I still haven't found the part number for this tube, but I did find a picture of the one I took off my truck. I've attached it so that everybody can see what I'm talking about.



I did find a picture in the 70 Ford Truck Shop Manual. It's not shown for a Bendix single diaphragm unit, but that's what I had. It's shown on the Bendix dual diaphragm unit for an F250. It's used on the boosters with the long push rod that connects directly to the brake pedal, and is used on some of the 73-up trucks, depending upon application.

You can call it a "tube" or a "boot" or anything else you want to call it, but it's a cylindrical piece of plastic that goes between the booster and the firewall. Please don't tell me it doesn't exist, because the pictures prove otherwise. The part number may not be available, and it may be obsolete, but it was definitely a part that Ford put on their trucks and it was used on BENDIX boosters!!!

 

Its a Weather shield, to keep the outside outside, and when your booster goes base, the sounds travels down it to inside the cab

 

Thanks, Madathlon.

That's pretty much what I was saying. It keeps the water, dust and everything else out of the cab and out of the booster.

Call it what you want to, it's still a plastic tube!!!

 

That's exactly the piece I am refering to. But yours doesn't look like it has a seal either though.

 

When I stated the part did not exist, I meant it could not be bought separately, as it's part of the booster itself.

There is no parts list for this booster, no rebuild kit.

 

It may not be serviced separately, but I certainly wouldn't consider it a part of the booster.

The brackets were offered separately.

With the brackets removed from the booster, the tube will fall off. It's not attached in any way. The end that goes into the booster looks identical to the end that you can see in the photo. It's just a plastic tube with a flange on each end.

 

That 'tube' is not shown in the parts catalog illustration for any F100/350.

The only illustration of one I could find is for F500/750's, it has * next to the part. * = furnished with booster only.

The booster mounting brackets (R/L) are listed in the 1964/72 truck catalog for 1965/72 F100/250 2WD, 1968/72 F350.

But....there is no listing for any booster mounting bracket in the 1973/79 light truck parts catalog...except for P350/500's & M450/500's.

The original question pertained to installing a 1979 F150 P/B booster on a 1972 F100.

How many different brake pedals were used on 1968/72 F100/350's? ONE.

How many different power brake boosters were used on 1973/79 F100/350's? NINETEEN

How many different brake pedals were used on 1973/79 F100/350's? TWENTY TWO.

1973/79: The booster and brake pedal must match. If installing a booster from a 1973/79 into a 1972 or earlier, what has to be done with the original brake pedal?

I dunno....can the original pedal be used...or not?

 

It's kind of a moot point about the tube/sleeve/boot, because even if it were serviced separately, there probably wouldn't be a new one anywhere in captivity... LOL

As for installing a later model booster into a bump, not a problem. You can even use the original pedal.

Starting in 73 (I believe that is correct, may have been 74), Ford advertised that they had lowered the brake pedal on the F-series with power brakes. This was to make it consistent with the other manufacturers. That put the pedal slightly above the accelerator pedal, just like all PB cars are today.

The later model boosters are a direct bolt in to a 68-72. Just make sure to use the correct brackets. In other words, make sure you get EVERYTHING from the donor truck.

If you're only converting to power brakes or upgrading the booster, you can even use the existing master cylinder. Of course, if you're adding discs at the same time, be sure to get the correct master cylinder for that application.

Once you have the booster bolted in and the pedal hooked up, you'll find that, like I stated earlier, the pedal will be significantly lower. The functionality of the brakes will be fine. Because of the "bellcrank" linkage used on the later models, pedal travel is significantly reduced.

There is only one issue. Since the pedal is lower, the stoplight switch doesn't work any longer. To overcome this problem on mine, I took a piece of flat steel (I think it was about 1/8" x 1") and cut it about 2" long. I clamped it to the steering column support above the existing pad that the switch is supposed to contact, then drilled two holes through both the support and the new metal. I then tapped the holes in the new metal and put a 90 degree bend in it. The bend is positioned so that when the pedal comes up, the switch plunger will contact it.

I bolted the new "pad" in place, adjusted the switch, and now everything is GREAT!! My knee doesn't hit the steering wheel every time I have to stop!!

If I can find them, I'll try to remember to post a couple of photos tonight showing this fix.

 

By the way, the original post, as NumberDummy stated, was about putting a 79 booster from an F150 in a 72.

The reason we got sidetracked, was that the OP said he had a plastic tube between the booster and the firewall.

As far as I know, all of the later model light-duty trucks used the remote mounted booster with the bellcrank mechanism and a flat metal "pushrod" that had only a rubber boot to seal the firewall. This configuration did NOT use a plastic tube. It had a boot on the firewall and another on the back of the booster.

Based on the information posted by the OP, he's either got a 68-72 booster, or possibly an F350 or larger from one of the later models. VERY doubtful it's from a 79 F150.

By the way, the reason for the change in mounting and operating mechanism, from what I've been told, was so that the larger-diameter boosters used in most of the later model trucks would clear the valve covers on a 460. Even if the truck was not equipped with a 460, the same booster setup was used on most of those trucks.

I'm sure there are exceptions to this information, but it's pretty much accurate.

 

From the common to the obscure, I've found 1000's of obsolete parts at FoMoco dealers, obsolete parts vendors for members of FTE (and for members of a few other sites as well).

You come up with the part number... ...then we'll see if anyone has it...or not.

 

Wow...All this amazing information just over a black plastic tube. I am not 100% sure that the booster was from a 79' I just assumed so becasue the guy that gave it to me gave me mostly 79' parts in the past. But my booster looks exactly like the one pictured in previous posts by 70_RangerXLT. So.....do I need this seal or not. I have the rubber boot off of the original master cylinder from the 72' but that is all I have. Is there more to this puzzle???

 

The only purpose the plastic tube serves is to keep dust, etc. out of the cab and the booster. The seals on the end just help seal against these contaminants.

If you've got a vacuum noise when you depress the brake pedal, you can pretty much rest assured that you have a bad booster.

My advice is just to pick up another booster.

You should be able to use one for anything from 68-79 F100/150/250/350 trucks. There is a little "engineering" required for the later boosters, but it's not much. I'll post pictures as soon as I can find them that show what you have to do.

 

Here are photos of my brake light switch fix when I put a 77 F150 booster on my 70 F100