The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Tough time depressing the Brake Pedal

As I age and get stiff I find depressing the brake pedal difficult. It has always been a tight fitting cab for a six foot five inch geezer but now I am not enjoying the ride to the point of considering a sale. I have owned the truck for 25 years and it's part of the family so I have been thinking about cutting two inches off the pedal. Is it feasible? It might make driving easier. I am also considering changing the stomp starter to a key. It all seems drastic but at 80 every bit of pain deterrent would help.
Thanks

What part do you want to cut?

If you cut the pedal pad area, I don't see how that will help.

If you cut the shaft, then you won't be able to fully apply the brakes anymore.

Maybe I am missing something?

As a quick and cheap test, just remove the brake pedal pad, that will have the same effect as lowering the pedal 3/8 - 1/2 inch.

There were hydrovacs available for Cadillacs and probably other GMs of that era that could be plumbed into your system. Then you'd need much less throw to fully apply the brakes and you could cut off some of the pedal shaft. There are probably less expensive options like swinging pedals, at least for the brake side.

There is a gm hydrovac for the 1 ton truck for that year
Find that one and install it in the 1/2 ton would be fairly straight forward
And find the larger 1-1/4 diameter master so that it moves more volume of fluid
That makes the brakes more difficult to press but the added help of the hydrovac will more than offset that detail
Then you could investigate shortening the brake pedal linkage to make the high point of the pedal closer to the floor for driver comfort
The shorter stroke of the pedal won’t be an issue for stopping once that hydrovac and larger master are working together in your half ton
-s

Thanks for the replies. There is some play in the pedal but I was concerned about ruining the mechanics of it if I cut it. I would need at least a two inch shorter pedal. Right now I have to bring my leg up to the steering wheel and lean my leg to the right clear the wheel. In this town brakes are needed more often than elsewhere I find. As to finding parts like the Hydrovac would be impossible. I cannot even get parts for my 89 Caprice. The only junkyard here caters to post-2010 vehicles.
I tore the meniscus in my right and have bone on bone issues. Had it been my left knee it wouldn't be such an issue. The other option which I hesitate to do is put in power disc brakes and then a total driveline upgrade.

Sedgewick, Just a thought outside the box for the idea to shorten your brake pedal arm. What about a seat change/modification instead (this would probably be better discussed in the Interiors forum) ???

A change in your seat (keep the old stuff of course) could set your posterior position back a good couple of inches and give you the leg room you need.

Exactly what I was thinking. Modify or change the seat or it's position.

have you considered going to an under the floor power booster? There are several kits available that use a small diameter vacuum booster mounted in the same position as the current master cylinder, inside the frame rail. You don't necessarily have to do the whole dual line conversion- - - -disc brake setup- - - -just add a small diameter vacuum booster, shorten the pedal height, and use a slightly larger diameter master cylinder bore to compensate for the shorter pedal travel. The power booster will compensate for the increased pedal effort created by a bigger bore MC.
Jerry

Again thank you. As to moving the seat would be ideal but I am as far back as I can go. Some people have suggested moving the gas out but the tank sits past the rear valance of the seat. I should look at that again and maybe investigate the possibilities.
Jerry I will look into an under floor power booster. If you have links to sources that would help me, thank you.
I drove the truck yesterday and was not happy. I live in a tourist city and also not far from the beach. The beaches were full with vehicles parked along both sides of the nearby streets. The streets are very narrow, most having been developed in the 1930's and with all the traffic you are playing chicken with oncoming vehicles. My son was here from Toronto for the first time in 7 years. I warned him about the traffic but he claimed he is a Toronto driver and has no problem. When he left he was a changed man. Too many vehicles, too many bikes, too many joggers and too many tourists!

Having both truck and panel truck, the Panel is nice in the fact I can get TOO far away from
the brake and clutch/gas pedal. With the 65 Nova seats , I can micro adjust the distance. It must have many catch
notches under rail.
Any mods to the brake pedal probably would mean a rat hole. Brake light etc.
Seat angle and height.

I'm 6'5" (in the morning, I tend to shrink a little by late in the day) and also have problems fitting into my '52 GMC's cab. My solution was to install a 2nd row seat from a Chevy Astro van. The seat back is thinner that the stock truck seat, giving about 1.5" more room from the dash to the seat back.

The "how I did it" is posted here.

The people who sell the disc brake conversion "kits" ( I detest that word!) use power boosters for various Japanese vehicles- - - -don't remember which ones at the moment, but I believe most of them are around 7" in diameter. Since all a booster does is use vacuum to make the driver's leg stronger, it's not rocket surgery to cobble up a booster/master cylinder combination that will work with your existing single line brake system. I believe there's also a small diameter booster that fits some Corvettes. A master cylinder with about 1/8" more diameter than original will move more fluid with a shorter pedal stroke, but it will require more pedal effort. That's where the booster comes in.
Jerry

Bill. Thanks for the tip. I saw your description of the install. 1.5" would nice but I think I need much more. It was mentioned else where that I might be able to move the stock seat farther back. But with the gas tank and the horizontal seat frame it would not be possible. I saw one truck where he used seats from an MGB and built pywood boxes to put under them. I don't think that would be legal. In the meantime I will look for the seats you used. With one scrapyard here it might be hard.

Jerry. Thanks for the leads. The Huck brakes are not the best and I know about converting to Bendix in the front. Even though it is simple to do I may just consider power discs. And then power steeering and then anautomatic transmission. And then it would not be muy old truck anymore.