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.

Will hydroboost brakes work?

wetoolowdingbangow

wetoolowdingbangow

1/2 ton status
Joined
Nov 30, 2014
Posts
4,870
Reaction score
3,561
Location
East Bay, Ca
Will my hydroboost brakes work without all of the power steering lines hooked up?

The reason I ask is I’m escaping California and I need to move it fairly quickly. I have a ton on my plate already so if I could just get the brakes to work then I can baby it on a trailer and get out. I definitely need some brakes to get down off the hill I live on.
 
I'm not sure if you can "bypass" the hydroboost and still have P/S..
It could be done probably,by using P/S hoses off a truck with no hydroboost,but that would entail as much work and expense as replacing the existing hoses..

Supposedly you can still stop and steer a hydroboost vehicle if you lost the P/S belt or pump,but the few times I "lost" both on my truck after going thru a very deep long flooded road section and got the v-belt soaked,I was barely able to turn the steering wheel and was standing up on the brake pedal with my butt off the seat,and it barely slowed it down much..
It was worse than having the engine stall on a non-hydroboost vehicle..scary as hell..the E-brakes are kind of useless once your going over 15 mph too,especially on a hill..they'll either not do much,or lock up one or both rear wheels and possibly throw it into a skid..
 
Well,maybe if its not a really steep hill you could leave it in low range and first gear at idle, to keep the speed as slow as possible and then stab it in neutral and use the E-brake to stop it..good luck!..
 
sweetk30 said:
drove my truck home one time 10 miles on 38" swampers no p/s belt and other than 2 foot pedal push and arm strong steering it was fine . but my lines were hooked up so no liquid leaks .
Click to expand...


Yeah I just need to limp it on a trailer. It’s got a doubler and a manual trans for backup brakes.
 
I assume you have some friends left with vehicles. I hope everybody is not out with pitchforks and torches looking for you. Grab a good tow strap, attach it firmly to the rear of the truck, and attach the other end to the front of a sturdy vehicle.
Crank yours up, put it in the lowest gear, and just tow the back vehicle along with his brakes on lightly in neutral.
Rig up a hand signal for when you need to stop, just push in the clutch and let him hit his brakes.
Make sure there is something on the front end of the trailer to hold your truck in place while you tie it down if its going downhill.
Shutting off the engine in gear once you are on it should hold you anyway.
 
IIRC hydroboost will act like vacuum power brakes with no engine running....you gotta push really hard to-get them to work.I wouldn’t trust them.
 
We often towed junk vehicles with a trailer to the junkyard that had "no brakes" due to rotted lines,etc...we had a pair of chock blocks tied to a rope long enough to reach the ground when we hung them off the door mirror...when the vehicle got up on the trailer,one of us sitting behind the wheel would grab one of the chock blocks and drop it behind the front tire,to prevent it from rolling back off ..quite often we used one of the shop trucks as a "pusher" to shove vehicles up onto the trailer too..
 
wetoolowdingbangow said:
Thanks for the input guys. I’ve got 5.38 gears and I can put it in double low. That should be ok as long as the brakes somewhat work. I have a good amount of room to get it together should things get interesting. When I land in Idaho I just need reverse and some throttle lol.
Click to expand...

Have another rig tied off to it just in case. It wouldn't be the first time the crawl box or the t-case went into neutral.
 
You could run HB brakes without routing fluid to the power steering, but you'd have to have the right hydraulic lines to do it. Would be kind of a waste of time/money to get that rigged up for a 500' drive. If you refer to the HB conversion thread (https://ck5.com/forums/threads/illustrated-hydroboost-swap.306221/), you can see that the pressure line from the pump goes to the HB, then another line from the HB outlet to the steering gear inlet. So you'd have to rig up a steering gear bypass or something similar. PROBABLY much easier to just install the power steering lines, even if it means losing some fluid.

Keep in mind that in 1st gear / double-low, even good working brakes aren't going to stop the vehicle anyway. With no brake boost, you will absolutely have to disengage the driveline to stop the truck.
 
I vote for ignoring the boost and just driving with manual brakes. Especially since you'll only be stopping once. Practice in the yard a few times before you try it on the trailer. You don't need brake boost to stop, just a strong leg (or two).
 
Yeah I feel like I should do it the right way and hook everything up. I may get it moving and just see how the brakes act without boost.

I really lost my way with this build due to moving and trying to be a great new dad.

For now I just need to get it moved. I think I’ll probably end up selling it in the long run. I’ve got the itch for a bomber fab buggy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom