brake booster

[bghnkinf350]

I know we have a lot of stickies, but what about a section in Tech for reputable rebuilders and include their info?

 

[vegas39]

I've gone through just as many A1 cardone boosters as you have. They are crap, and they are the only reman ones available anymore. I even bought a "brand new" one and it was actually a cardone reman unit they were selling as new. I'd like phone numbers to these places Russ.

Wow Sean, glad I'm not the only one. Frustrating they cant get these things right.

 

[vegas39]

I priced up some hydroboost parts last night and used an 89 F450 for the reference, price isnt too bad.
Can my old master cylinder be used? What about all the lines, will they mount to a new replacement reservior?
I couldnt get into OB last night, so I did some thread searching on the other site and found where Mel had done the same conversion on his 83 but looks like he had to change his brake pedal also. Will mine not adapt to the new unit?

 

[vegas39]

when you drive a towtruck, your towed vehicles are along for the ride and refuse to help slow you down. with hydroboost, I can care less if they want to help or not. The Warden towed a 7k trailer that was actually loaded past 10k/lbs and it fought with his truck. I towed the same trailer one evening in rush hour traffic and the truck acted like there was nothing being dragged along behind it. Even when stopping
Go hydro and don't look back

As long as everyone is so positive about it, I'll go ahead with it. I've pulled some heavy loads and puckered up a few times when trying to stop.

 

[icanfixall]

The hydroboost setup more than doubles the brakeing presure available in the lines. So technecally you have much stronger brakes. But thats not completely true. Yes, you do have more power available at your foor but you still have the oem brake pads and surface area doing the stopping. Get the lining hot and you have some stopping issues. I'm a believer in the hydroboost. I had many low peddle issues with my oem vacuum brakes.... Till I switched over. Now my peddle is way up top. The effort on the peddle is very lite and I stop quicker than one would think possible. I still manually adjust the rears but its not needed as often. Because I have the E4OD I needed to change the peddle arm. I also changed out the master cylinder for the F450 with the larger 1 5/16 bore. The peddle now pushes more fluid into the brakeing system for the same oem stroke. True.. In a hydraulic closed system only so much fluid can move in and out but... As the rears get out of "self adjustment" more fluid is needed to fil the wheel cylinders. Thats when the larger 1 5/16 bore master cylinder does its magic. When you get to calvins I will take you for a drive so you can try it out...

 

[vegas39]

The hydroboost setup more than doubles the brakeing presure available in the lines. So technecally you have much stronger brakes. But thats not completely true. Yes, you do have more power available at your foor but you still have the oem brake pads and surface area doing the stopping. Get the lining hot and you have some stopping issues. I'm a believer in the hydroboost. I had many low peddle issues with my oem vacuum brakes.... Till I switched over. Now my peddle is way up top. The effort on the peddle is very lite and I stop quicker than one would think possible. I still manually adjust the rears but its not needed as often. Because I have the E4OD I needed to change the peddle arm. I also changed out the master cylinder for the F450 with the larger 1 5/16 bore. The peddle now pushes more fluid into the brakeing system for the same oem stroke. True.. In a hydraulic closed system only so much fluid can move in and out but... As the rears get out of "self adjustment" more fluid is needed to fil the wheel cylinders. Thats when the larger 1 5/16 bore master cylinder does its magic. When you get to calvins I will take you for a drive so you can try it out...

Sounds goo Gary.

 

[6 Nebraska IDIs]

I'm currently driving my brown truck on its 4th new cardone brake booster and its getting scary to drive. Theres a salvage yard not far from here that has a bunch of cab and chassis fords. What would I need from them to put the hydroboost in my truck?

 

[The Warden]

When you get to calvins I will take you for a drive so you can try it out...

Can I beg to go for a ride as well? I've seen and heard your truck, but never had the opportunity to take a ride in her...

I'm currently driving my brown truck on its 4th new cardone brake booster and its getting scary to drive. Theres a salvage yard not far from here that has a bunch of cab and chassis fords. What would I need from them to put the hydroboost in my truck?

You'll want the unit itself, all of the hoses, the power steering pump reservoir (or just the whole pump), and if it's the same generation truck, the pedal assembly. IIRC some have found a way to relocate the pin on the brake pedal on '80-'86 trucks, but I don't remember if it's a simple matter of welding it in the right place or how that's handled. Although you can use the stock brake master cylinder, IMHO you're better off putting an F-450 m/c in there...no modifications needed to the m/c or the booster this way, and you also get the larger cylinder