What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

'72 K5 - BYT - 1 ton swap

Overview Gallery Discussion
sponsoredbydad said:
That shackle angle looks ok but by the way that whole front end looks (well used) you could be dealing with bad/worn out tie rod ends or ball joints. That tie rod when it bent probably changed your alignment a wee bit too. At least you have a nice,Real Nice area to check them out in.:waytogo:
Click to expand...
thanks for checking that out.

I replaced the ball joints and other steering stuff awhile back, so that stuff still feels good and tight, but yeah, the tierod and ends need to be replaced. actually off to the junk yard now. ;)
 
looks like I MIGHT be changing my mind wrt which direction I'm going to go with the brake upgrade.

I headed to the junkyard to see about getting a new tierod, and maybe pick up some windstar fans while I'm at it, but while I was poking around, I ran across a hydroboost in a '95 3500. the engine was already pulled and most of the dash was missing, so it was just too damned easy to get out to pass up:
hydroboost1.jpg

for $16 I figured it was worth grabbing and cleaning up. I'll make a decision on using it after I reread what it takes to install. just gotta find the hydroboost writeups again.

I didn't grab a tierod. couldn't find one that was in a position I could get it removed from easily, so that'll have to wait. I did pick up some fans though:
windstar_fans1.jpg


my old electric fan setup was a bit smaller, so my mounting system left a lot to be desired. plus, the bigger fans should provide better cooling.
camaro_fans_measure.jpg

both of my old fans measured just about 12"

windstar_fans_measure1.jpg

windstar_fans_measure2.jpg

as you can see, both windstar fans are bigger, and the shroud is about 4" wider, much closer to the width of my radiator. it should make mounting easier, and provide better cooling.
 
paramedic has convinced me to go hydroboost, so here we go.

I took apart the connection to the brake pedal to see what I needed to do to adapt the hydroboost connection. from the looks of things, it should be pretty straight forward. please point it out if I'm missing something.
brake_pedal_connection1.jpg

this shows the hydroboost rod next to the one I pulled out of the truck. they are laying fairly close to how they would be relative to the firewall. the original is quite a bit longer, but also sticks through the firewall an inch or so, so overall length is pretty close.

brake_pedal_connection3.jpg

this is a closer shot of the ends, with the connecting bolt that goes through the pedal.

looks like I have a couple of options here. not sure which way to go with it.
option 1: find a bolt that will fit the hydroboost connector, put it in and call it done. this only works if the shaft length is correct already and that seems like a long shot. it looks like its pretty close, but I'll have to do some better measurements to see how close.

option 2: cut the hydroboost rod and thread it, then buy a connector similar to the original and hook it up. a threaded shaft would give me some adjustment.

option 3: do what paramedic did and cut the hydroboost rod short, then weld a bolt onto it that fits my original connector. saves me the cost of the connector (probably $10-$15) plus, I'll obviously have a bolt that will fit already. :thumb:

option 1 would be easiest, but it seems unlikely that the length will be right, so I'm leaning towards option 3 so I have some adjustment.

couple of questions:
anybody know if the connector I pulled out of the truck is original? to me it looks like a replacement part, so I'm curious.

how critical is the correct length on the connector shaft? I'm assuming I want to be able to fully engage the MC before I hit the floor, but what happens if I can max it out and still have room to push?
do any of you have a pedal stop to keep from pushing too far? or, are you just supposed to adjust the length so that you hit the floor right at max depression of the MC?

paramedic, you drilled a new hole in your pedal, why didn't you reuse the one that was there? it seems like if I mount the hydroboost correctly, the hole will be in the right place. am I missing something?
 
Yes that is an original you took out of your truck (or mine had the same aftermarket piece). I redrilled mine because of the clevis I used was not deep enough to work on the original hole. Mine was going to be too short with the rod as it was so I cut/welded the bolt on and put the clevis on there. It seems to work fine where I have it, no problems to announce yet.
 
oh, I see. the hole was too far back, so the clevis (I have sense been told its called a yoke end btw) bottomed out on the pedal, right?

any reason you can think of not to just reuse the connector I have and thread that onto the hydroboost? is there a reason why you didn't?

how careful were you to get the length "just right"? or did you just go with what felt good when you pushed on it?
 
The threaded ID of the old piece was too large to fit onto the existing rod. I could have used it but I had ordered two yokes (see I learn quick) from jegs, so I just used that. Being that it was threaded on, I got it close and used a bolt that was 1" so I had plenty of adjustment. Once together and realizing the yoke was too shallow, I marked it and redrilled the pedal. Yhen when I installed it I adjusted it out to where the brakes would start to engage with @1/2" of pedal travel.

You won't want the pedal to max at the floor per-say. I ended up with it maxing the mc throw @1/4" off the floor when bleeding the brakes. That leaves it with a good distance when there is pressure on the system and ensures you can bleed it 100%.
 
right on. thanks man. that all makes sense.
think I'll try reusing this connector and welding on a bolt the way you did.
 
No worries. I'm just glad I can finally give a little back to CK5 after all the help I get on here. It seems like a really good setup now that it's done. Took me a little bit to wrap my head around it, but now that it's in there I'm very happy I went with it. Keep us posted!
 
ok, slight change of plans. after spending some time at the local fastenal, I'm going with a modified option 2:

I found this:
http://www.fastenal.com/web/products/detail.ex?sku=0412092
0411962_hr4c.jpg


the female side at the bottom is 3/8-16 which is the same diameter as the hydroboost output rod so cutting the eye off and threading it should work out perfectly.

the bolt end is also 3/8-16, which matches the existing hole in the brake pedal. :thumb:

the more I thought about it, the more I got nervous about welding something in on that critical a part to the brake system. if you didn't get it perfectly straight, or did a bad job welding, it seems like you're just begging for a break right there.

if I'm overlooking something let me know, but atm this seems like a great solution.
 
Well damn! That's pretty snazzy:waytogo: Kinda wish I would have found one of those...
 
I hope that you two get this figured out so it's just a picture by picture, play by play for me. :D
 
well, it helped a lot that the store was empty and the guy behind the counter was into rock crawling. we spent close to an hour looking at different options before we hit on this thing. I'm excited to try it. unfortunately he had to bring it in from another store, so I won't get it until friday.
 
ran into a little problem at the junkyard today. I went back to the '82 3500 I found with the correct mounting plate in order to get it for my much nicer looking '95 hydroboost. unfortunately, once I got all the bolts undone and pulled it away from the firewall a bit, I realized the damn mounting plate is welded to the hydroboost! grrrr :confused:

paramedic, is yours welded as well?

when I look up the exact same truck at a parts store, it shows a pic of a hydroboost without the mounting plate, so either they expect you to cut the welds (unlikely), the welding was done by a PO (also seems unlikely), or there should be a replacement mounting plate available. right?
 
I don't recall mine being welded, but I never tried to take it off... I know Yukon Jack had taken his apart, so I would assume that the one you're looking at is goofy:dunno:
 
just got off the phone with a GM dealership. he had an exploded view of it, and the hydroboost he had, showed the plate attached. of course it was also discontinued (not that I'd pay for a new one anyway). I can make my own mounting plate, but I'm betting that the aftermarket has a plate so that they can use the same booster for all years. just gotta find it.

maybe I'll try and get ahold of yukon Jack.

if you are around your truck, take a look at it will ya? should be easy to spot if the plate is welded to the booster or not. you can see it plane as day just by looking at it. I just didn't notice until I pulled it because I wasn't looking for it, and it was dirty as hell.
 
I just went and peeked at mine and don't see any welds (unless you're talking on the back side under the dash). I snapped a couple pics, let me know if this is the area I should be looking at.

d7d07116.jpg


aa7b04f9.jpg
 
that's perfect, thank you!

... I might be an idiot. :doah:

on the '95 that I have at home, the plate is flat. the '82 I was going to get the plate off of is very, VERY rusty making it difficult to see details. that raised portion of your plate looked like it was a weld. since I was looking for a seam on the flat part of the plate, and not on the raised part, I mistook it for being welded to the hydroboost. dammit!! now I need to go back and get the damn thing. /sigh

thank you again for the pic! having a clean one to look at changed everything. /thumbsup
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom