I seem to be having an issue with the booster on this C850 fire truck I just bought. It's been parked for 2 years after one of the rear steel brake lines blew. I replaced all the steel lines from the brake light switch back--just had to bleed them and we'd be ready to roll.

I did a quick bleed at the booster and then went to the back of the truck to start bleeding. I got the rear bled pretty well, but could hear some air gurgling sounds coming from further up front. Careful inspection seemed to indicate it was coming from the booster, so we went back to bleeding from master to the booster. I ran 2 quarts of fluid through the booster and keep getting foamy air coming through at some point. I'm guessing it needs to be rebuilt.

It looks kind of similar to a Midland hy-power unit, but not exactly, from the photo in the '64 shop manual. I haven't found a rebuild kit yet, although I did see that someone indicated that I could get rebuilt units. Any advice on where to find the parts?

I'm also wondering if there are any quirks with this system that might be preventing me from getting the booster bled? I read somewhere I needed to bleed the booster from the #1 and #2 bleeders, but I could only find one bleeder. I realize there are a couple of different units, so perhaps mine shouldn't have 2

Thanks everyone,
Brad

 

WELCOME to FTE!

While I'm no expert on large trucks, I couldn't keep myself from looking around.

Ed Strain Inc. - Power Brake Booster Identification

It looks like the one on the lower left?

 

Thanks--I'm only showing one column, but it looks similar to the one listed as a Midland HY-Power Booster. The orientation and number of the ports on the cylinder are wrong, as well of the scale of the diaphragm housing. I'm assuming these images are meant to identify the style of booster and ID location--there wasn't an ID stamped in the location indicated though. I clicked over to the actual photos of the boosters on that site and realized they don't do them for heavy trucks, which is why the diaphragm scale seemed off.

Thanks, I'll call them Monday to see if they can help.

Brad

 

There is no Midland-Ross booster for the OP's application. In fact, no 1963/72 C Series Tilt Cab uses a Midland-Ross.

There are two choices for a 1964 C850:

1963/67 C600/850: C3TZ-2005-S .. Bendix Hydro-Vac Frame Mounted Booster - 12.75" diameter / Bendix part number: 2503258

C3TZ-2309-A .. Booster Repair Kit / Obsolete ~ 13 available NOS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1963/70 C700/950: D0TZ-2005-A (replaced C3TZ-2005-D) .. Bendix Hydro-Vac Frame Mounted Booster - 9.50" diameter / Bendix part number: 2501029

C3TZ-2309-D .. Booster Repair Kit for C3TZ-2005-D Booster / Obsolete ~ 1 available NOS /// C9TZ-2309-C .. Booster Repair Kit for D0TZ-2005-A Booster / Obsolete ~ 0 available NOS

 

Bill,

Thanks for that info--I was just going by a visual comparison to the parts image diagrams in the '65 shop manual. I finally found the '64 manual--downloading now--but I would suspect they would be the same. The casting for the cylinder has a flange where a diaphragm device bolts on at 90 degrees from the centerline of the bore--none of the Bendix units pictured had this. Is it possible American LaFrance customized the application?

Thanks, Brad

 

I would say it's definitely possible - or someone threw something else in there at one time.

Can you take pictures?

You might not be able to post them, but if you can email them to me I can put them up for you.

 

1964 C850:

Upper pic: Bendix 12.75" diameter Hydro-Vac.

Lower pic: Bendix 9.50" diameter Hydro-Vac.

Post #4 has further info for these two boosters.

 

Mine looks most similar to the one in your attachment at the bottom right, labeled 10 1/4"

 

Okay, never mind. In the later attachment, it matches up with the 12 3/4" Bendix unit. Jeezus, thanks so much! I've been running in circles trying to sort this out, but haven't been able to find the right parts blow-up images.

This truck is 450 miles from me at the moment. We spent a day and a half trying to get it ready to drive back. It was supposed to have been running great in 2014, when a rear brake line blew out. I was figuring on replacing all the rusty brake lines, cleaning out the old gas, dropping in a new battery, and maybe a couple other minor things before diving it back.

What we actually had to do was:
1. replace the 5 steel lines from the brake light switch back.
2. replace a leaky, growling water pump.
3. install a new electric fuel pump
4. disassemble the 'rebuilt' carb and reassemble correctly.
5. replace the battery
6. replace belts

When we got to bleeding the brakes, there seemed to be air trapped in or being drawn into the booster. It just kept getting surges of you could hear and see in the form of tiny foamy bubbles. We ran three quarts of fluid through with no improvement. I suppose it could be the master, but I'm doubting that.

Thanks, Brad

 

Bill,

In post #4 you mention that booster repair kit is available as NOS--from where?

Thanks again for your help, Brad

 

You should consider adding PA to your location, because there's also a Hereford TX

Now, if you lived in Hereford TX, I could tell you where (on the back of an old brick building) there's an original Model T era "Ford The Universal Car" porcelain sign.

C3TZ-2309-A .. P/B Booster Repair Kit-Use with Bendix 12.75" diameter Hydro-Vac / Obsolete

FEYER FORD in Edenton NC has 1 = 252-282-2144.

NOS PARTS SOURCE in Olathe KS has 1 = 913-220-5746.

KLIMESH MOTOR SALES in Calmar IA has 1 = 563-562-3241.

MILLER OBSOLETE PARTS in Binghamton NY has 3 = 607-722-5371.

GREEN SALES CO. in Cincinnati OH has 7 = 800-543-4959.

Call around for the best price, obsolete parts prices vary wildly from one source to another.

1964/72 Ford Truck Parts Catalog available on a C/D from hipoparts.com

 

Bill,

There are a bunch of Herefords--going all the way to the UK. I thought I did have PA in there, but I just realized that's in a field that isn't displayed.

I didn't expect an accounting of all NOS kits know to exist... I'm a little baffled how you've got that info, but glad you do--thanks again.

Brad