Do I have power brakes??

[Pegtop]

I've only had my truck for a few days and right off the bat I'm gonna need to spend some time working on my brakes. My question is, do I have power brakes installed on my truck if it has a brake booster behind the master cylinder?

[ultraranger]

I've only had my truck for a few days and right off the bat I'm gonna need to spend some time working on my brakes. My question is, do I have power brakes installed on my truck if it has a brake booster behind the master cylinder?

Yes. "brake booster" implies the brakes have added assist, to the driver, to apply the brakes. If the master cylinder was mounted directly to the firewall, then the brakes would be manual --non-assisted.

However, boosters can go bad and can make it feel like you have manual brakes.

[Pegtop]

Any way of knowing if it was installed at the factory or if someone added it somewhere over the years?

[ultraranger]

Any way of knowing if it was installed at the factory or if someone added it somewhere over the years?

Unless you have the build/broadcast sheet for the truck (would have been with the truck as it went down the assembly line so the workers would know what specific items were to be installed), it would be difficult to know this information.

My '69 Ranger didn't have power brakes when I bought it in April, 2011 but I took a dual-diaphragm booster from a '75 F-350 1-ton truck and installed it. Stops much better now.

Are you going for total factory stock? Otherwise, I would think power brakes would be a plus and not matter if it was originally installed on the truck or not ...just the fact that it does have it now, IF it didn't originally.

If it's a matter of not knowing if the booster is original or, if it's from a later model pickup or, if it's not even a Ford booster at all, you could post a (clear) picture(s) and I'm fairly certain that it could at least be determined if it's period correct, from a later model Ford truck or if it's not a Ford booster.

[Pegtop]

Thanks Ultraranger! No, I doesn't really matter to me whether it came with the truck or not. Just curious and also I see a lot of different parts available for my truck from LMC and they often ask whether the truck has power brakes or not and I guess I wondered if it made a difference if they actually came with the truck or were installed later on. I guess as long as I have PB then I should stick with part numbers that are designed for trucks with PB, correct?

[thejunkman]

To some degree however, depending on what booster you have it is my understanding there are a ton of variables as far as parts are concerned. To qoute from a post on FTE... (Assuming it could have came from a later year truck)

"1973/79 F100/350:

There are TWENTY TWO different brake pedals, NINETEEN different power brake boosters, SEVENTEEN different master cylinders, SEVEN different clutch pedals, I kid you not!"

[Nitekruizer]

There are TWENTY TWO different brake pedals, NINETEEN different power brake boosters, SEVENTEEN different master cylinders, SEVEN different clutch pedals, I kid you not!"

Hey, it's a Ford! Don't get me wrong, I love 'em, but the joke/saying always was "if it ( car or truck) was built in the morning, parts that were made that afternoon won't fit."