Power brake question

I have a 1979 CJ5 that has a bad master cylinder. When I call the parts store for a replacement they told me that they had the parts for the power brakes. What do I need to convert my manual brakes to power. I am assuming master cylinder, brake booster, and some vacuum line?

Anyone that would go into more detail of what this will entail would be great. How much time will it take?chainsawguy

 

I converted a 75 from manual to power. I found a booster, bracket and master cylinder together.They were from an 81. The brake lines were on different sides of the master cylinder and different size connections in my situation. The bolt pattern on the firewall for the bracket were different so I had to mark and drill for the bracket. The rod that connects the petal to the booster was smaller and had to be drilled so it would mount on the petal assembly. There was a lot of changes between the 75 and 76. Since yours is a 79 there may not be that much to change.

 

You'll need a vacuum brake booster, a new master cylinder that's meant for the booster (different piston from manual), and any brackets or other hard parts that the factory uses to join the booster to the brake pedal. You'll also need to connect to manifold vacuum, and reroute/change the brake lines to meet the new master cylinder position.

I looked in my parts book, but could not find any bracket between the booster and the pedal. I expect you're going to need some kind of parts to go between the firewall and the brake booster.

I would do my best to look at one of these Jeeps, with the booster in place, before I started ordering parts. It's possible that you could use the booster and parts from a YJ or TJ ... there are plenty of them in the yards here. Or else find a '76 or newer CJ with power brakes and take all the pieces you need.

 

I just bought a Master cylinder/Vacuum booster from Summit Racing for my 75 CJ5.. My Jeep came with power brakes, but the booster is frapped, or seems to be.. I have another thread on brakes here someplace and someone was kind enough to post a link to the brake manual for those years..

http://oljeep.com/gw/76_tsm/Section9.pdf

 

I used a Waggy Booster, makes it stop like a modern car. The only custom part was an adjustable push rod.

 

Just a comment - the PB setup changes in 1976, compared to the intermediates. The parts book implies that the booster attaches directly to the firewall. But I know the intermediates use some brackets between the firewall and the booster, and I thought that the later Jeeps had something like this too.

I expect that most of these Jeeps came with power disk brakes, so I would do what it takes to see one of these in situ. If nobody here can show you one, check eBay for Jeeps for sale in your area with this PB setup. Go and take a look at the Jeep - give the seller something for his time if you feel so inclined.