I have had my truck since 2002; I have had to replace the vacuum pump 4 times. This will be the 5th one; I have tried new ones from Napa, rebuilt ones from AutoZone and such. It does not seem to matter much they are good for about 18-24 months. I put about 15k miles on a year average so that = about 25-30k miles. Am I the only one with this issue? Everything else on my truck is rock solid with some general maint. except for the frickin vacuum pump. They truck has 260k on it and had 170 when I got it in all that time I have had 1 alternator, 1 water pump, a idler pulley and one tensioner go out. I think that is reasonable for 100k worth of driving. So why do the vacuum pumps suck soooo bad? I am considering putting on a Hydro boost brake set up and elec. vac. pump for the AC controls and be done with this thing. Anyone else done this yet??? Sorry for the long rant but this is killing me.

 

Yeah, few guys have done it. It's pretty nice.
Little weird with the drum brakes IIRC.

No idea on your pumps. I just replaced mine 15k miles ago.

 

are you pressing or hammering on the pulley?
Using a pulley press/puller i mean.

 

I have been pulling and pressing on the pulley, no hammering. I have collected all the parts to do the hydroboost swap, and read all the great posts on here about that part of the swap. But i want to totally get rid of this pump and go with an elec. one from a newer truck to run the AC controls. i am not sure how to deal with the belt and adding some kind of pully in place of the vacuum pump. I would really like to get this thing off my truck.

 

Most guys are just changing belts IIRC.

Could always just add onboard air in place to take up the slack.

 

If I can just put a shorter belt on that would be great, but I was not sure if that would work or someone had tested it out already. I guess i will be finding out this weekend lol. Thanks!

 

The guys who have done it on here have not posted in a while.
I think blue mule was one of them. It was a long time ago.

 

Or you can switch to the SD pully system all together.

The only differences is that the SD has the alt and compressor swapped.

 

I'm on my 4th now so I'm right behind you. Last summer it went out in the middle of the desert heading into Las Vegas. Got ripped off getting one at a Napa store in the city. Driving downtown with no power brakes was a little hairy. This summer it went out as we were getting off the interstate in Memphis. Some dumb kid cut me off on a busy road and I seriously had to stand on the brake to keep from hitting him. I broke all 4 seat bolts doing it! Well broke the back two, ripped the front two out of the floor. These things are dangerous as hell and give no warning when they go out. A couple times my red brake light came on but not the last time. Napa refused to honor the warranty on it both the last two times too! I had another from them go bad on my 97 and tried to swap it. That pissed me off bad. Now I have a new one behind the back seat with a pulley already on it. I'm never leaving home without it. I also have a beeper alarm I'm about to hook up to that warning light circuit. It was a low air warning alarm from a big truck. I have thought about hydroboost but I used to work on a lot of those at one of the dealers I was at and never cared for them. Lose the pump or spring a leak and you lose steering and brakes. That's not good. Try steering my truck when that big slide in camper is loaded without power steering. I've done it and it's not fun. I had it on the first time the vac pump went out too. Darn near drove off a overpass trying not to hit someone when that happened.
Every one of mine that has gone out was the little cam and plunger thing in the back of it. The back cover over that came off and the insides of it was burned down to nothing. No warning, no nothing. It was a Ford one, Oreilleys and two new ones from Napa. I wonder if they are greasing these things inside!

 

I'm with you whodathought. I am sick of the inconsistent soft/hard pedal. I was able to buy an almost complete setup from one of the guys on here, just need to get a hose. Hoping to do this swap very soon.

 

With the hydroboost, no more booster loss. Yay!

 

Thats a good point RRanch. should be able to install a couple of shut offs in the in and out lines? If a leak does happen then could at least shut off the brake side and refill the power steering resevior for steering.

 

You could do that. A couple of small ball valves maybe. I know aeroquip makes some with reusable hydraulic hose fittings on them. Just don't dead head the pump. They don't like it much. I'd seriously just stick with vacuum. Hydraulics are a pain. Those darn hings are some grabby brakes too. Especially when they are cold.

 

yeah, hydroboost has its faults as well.

Zero loss brake booster is your best bet on our brakes.
And checking lines for leaks.

 

I know the SD are a little difference but the braking is much better, especially the consistancy of the effort. Never knowing if I need to stand on the pedal of barely touch it every time I brake is a PITA.