The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Tons 'o Fun 1953 3800 safety brake kit won't fit

So I found this kit HERE and thought I would get one to put safety brakes on my 53 3800 DRW drum/drum truck.
After asking the seller, I think it is POL, they said it won't fit. Their application chart says "All 1953 Chevy Truck, All Trim, All Engine. Anybody agree or disagree? Is it the DRW's or are the wheels cylinders different? Maybe the bracket is wrong? I do not have a hydrovac or whatever the booster was called then. I asked them but no answer yet, wanted opinions here.

Larry W.

P.S. If the link doesn't work, it is "epay" # 151599874236

Well I asked three different questions and got three nearly identical canned responses from the seller, so they are no help in figuring out why it won't fit the 3800 DRW, if in fact it won't.

Their responses were all basically this with no other info even though I asked for specifics 3 times.

"Hello,
This kit will not work with your 3800 1 ton application.
Thank you."

Larry W.

So I would interpret that response to mean that you won't get your money back if it doesn't work out. In general, there is usually some extra work or fabrication involved in installing one of those. Your truck MC would have a different diameter than the 1/2 Ton. Somebody may be worried about the stroke volume.

I don't see why the bracket won't work. Then you can do your own research on what bore size MC you need for your brake system. It is a system, all the (original) parts were designed and need to work together. To replace one part, and the MC is an important one, you need to still be sure the system will function correctly.

As already state, the bore of the MC on a 3800 is larger than on a 3100 or 3600, and most online replacement parts do not distinguish between the two because they only carry the smaller bore MC.
Having a 3800, it is tough sometimes to find the right part for our model.

You may be right on track with that.

Ok, sometimes my mind works strangely.

Anybody ever thought of adding a 2nd OEM master cylinder, basically a Siamese twin to the original and then basically "Y" the pedal linkage under the truck so it pushes both at once. Plumb one to the front wheels and one to the rear wheels? No problem with bore size since it is OEM. Seems do-able to me. I would think pedal effort would be the same since it is basically 1/2 load on each MS connected to the same pedal.

Tell ne if I'm nuts, but that seems pretty straight forward. Plumb an adjustable proportioning valve into the rear for adjustment?

Larry W.

The only problem with the wrong bore size is you might use up more of the peddle stroke. I think it probably would not be a problem.

I crawled under the truck when I got home and it is a little tight near the motor mount, but with longer bolts, I think you can literally put one against the other. The linkage would be the only hard part. It is not very long.

Larry W.

So,

Just to follow up, since I know it is annoying to find open-ended threads...

Based on conversations here and posted in another forum, I ended up buying Napa part # NMC M1974 power master cyl. and ordering the MCA4755 bracket kit from Performance Online (POL)
here.
https://www.performanceonline.com/19...MCA4755-16765/

Ghostrider (at least on the other forum) did not have any on hand, and I didn't want to wait. POL was $69.99 the other online units I found were $99.99.

I have not gotten any of it, or installed any of it yet, but sounds like it will work just fine.

I still think dual stockers is possible, but this setup should be simpler to get running.

Larry W.

Follow-up:

I got the bracket from POL and it matches the picture in their ad instead of being the new style people have complained about getting.

It is a nice heavy duty bracket.

Larry W.