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power brakes with hydraulic clutch

power brakes with hydraulic clutch
J

jerseyben

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I have a 1980 CJ5 with front disc and rear drum on Dana 44s. The tranny is stock 3 spd but a hydraulic clutch has been installed.

Unfortunately, I have manual brakes and stopping this beast on 35"s is quite difficult. I want to do a power brake upgrade and I have read up on it and it sounds quite easy and simple however...

Is there going to be clearance issues with my clutch cylinder which is right next to my master cylinder? What is my best recommended option for this swap?

Here are pics of my firewall so you can see what I'm working with:
- Jeep-CJ Gallery
 
Looks to me like it would work. With the power brakes you have a likage system that moves the booster 5" out from the firewall,(at least mine does). My setup came from Classic Performance products.
 
Another option besides a vacuum booster would be a hydraulic setup. The Chevy Astro van used a hydroboost setup since they didn't have the room for a vacuum canister. It's not hard to adapt that booster to a CJ. It gives you good solid boost without being way overboosted like a system from a 1 ton pickup.

There's a guy who does a lot of stuff with full size Jeeps but he has hydroboost setups that are a bolt-in for a CJ. If you're interested, go over to International Full Size Jeep Association and look through the forums for a guy by the name of Elliott.
 
IMO I would either do the astro van or at least do the yj booster thats got a little more power since you're running 35's.
 
I have a buddy with a CJ8 on 35's that did the astro van hydo-boost and he loves it.
 
The hydroboost swap sounds easy enough to do and looks efficient. Unfortunately I do not have power steering and by the time I put that in AND hydroboost, its kind of a big project.
 
jerseyben said:
The hydroboost swap sounds easy enough to do and looks efficient. Unfortunately I do not have power steering and by the time I put that in AND hydroboost, its kind of a big project.
Click to expand...

Running 35's with manual steering? You've got to have some pretty big arms for that...
 
Astro Van brakes sound appealing. Can I use my existing proportioning valve?
 
kschitoskey said:
Astro Van brakes sound appealing. Can I use my existing proportioning valve?
Click to expand...
Are your check valves and proportioning valve set up for the type of brakes you have? I mean disk, drum. Are you running the same configuration you were running before the power brake swap? If so then use the old ones.
Check valves differ for brake type, disc/drums, proportioning valve for the amount you want to cut the rear brakes down and those only change when you change brake type.
 
Ben, You will be happy with the results. Something to look out for though, they sent mine assembled with the likage bracket bolted to the diaphram upside down and caused me a bit of head scratching untill I discovered what was wrong-if so just unbolt and flip. I did not use the prop valve they included only cause the wire connector used a dif plug and did'nt want to fool with it. Brakes work fine with great feel.
Good Luck
 
Ok, installed the kit today with no issues.

Everything bolted right up. Didn't have to modify a thing. I will note that I had to switch the lines to the reverse of how they were previously routed, no big deal. Used my stock prop valve like others suggested. Bleeding was a piece of cake. The wife helped me and we had a nice time. She got a kick out of blowing the horn while I was under the rear axle. A worthwhile kit that I can recommend to anyone.
 
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