80 to take a run to HD and was just annoyed by the brakes yet again. The 2-3 inch travel before it felt like it even made any difference is too much. Forget HD! I am fixing this!! Turn it off and got under the dash and removed EVERYTHING related to the brakes...the pedal, the clevis pin, the U shaped part (not sure of its name

...clevis forK? ), the switch, and took it all to the work bench. What I found was...the pin was ok, showing no signs of wear, same with the pedal. The hole though the pedal that the pin went through had zero wear. The U shaped piece that threads on to the shaft that went into the MC had a lot of wear.
Some numbers:
Pin: .392
Hole in pedal: .405
Clevis Fork: It has 2 sides to it-one .428 and the other is .435
A lot of difference from the other parts involved. Being a Saturday afternoon I decide to fix this myself rather than go to the dealer...others with more common sense may take a different route.
I weld shut the holes on both sides of the fork and re-drill using a 13/65 bit. A little clean-up and the pin fits very snug. It aint pretty but it works.
Put it all back together, adjust the light switch/stop to what feels like the right setting as well as adjust the shaft going to the MC to have no slack. Apply a wee dab of grease as needed and took it for a drive.
OMG WHAT A DIFFERANCE!!!! The brakes feel normal, well as normal as an 80 can feel. There is no slop, no long travel before ANY braking starts, and no side to side travel.
I have post a lot about this issue and in some thread I posted that there is no way that these trucks left the dealer with these sloppy brakes and that all the complaints have to be age related. Those of us fighting this fight have replaced 'everything' but I feel this simple little part is getting over looked.
I may go to the dealer and get the right part now that I see what improvements I got from the blue wrench.
Some pics:
Yep, my welded part is not pretty BUT it now proves that the excessive pedal travel is related to worn parts under that dash and not all the other parts we tend to replace...MC, calipers, lines and hoses, or remove like LSPV or ABS ( I have done all this)