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53 NEW YORKER BRAKE BOOSTER


jcox04

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I finally put my NYer on the street for a test drive after about 3+ years of restoration.  Braking is good (too good?) as booster is not releasing pressure. Noticed brake lights were still on after car was shut off and brake pedal all the way up. Light will go off after a few minutes, especially if I pump on  the brakes.  Also, while car moves ok under power, brakes are definitely tight.

 

Since 1970 car was driven once about 5 miles in 1980, and I did not work on the booster, I am assuming it needs rebuilding. Any sources for rebuilding? (I did replace brake shoes, wheel cylinders and rebuild master cylinder)

 

Thanks for the help. Great forum

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I had that identical problem with my 56 New Yorker.  It had been driven rarely before I got it and the brake fluid had gone bad.  The master cylinder was gummed up and building up pressure after a few miles on the road until it could not be driven at all for an hour or more.   A new master cylinder and a good flush of the system and the cars brakes are fine now.  Fortunately the booster was not at fault.

Edited by Reg Evans
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hemmings lists several rebuilders. i used a guy in calif. back in about 06. 300 then, maybe more now. i can find the name somewhere if you have no luck. also, you can simply bypass the booster on these cars and just have manual brakes that will work fine. just split the brake lines out of the master to the front and rear. my 54 Windsor has a booster, but it was bypassed sometime before i bought the car. just not eager to pull the booster and spend the money for the rebuild. also, if the diaphragm in the booster fails, it will allow the vacuum line to suck all the brake fluid out of the system and you will lose ALL braking in a very short time. this happened to a 53 imperial i owned, but luckily i never left the property that day. i then had the booster rebuilt. if you pull the front seat out there is a cover in the floor you can remove for easy access to the booster. i am a fan of these 50's Chryslers.    capt den 

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That booster is a bitch to rebuild.  I have two in a box that I took apart and was going to use on my 1949.  The main valve in it is aluminum and it turns to crud.  Part are very hard to get and several of the rebuilding houses would not touch it.  The one that did wanted a small fortune to do it.

 

So, all the parts sit in a box.

 

James. 

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They work great.I have this same booster in a couple of my cars.

Very easy powerful brake boost.

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Up date

 

I pulled the booster vacuum line with car off, it was still holding vacuum. I guess the vacuum line at engine connection must have one way valve? Also seems that booster diaphragm must be working (engine idles smoothly). With vacuum line disconnected I ran car up and down the driveway braking each time. Same symptom as before; brake pedal was all the way up and brake lights stayed on after shutting down car.

 

Seems the problem must be in the booster assembly. From the posts, sounds like getting the assembly repaired/replaced will be challenging and that the solution is to baypass?

 

BTW; other than the booster, everything in the system was replaced (shoes, wheel cylinders, hoses) or rebuilt (master cylinder)

 

thanks for the feedback!

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On 1/30/2018 at 7:18 PM, jcox04 said:

I finally put my NYer on the street for a test drive after about 3+ years of restoration.  Braking is good (too good?) as booster is not releasing pressure. Noticed brake lights were still on after car was shut off and brake pedal all the way up. Light will go off after a few minutes, especially if I pump on  the brakes.  Also, while car moves ok under power, brakes are definitely tight.

 

Since 1970 car was driven once about 5 miles in 1980, and I did not work on the booster, I am assuming it needs rebuilding. Any sources for rebuilding? (I did replace brake shoes, wheel cylinders and rebuild master cylinder)

 

Thanks for the help. Great forum

Are you in Los Angeles(I noticed L.A. when I looked you up)?  If so,  go visit Karp's in Upland CA.  I have personally used them and have had great results.  They can do anything for you as well as sleeving your parts.  They recently sleeved my Wheel Cylinders and Master Cylinder to my 1937 Dodge in stainless steel.  

 

http://www.karpspb.com/

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The right solution is to fix the booster or replace it with one that will work properly.

The bypass way is the hacky way to fix it:lol:

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bypassing the booster is not a hacky way to get the brakes working. it will simply give you perfectly good manual brakes like all the other Chryslers built that year that were not equipped with power brakes. the booster can then be rebuilt at your leisure and reinstalled later. you get to drive the car.    captden

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The booster makes a heavy car designed with a booster nice and easy and safe to stop.

Do a brake job the right way and do it all the way.:)

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I found a rebuilder on ebay, Power Brake Exchange. $395 to have my unit rebuilt. Looks to be at least a month,  hopefully I will have a positive report then. Other than a short drive in 1980 to a storage garage, haven"t had it on the road since 1970.....

 

I was not looking forward to bypassing booster, as rebuilding prospects were looking dim.

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they are the ones i used about 15 years ago. when i called around, i was told often that nobody had the kits for this booster, or they just did not want to do that one. guys at power brake said "no problem ,about 3 weeks". i just looked up my old receipts and it was $275. they gave me a veterans discount. did a great job. i found them in hemmings. working under the car to remove and replace was not easy. hope you can drive it this year.   capt den

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