Brake MC for '59 medium duty

[Jason Mills]

I looked at a 59 D600 dump truck the other day. It will be nothing much more than a work truck but it needs brake work. The stock master cylinder with only one reservoir and a remote booster is what the truck has right now.

I am unwilling to drive such a truck, unless the brakes are updated, and I am wondering if replacing the master cylinder/booster with a mid 70's unit would be an option (from the W/D 500 series trucks)?

Is that something that can be found at Napa? or is it a junkyard find that gets rebuilt professionally?

I'm interested in hearing opinions regarding brake upgrades on the medium duty line of trucks.

[58pwrwgn]

I have a 58 w100. I took the hanging pedals from a 59 so that I could mount power brakes and hydraulic clutch on the firewall. I pulled the brake parts from a 60's w200/d200 with hydraulic clutch. It wasn't hard. The dodge stuff consists of the master, 8 inch Booster and a 4 inch spacer bracket between the booster and the firewall to allow room for the hydraulic master. I had to Fab a brake pedal push rod using parts rod parts from both.
I assume you have the hydraulic clutch. With the spacer and 8 inch booster the slave just fits. I think? Dodge went to a larger booster in the 70's.

[MrMarty51]

I too have been thinking of uprating the brakes on My 59 W100,but,going full all out.
I will be doing a carb to TBI conversion from a GM pickup{s} and thinking about the brakes and "ALL that room" under the hood.
I think a 4WAL system from a scrap yard doner unit would be GREAT and I am betting that the front disk brake hub/roters from an early 4WAL solid axle would fit Our old fourwheel drive differential/front ends too.
It would mean installing a stand alone brake computer box or possible breaking out the necessary wiring from the factory computer but I am betting it could be done.
The biggest foreseeable problem woud be finding speed sensors for the rear drums.Maby a disk brake conversion for the rears would be possible too.

[58pwrwgn]

Disc brakes would be nice. I had an idea but found the 13 inch rotors and 16 inch bud rims did' t leave enough room for a caliper. My brakes need some tic and I have another idea I might look into. FYI Mopar Action magazine did rear wheel anti lock for the 8 3/4 using Dakota stuff.

[MrMarty51]

Disc brakes would be nice. I had an idea but found the 13 inch rotors and 16 inch bud rims did' t leave enough room for a caliper. My brakes need some tic and I have another idea I might look into. FYI Mopar Action magazine did rear wheel anti lock for the 8 3/4 using Dakota stuff.

I had split rims on My 59 and have since gone to one piece wheels.It is difficult to find a tire shop that will even look at a split rim anymore.Of course I could always do them myself,after all,they were designed with the farmer in mind.LOL
Anyway,the split rims I had were of two different offsets and there possibly could be more,that might accomodate the disk brake conversion to make room for the calipers.