Hey Everyone, So I took my truck for a spin after having a power booster installed for the drum brakes. The drum brakes were completely gone through from top to bottom on all wheels by a local shop in the area. Cylinders were replaced as well as springs and while we were at it, installed the replacement roller bearings on the front wheels. They also put on new hoses. We did not machine the drums because they were in good condition as well as shoes. When I drove the truck home from the shop everything seemed to work great. A little while later we were having a local car club event and while I was driving to the location I had to brake a little hard to stop at a light turning red. When I did this the whole truck pulled completely to the left and took me over into the left hand turning lane (thank heaven no one was next to me)and it didn't matter how hard I pulled on that steering wheel, that truck was going where it wanted to go. It was a somewhat scary experience cause I had my young daughter with me in the car and my wife was following me from behind in her car watching everything take place. Anyway in talking to some of the club members, the thought was that since I will be using the truck for freeway driving in Los Angeles that I would be far better off to put disc brakes on the front wheels. I wanted to get everyone's opinion in the forum on that in light of my recent situation and if the consensus is that I should do it, what is the best kit to use, do I need now to get a new booster (the one I got was a drum/drum booster), etc? I am trying to keep the truck as stock as possible and just do "safety" upgrades where necessary so with that in mind, I would still like to be able to use stock wheels with the recommended kit however I don't have any stock wheels so if anyone could also recommend a place to get replica stock wheels, that would be great too. Thanks to all in advance for their help with this. Steve
Brakes issue ! Volker on this forum has been writing a lot about the install of the powerbrakebooster . As you have upgraded your brakessystem with a power booster i wonder if they installed resedual valves in front/rear? They help to give constantly anough pressure at all four brake cylinders ! Maybe your brakes/shoes at the driversside in front where locked by the pressure or it could be that one of your brake cylinders got hanged up. I suggest that you make an complete inspection of your brake system when having the truck on a hydraulic lifter so you could look underneath the truck and see what happens when braking ? When doing it proparly a drum/drum brake system with your upgrade gives anough braking power and safety! Good luck.
First Things First As you had a left front lockup and that needs to be addressed before going to disc brakes . I understand you fear as I once has this same thing happen @ freeway speed (85 MPH) and the car spun like a top , hit the curb & flipped on it's roof.... Fix the problem on the current brake or you'll never be able to safely do the disc brake conversion .
I have a similar problem on my 53', it is scary to try and stop and be pulled left. I think I have isolated the problem to a right King Pin that's bad. I haven't had time to get to it yet to tell you if that's the issue. I am told by reputable sources here that that is probably the issue. I put a power booster on both my 47 and 53 and only have that issue with the 53. No matter what the Huck brakes on the 47' don't stop you fast. Flashlight
Thank you to everyone for the advice - Thanks everyone for the advice and input. I think I will drive (very slowly of course) the 54 back to the shop that put on the booster to look the who system over. Since I am not a mechanic by trade I really need to leave this to the experts but it seems most importantly I just need to get it fixed before considering disc brakes. Who knows, perhaps once the problem is solved, I won't need to spend the $ on disc brakes. That would certainly keep the wife happy.
