brakes powerless, auto-shift gone...

[slopup]

the brakes on my '87 f-250 started to fail and really showed it when towing a cord of green birch. Adjusted rear drums at the woodlot, bled the brakes- front and rear-m fluid was low in master...no help there. Today I toodled over to the cabin and noticed the auto-trans is not shifting as usual. Sought out vacuum
leak, found no leak. However, the vacuum pump seems anemic...the brake booster line will barely hang on my finger and the line directly off the pump ain't much better? How much suck should I be getting from this system? (and save the wisecracks) Do I need a new pump? I'm in Alaska and the firewood season waits for no man! Thanks all, Dave in Alaska

 

[gatorman21218]

vacuum pump is my guess judging by what youve said. another way to check without a gauge is to take the belt off and spin the pulley with your hand. if there is very little to no resistance, its toast.

 

[slopup]

Good suggestion. Guess I'll go out and bust a knuckle before dark.... Dave in Alaska

 

[icanfixall]

Usually what you describe is a vacuum pump on its last leggs. Now the hard part... You need a special tool to remove the pulley. If you grab the outside of the pulley it will bend and ruin it. So rent the special puller. Usually they call it the power steering pulley remover. Without it you going to be having plenty of trouble. Even heating up the pulley to remove it will not do too well....

 

[gatorman21218]

I got one from napa for about 40 bucks. It works on both the P/S pump and the vac pump. a good investment in my opinion since it does two things

 

[subway]

yup your vacume pump sounds like it went south for the winter. get the powersteering pump puller to get the pulley off and swap a new pump in.

another thing for future referance is there is a plug on the bottom side of the vacume pump. the oil in these things can dry up and that is no good. if you remove this plug you can dump out the old oil and put some fresh stuff in. its not much in there just a couple of bearings and an eccentric but it needs oil to work properly.

your old one is probubly done but but it might let your new one last longer.

 

[slopup]

Brakes fixed, new vacuum pump....$145.00, Cheap! Thanks everybody!