Power assist drum brakes

[Iron Man]

Is it worth the effort to add power assist to the factory Ford drum brakes on a 1968 F-250? Is all I need the master cylinder, power booster, the adjustable rod, proportioning valve, and the steel lines? Do I need the spindles, drums, and I-beams off the other truck? Help me out here, I'm supposed to go strip the parts off the other truck today (Sunday). I've read up on switching the '73 to '78 disc brakes to a truck like mine but nothing on switching the power drum setup on trucks of the same series, in this case a 1971 to a 1968. Again, help!

[FORDification]

If you're switching from manual drum to power drum, all you need is the power booster and the vacuum hose & nipple. Drum brake systems don't use a proportioning valve...it's just a metering block with a electrical switch used for the warning light, and the one you have is just fine. Your existing master cylinder will work just fine as well.

In fact, you don't even have to remove the brake lines from the master cylinder to install the booster. Just disconnect the brake pedal connecting rod and the two nuts holding the MC to the firewall, then gently pull the MC out until the connecting rod clears the firewall, being careful that you don't kink the lines. Remove the clip holding the rod into the end of the MC, since you won't need it....the booster will have one already. Then just slide the booster into place, bolt it up, and push the MC back into place against the booster and attach. Then attach the brake pedal pushrod. Hook up your vacuum and you're done.

It's definitely a worthwhile addition to your truck, and highly recommended. Good luck.

[Iron Man]

After I posted my questions and while you were replying, I went all through this section reading up on converting manual drums to power drums. Everything I needed to know was there! I should have spent a little time there sooner! Thanks for your answer Keith, this is a truly awesome and incredibly helpful website.

[bm52]

We are about to do the same thing to our '69, even though the guy at the parts house here recommended just staying with the manual brakes. The process seems pretty easy, but where is the best place to hook up the vacuum line from the power booster? There are no spare vacuum ports, and I also want to be sure the booster gets enough vacuum to work properly.

['75-4x4guy]

as a temporary fix you could put a "t" in on the pcv hose .
I would look for another vacuum "tree" on a junk yard truck .

[bm52]

We thought about adding a T to the PCV vacuum port, wasn't sure if there was enough vacuum there. We'll try that route for now.

We noticed today the master cylinder has 2 different sized reservoirs in it. Everything we have read says for all drum brakes the reservoirs should be the same size. I guess it's a replacement MC, not original. Should we definitely change to a different master cylinder, one with the same size reservoirs?