On my '54 2 ton I changed it over to a dual reservoir Master Cylinder from a one ton truck (same diameter cylinder bore) and tried it without a booster;running empty or with a light load the brakes work much better than they did before,better pedal,more predictable,plenty of power. I mounted a universal proportioning valve to the frame so I could back the pressure off a bit on the front brakes. It took a little time to get everything set to where I like 'em,but it works great. If I load a lot of weight on the trick I can turn up the back brakes even more,since they'll have all the weight on 'em. If I need to add a booster It's not too hard-I just need to move my master cylinder/bracket back to where there's plenty of room,mount the booster on the face of the bracket,tap into the vacuum line that feeds my 2 speed and build a longer pushrod.
You can actually keep your air system intact-just take the brake circuit out of the system. (Handy for running an impact wrench or airing up tires etc.) I'd strongly recommend upgrading to a more modern M/C and booster.
Parking brake-they usually have a lining made of something similar to early brake lining;a brake warehouse should be able to re-line your E-brake shoes for not much $. BTW-I'd fill the stock master cylinder and see if I could pump up some brake,then get someone to do that and hold pressure on the pedal while you go under and see if anything leaks. that'll help you see where you are on the brakes. Your set up looks like if the master cylinder leaks it'll try to fill the air pot with brake fluid,which will ruin the air pot diaphragm pretty quickly.
Speed
Last edited by speed 6351; 03/13/2015 8:19 AM.
