Hydroboost

[ba123]

I just got my WH Hydroboost package and will be doing this in the near future, but on a side note, I remember reading somewhere, prob in some WH stuff that it can take up to 500 miles to get all the air out or the Hydroboost system.

Fingers crossed for you that it works right eventually but glad it's at least working!

[GloNDark2]

Man do I feel your pain. Everytime I thought I got my MOAB hydroboost figured it, it slipped right back to the mushy pedal again after a few days. Checked all fittings for leaks. Bled, rebled and bled some more of the Powersteering and brake fluid side of things.

I finally threw in the towel and dropped it off at a friends shop. He is an early Bronco guy and his bronco with the MOAB system on it will STOP hard. Does not lock up the rears but he said that took alot of messing with. He thinks my front calipers are the issue but I couldn't see anything wrong with them. Hopefully he finds something because I'm with you Tony, I just want to get out a drive. Atleast I have my First Edition to bomb around with.

[ba123]

Great….what did I get myself into?

[CityHick]

I ordered the device that I linked in my last post, it came yesterday and I intend to install it this weekend. Along with that I'm likely going to replace the entire rear brake line on the frame, because the original line has been bent and re-bent and moved several times (by me) when I've changed other things underneath my bronco. Brake line is cheap, easy to bend, and it's time I make it nicer. I am determined to get through these issues and drive the damn thing again. GloNDark2 I somewhat regret letting my First Edition-turned-Raptor reservation go. I think if I had a new bronco I'd probably drive it almost exclusively... and that's kind of sad to think about. My 70 Bronco is a part of me... creeping up on 20 years of ownership. I am glad that I did not write a $100k check for the Raptor, but dang they're nice rigs even in lower trim levels... I will get back in line for a Badlands or a Wildtrack someday.

Those who know me personally know that I've been run through the ringer lately with work. My priority is currently to focus most of my energy on my new job; I have a lot of new responsibility and I end most days mentally exhausted. These are temporary headaches, I have been through similar times before and I've always come through to the other side on top. It just takes time, and as such I'm not spending as much time as I'd like on my personal interests. As I've said before though, Broncos are patient. lol.

[904Bronco]

You will get there soon enough Tony... Remember to make time to decompress from the challenges of work!

[CityHick]

I've decided that I REALLY do not like working on brakes. I also regret making this purchase. It has been a pain in the ass from the word go. Perhaps I've made it harder than it needs to be but it's certainly not been easy.

I mentioned that I picked up that device to delay the application of the rear brakes. I found a place to mount it, and this required that I re-run the rear brake line. I have decided that my brake flare tool is garbage (generic parts store variety). It is not making a good flare and I've been chasing leaks as a result. This has me less than pleased. I'm upgrading to a better tool and it'll be here sometime this week. As an added bonus, the rear reservoir of my master cylinder has drained itself, so... yay, master cylinder has to come back off to bench bleed. I was hoping to never have to remove it because well, it is a royal pain in the ass to hook everything back up again while trying to operate quickly enough to minimize the brake fluid mess that results.

My patience has worn thin and I do not enjoy this project anymore. In fact I'm questioning how much I actually enjoy wrenching on the bronco anymore..

As for decompressing from work - I agree. Working on my bronco used to help me to decompress and relax my mind. It's really just creating more headaches for me now. I am pretty burnt out on all things bronco at the moment. Not to mention I have to get under it and cut the rear shock mounts off so that I can weld new ones on a little further inboard. There's nothing about that job that sounds fun to me... throwing sparks in cramped quarters while laying upside down... ugh. I am getting too old for this. I've got half a mind to figure out how to get this up to my dad's workshop and put it on the lift to make life a little easier on myself.

I've also been thinking if I put the word out, that perhaps I could arrange a good old fashioned wrenching party; get some different and experienced eyes on this. Heck I'd probably even pay someone $1000 to just do all of this for me. I am truly tired of fighting this supposed upgrade.

[ba123]

That really sucks. I’ve done a lot of brake stuff over the years on a lot of different cars and I don’t know…I think you’ve just got something going on that’s not right and not normal. Did you do what they say you’re supposed to do with stainless and tighten, loosen, tighten again. Any chance you’ve tried doing a pressure test on your lines? Seems like you’ve got to have somewhere some air is getting in or trapped.

I don’t know what flaring tool you ordered but I know I overspent on my hydraulic Mastercool unit I just bought…. I might be open to lending it to you.

I did order the motive adapter for pressure bleeding but think I’m returning it and going to get an additional willwood cap and put a fitting in the top to pressure bleed that way…could try that?

I think brakes are generally simple and it’s gotta be a limited number of things. No need to get frustrated, just need to narrow it down somehow. Maybe cap off the fronts and see if the spongy pedal goes away, and then the rears…?

Again, take a breath, narrow it down, drink a beer, narrow it down some more. Maybe even call WH? See what they say…they generally seem to stand behind their stuff.

[CityHick]

Thanks for the suggestions and encouragement. I know that I will get there, and I agree that brakes are generally simple.

I have called WH several times earlier on in this process - aside from swapping parts for me, they really did not have much to say other than that the system usually works etc.

Part of my motivation to replace the whole rear brake line was to make sure there was nowhere for air to leak in. There was a splice midway down the rear brake line and I always wanted to fix that, so this was my opportunity. The brake tool I ordered is nothing fancy, but it is one that uses dies and is well reviewed on amazon. I am completely done with the parts store "clamp" variety I was using.

I have tightened, loosened, and re-tightened everything as you mentioned. I am totally convinced the flares are the problem, my flare tool just isn't making a proper looking flare and I was concerned about the flares when I formed them earlier. The leaks were proof of the problem.

Thanks for letting me vent...

[pippinmader]

Tony, I am sorry that the hydroboost upgrade isn't going well for you, but on the bright side you have provided some great reading for the rest of us and are probably almost single handedly keeping the website traffic levels up on norcalbroncos! I feel you about grinding under a vehicles, when a hot spark falls in your ear and you can hear it sizzle - that is on my list of least favorite things!

[CityHick]

Tony, I am sorry that the hydroboost upgrade isn't going well for you, but on the bright side you have provided some great reading for the rest of us and are probably almost single handedly keeping the website traffic levels up on norcalbroncos! I feel you about grinding under a vehicles, when a hot spark falls in your ear and you can hear it sizzle - that is on my list of least favorite things!

Hah, yes between Doug and I, you, and a few others, this site is pretty darn dead.
This weekend I had a lot of chores and errands to catch up on and thus, the bronco waited again. I'm hoping to find some time this coming week to address the leaky rear brake line with my new flaring tool, and to begin the process of removing the master cylinder, bench bleeding it, and reinstalling it. I may be out of town next weekend so... yeah. Someday I'll get back to this!

[904Bronco]

To Quote a famous cartoon Dad... "Well get there when we get there".
You will get it done, even planning a Bronco get together wrenching BBQ as an option, there is more satisfaction when you solve issues on your own.
Ask me about Explorer PS pumps, "wink, wink, say no more"

[ba123]

To Quote a famous cartoon Dad... "Well get there when we get there".
You will get it done, even planning a Bronco get together wrenching BBQ as an option, there is more satisfaction when you solve issues on your own.
Ask me about Explorer PS pumps, "wink, wink, say no more"

Haha, I say that all the time to the kiddos on the road. The little one asks non-stop, "when are we gonna get there" and she isn't even that little anymore!

And what about Explorer PS pumps? Please tell, although seems like it's a long story for another thread you should point me to...I've read good and bad about them and my plan was to use the one I got with my Explorer front dress. I've thought about Saginaw but don't see a bracket that I can use the stock Explorer compressor and that was my plan as well and I already bought that. Might be able to return but my understanding that it's better than the stock VA one they give you and less money.

[904Bronco]

The short story, (the whole story is in my Betty White build) is the wreaking yard pump wasn't putting out pressure. Never had that problem before. So I had it rebuilt by Straight line steering in San Jose. Brought the rebuilt pump home and did the install and no change. WTF? Started looking at everything else and was mystified. Then I borrowed a PS pressure system gauge from JimGo and the pump was still not putting out? Took it apart again and took it back to SLS. In a day I had an apology that some how the relief value was all the way open? They delivered it to my door, as they live just south of me. No problems after that. But I had a few weeks into the entire debacle...

Doug.

[ba123]

That’s crazy…wonder if something happened to the valve and you never needed a rebuild in the first place and it just needed to be tightened…

I am worried about how my steering is gonna go. It was great before but sitting so many years. I rebuilt my ‘76 PS box myself 24 years ago and it’s been sitting ever since, so who knows about how that’s gonna work and then the Explorer pump I have now for it from Sanndmann…I don’t have high hopes, but I guess we’ll see. I’m a ways off from needing to steer it, but making progress!

[ba123]

CityHick Any update? What’s the latest?

I’ve been slowly getting my stuff on there but I did have to modify my WH bracket for another hole and sadly did not realize until now that when I notched the bracket, I didn’t have it in the right place.

So, now I need to rotate it and to do so, I have to loosen the nut in there.

anyone have that socket? I’ll buy one if I have to but annoying to have to buy another thing that I’m gonna use one time. I’m running out of money…and room!