OK gang! What is the EASY way to replace the brake booster on out 72. I have tried to get myself under there and not having that much luck and with these $#$#%@! varible bifocals I can't get my eyes to see anything at all. Is there any tricks or do i go out and get the neighbor kid?

Thanks wro87

 

I don't think that eyesight is a great asset on this job but extensions are Everything is by touch.

It isn't all that hard. You need a deep socket (don't remember the size. 5/8th?) followed by a u-joint followed by about 18 inches of extensions and a ratchet. Lie on your back on the floor. Some like to remove their seats. I prefer to use the seat back to hold myself up. Reach your hand in and find the four bolts holding the back of the booster to the firewall and undo them one at a time. Installation is the reverse but I'd suggest starting all four nuts first.

Make sure that you remove the clevis pin to the booster rod before you remove the nuts. Hopefully you won't drop it and lose your's like I did I found putting the clevis pin back in and installing the retainer was the hardest part of this job.

 

The upper, outer nut is tough to see. As another poster stated, much of this is done blindly, more by feel.

Removing the driver seat gives you more room.

I think I may have had to remove the clutch safety switch on my 70 to get a clear shot at the top, outer nut.

It's a tight work space, take your time.

 

Easiest? Pay someone else to do it.

That's an honest answer.

CA-Legal: Bi-focals are a PITA. I share the same problem with Wro87. It is often difficult to see exactly what you want to see.

 

I took out the column to.

 

I replaced the booster on my 1972 last weekend. I also wear progressive lens and its difficult to see when upside down because the bottom of the lens has the focusing power, but I am looking up above the lens.

The best thing I did was to remove the seat. Its only held in place by 4 bolts, and is easy to take out. Once that is out I was able to lay flat on the floor with my legs sticking out of the T -Top area, for some of the bolts, and others I was able to lay on my stomach, and have enough room to look up into the dash area. You also have to take the tops off of course to do this.

My car is an automatic, so my frame of reference is only with the gas and brake pedal. Getting the nuts off required a long socket because my bolts stuck out far enough to hit the end of the u-joint assembly and I did not get a good fit with the socket. As stated earlier it was socket+u-joint+long extension+ratchet. Because the u-joint allows the socket to flex up to 90 degrees I put some electrical tape around it to hold it closer to a 45 degree angle. That allowed me to position it in approximateley the angle needed to push on the nut, then begin to loosen it up. I was able to get all 4 nuts off in this method.

Getting the clip off of the clevis pin takes a little finesse also. You can use a long handle screw driver to gently move the clip off of the rod, then it will slide off, and you can remove the rod from the brake pedal.

Putting the clip back on the clevis pin was the most difficult part of the reassembly for me. I ended up using about a 12 inch long needle nose plier to hold it by the edge which allowed me to insert the clip between the power booster U shaped clamp and the brake switch housing.

kdf

 

Not to rub it in but I did mine with the dash out. Took less than 45 minutes to remove the old and replace it with a new one. It is a considerable bit more work with the dash in place. However it took me 30 minutes to get the clevis clip back on... it was just one of those things.

Mike is right the the easiest way is to pay someone else to do it. (But that is not the way most of us work)

 

not to steal your thunder,but this really belongs In the tech forum

 

Thats the easiest. Maybe not the cheapest but definately the easiest.

 

I just replaced my brake booster on my 75 vette last night. it was not too bad. i took the seat out and laid on my back with my feet in the air.
I have pretty small hands so it was just a little dificult. I left the collum in and i had the booster out in an hour and the new one installed in 45 mininutes.

You will have to remove the top bolt blind though. I put the swivel at the end of a deep socket and put that on the bolt first, then i put the extensions on.

I just wanted to share incase others were debating on paying someone to do this. I would say do it yourself, just have patience and the correct tools.

 

Top left...PITA, Double wooble on a deep socket...lace that connection with duck tape so as to stiffen that joint a bit... Muddy