I have a 65 F-100. A previous owner bolted on these huge, 3" drums and shoes, but left the tiny manual master cylinder. Can I simply bolt on a booster and master from a later model truck?

 

Yes the MC will bolt up but I do not know what that has to do with power steering.

JJ

 

Make sure the MC is for drum brakes and split the lines front to rear for the real safety benefit of the later MC. It does seem strange it was a power steering ?
Ah well it seems he's had troubles with bowties in the past!!! he,he

Putt

 

I am also upgrading to power steering, with which I need no help. I simply made a mistake, as I am researching parts for both upgrades at the same time. I guess I better tripple check any future posts, for fear of being further ridiculed by your obviously superior intelects

 

Lots of stuff will bolt up but the eternal problem is the length of the push rod from the brake pedal to the booster or master. Remove the stock master, and measure carefully, from the flange that bolts to the firewall, the distance to the center of the hole that attaches to the brake pedal assembly.

The places from which you measure are really arbitrary -- the concept is what matters. When you re-install the new master cylinder, you want the pedal to still engage more or less where the old one did. You will likely have to shorten the new rod. Some folks (like me) try to create an adjustible rod, by cutting it off and threading it with a threader. Other, (the "just make it work" crowd) just cut the damn rod off, round the end with a grinder, and presto, a custom fit rod.

I would not would not worry about the rod comming out of the master, so losing the little retainer spring from the later setups is not critical.

Getting some sort of good brake light is a different challenge. Personally, I like moving the brake light into the cab and installing a later (67-78) era switch somewhere under the dash/steering column. There are safety reasons to depart from the old pressue activated switch -- you want the fellow behind you to know ASAP that you are thinking about braking -- and the "normally open" switch found on later setups will light the brake lights sooner than a pressure setup. Hope this is making sense.

good luck...

 

I was not ridiculing, I just didn't get it! Remember we are not all knowing, infact alot of the time we are in that dark that includes the moderators. One person can never know absolutly everthing.

The best advice I can give when reading these forms is if you don't get it ask a question. These guys are realy good that way, we don't just expect or assume that everybody knows everything, if we did there would be no point in posting. And remember don't be afraid to ask those "dumb" questions we were all there once and most of us still are.

Good luck with your project, JJ

 

Right, The push riod was too long, you could cut and weld it but I did the adjustable one like cdherman. I can't measure that good and it was actually quite simple. so what I did was cut it, thread the ends and put an adjuster nut on (a nut about an inch long). I got this out of a mag and it works real good, gust remember to put loctite on or you may not have breaks one day, lol.

JJ

 

With my adjustible rod, I went one step further -- I threaded it further, and then put a second nut to LOCK it in place. My Dad (still worry wart at age 60) wants to weld it once we are darn certain that it is the correct length.

Just be careful that the threaded nut that you use does not hit or hang up on the brake pedal arm. You need to take a good look first under the dash and see how much free rod you need to leave. Of course, get it too far in the other direction, and it will either hit on the master, or bugger up the rubber boot. You'll get it right, but measure and look about 3 times before you cut.