2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission How to change hydroboost on 02 truck?

[ILIANBG]

My hydroboost is leaking- oily residue under the pedals in the cab. I picked up a the part, so now I want to change it. How hard is it to do myself? How long does it take? Any special procedures/tools? Will I lose some of my brake fluid fluid, and will I need to bleed the brake system? What about the power steering fluid? Are the fittings going to the booster under pressure?

Anybody that has done the job, please give me your advise. Thanks.

Ilian

 

[ILIANBG]

Oh my... It looks I'll be the first one. I'll let you guys know what happens.

Ilian

 

[Dave M]

I did the hydroboost on my 97 about 2 years ago. It was not a hard thing to do. Do a search on my user name "dave m" and you will find lotsa info. Here is a recent post a week or so ago:



http://www.tdr1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172902&highlight=hydroboost



You do not have to disconnect the brake lines. I have to leave work now but I'll try to post again later tonight for you when I get home. In the mean time read the thread above. I'm assuming there is little difference between your truck and mine as far as hydroboost brakes go.



Dave

 

[Dave M]

I replaced the hydroboost without disconnecting the brake lines. The hydroboost is mounted to the firewall with 4 studs going into the firewall. The 4 nuts are removed from inside the truck. The brake master cylinder is bolted to the hydroboost (thru about a 1 inch cast spacer) and the hydroboost is bolted to the firewall. The nuts for the bolts that hold the spacer to hydroboost are soft and easy to round off but I got then off with some patience.



There is a shaft that moves to transfer brake pedal movement (thru the hydroboost unit) into the master cylinder. You will see the rod coming out of the hydroboost unit when you get it apart. There was no pressure on the ps lines when I removed them from the hydroboost. Just put a rag around them when you crack them to keep from getting sprayed. One of the lines is high pressure and one is lower.



I did not follow the service manual but just unbolted the brake master cylinder from the hydroboost and left it hanging there and left all the brake lines connected. I also left the combo brake valve (under the master cylinder) alone. Then I did not have to bleed the brakes, just the power steering. Now is a good time to replace the power steering fluid with synthetic (I used NAPA Redline).



I did not drain all the power steering fluid but just kept refilling with Redline and (with tires off ground) kept turning the wheels lock to lock about 10 times with engine on to mix the fluid and get it into the system. Then I'd remove the P. S return line from the ps pump and turn the wheels lock top lock to pump and transfer more ps fluid into a can. Then I'd keep repeating unit a lot of my old fluid was removed.



Dave

 

[ILIANBG]

Thanks Dave, it makes a huge difference when someone shares their experience. I'll try to do it, and will let you know how it went. Thanks again.

Ilian

 

[Dave M]

One other thing I remembered about unbolting the master cylinder from the spacer. There are 2 or 3 (I think) nut/bolts that bolt the hydroboost to the spacer. I believe the shorter bolts (the nuts are facing forward) are the ones that remove the hyroboost from the spacer. I think the longer ones did not need to remove. It's hard to look at them and tell. You will see what I mean when you get in there. Only unbolt the nut for the longer stud that holds the combo valve bracket onto the booster and leave the other alone. You are working in a tight spot so be prepared mentaly for that. I remember some confusion on what bolts to remove but can't be sure now... its been too long.



What you need to do is get the master cylinder off from the spacer and hyrdoboost first. Then gently pry the master cylinder (with brake line connected) toward front of engine to allow pulling the hydroboost forward from the firewall. Of course you need to get the ps lines off of the hydroboost. Be carefull to not bend the brake lines too much but they will flex some.



I did not let the power steering pump go dry but kept adding new fluid, (with all the ps lines connected) then turn on engine and turn wheels lock to lock and then drain into a can so I could eventually transfer the old fluid out and new in.



To drain the fluid into a can I disconnected the ps return line from ps pump and left it hanging (and still connected to the hydroboost) while I got a spare piece of ps or fuel line and temporarally connected it to the return on the pump so it was long enough to go to the ground into my can. After I drained some more ps fluid out of the pump reservoir (by turning engine on and turning wheel lock to lock) I turned off engine... disconnected my spare return line and reconnected the original return line back on the ps pump (like its supposed to be) and started again adding fluid and repeating the procedure. After about 6-10 refills and drains I quit.



Sorry for the long post. Hope that makes sense to you. Be sure you don't run the ps pump dry or you may have more trouble gettin air out of system. Jack the front wheels off ground and leave it that way till your done. It helps to have someone in the truck turning engine on and turning wheels lock to lock while you watch to be sure the pump don't go dry.



Dave

 

[Nate]

It's easy. I replaced mine last year in the cold and dark, took me maybe 30-45 mins at most. Nothing speical to do.

 

[ILIANBG]

Thanks Nate, did you disconect thae brake lines, pulling out the master cylinder first, or as DaveM suggested, not to touch those? I'm curious, as the service manual says the master cyl. goes out first, than after all is installed, brakes are bled. If I can I do not want to mess with the brakes. Is flushing of the old power steering fluid necessary? I almost picked up syntetic p. s. fluid, but owner manual says only petroleum product or might do something to the rubber hoses.

 

[Nate]

No I didn't bother to do that. I don't have a manual so I did it the most logical way.



You can move the master cylinder over enough to get the hydroboost out. Just becareful not to bend the lines too much.

 

[Mr. C]

I replaced mine a while ago, I did remove the master cylinder. It is a good oppertunity to flush out the old nasty fluid and replace with nice fresh. My master cylinder resevoir was in need of a good cleaning, it was getting pretty dark in there. I now have piece of mind in knowing there is no contamination in the system and it is not rusting up on the inside.



My two cents.

 

[DMannon]

If you are going to bleed the brakes, consider SpeedBleeders. www.speedbleeder.com



They're cheap and they make it a simple, clean one man job. I did mine a few weeks ago. You'd be amazed at the crud that comes out and the difference in response.

 

[PCrable]

Did anyone find a good source for a replacement hydroboost unit ? Sounds like they're around $650 from a dealer.

 

[RussJ]

I'm going to be getting one for my '03 from Hydratech for about $275. 00.

 

[ILIANBG]

I got mine from vancopbs.com - great guys and local. They had it in stock.

 

[Dave M]

I'm going to be getting one for my '03 from Hydratech for about $275. 00.

I got my hydroboost unit from hydratech also www.hydroboost.com and am very happy I did. Go to their web site for good info on how hydrboost works. The unit they give you is NEW not rebuilt but you must ship them your old unit so they can re-use the firewall bracket and a few external parts. That means your truck is down while you ship your old unit to them and they ship the new one back.



I am very pleased with their product and you can email or call with stupid questions and they are very helpfull. I talked to Paul Clark. I believe they will tell you to use synthetic fluid and they will tell you how to bleed the system. Not a hard job at all. First time for me too.



Dave

 

[PCrable]

Thanks to everyone for their input. Dave M you have been a great help!



I did some additional digging and here's what I found:



You can get a hydroboost from http://www.partsamerica.com/Default.aspx (they're also Checker Auto around here). This unit is part # 527354 for $249. 99 and is a remanufactured unit made by A1 Cardone. I've seen from other places this is not a very good unit and to avoid it.



I called Paul Clark at www.hydroboost.com or http://www.hydratechbraking.com/ and as Dave M describes, Paul can get you fixed up for about $275 + S&H. The bad part about this is that Bosch no longer manufactures the direct OEM replacements. In order to get you a unit to fit your truck, you need to send them your unit, and they will take the manufacturer specific parts from your unit and put them on a brand new system. They can normally turn this around in a single business day and then get it shipped back out to you for about another $15 or so. On the plus side, you are getting a brand new core unit.



Paul said another option for me to consider is a rebuilt unit. The advantage of this is that you don't have to pull yours out and ship it and then wait for the turnaround. He said that most rebuilding shops he thinks do poor work but he did come across one shop he highly recommends: http://precisionrebuilders.com/ . Paul said to talk to Tim Henderson who works in their tech support department. I called Tim and he had 2 units that would fit a '99 with ABS in stock (part number 2772681) for $190 plus a $120 core charge and S&H. Tim seemed very knowledgeable on the subject and asked all the right questions.



Tim then recommended I could buy the hydroboost from them via Drivetrain Industries (http://www.drivetrainindustries.com/) . Drivetrain is apparently a big truck repair company and they have a local office in Colorado Springs. I could have them place the order for the unit, bring in my old unit and then get the new one without having to pay a core charge. I called the local office and they ordered the unit for $183. 70.



Now I'm just waiting for the unit to come in and then I'll try to do the swap as others have done without removing the brake lines.



Thanks to everyone for all the help 



--Phil

 

[Dave M]

Glad I could help you on this. I was a little afraid to do this but it turned out to be no big deal. Really, the power steering is self puging on air in the system but..... I just replaced my steering box with a PSC 3 1/4 turn box (WOW... do I love driving my truck now... one finger driving... its amazing... drives better than my car).



Since I had to go thru the power steering fluid bleeding procedure again here is some more advice on bleeding.



If you have the service manual there is a good procedure for bleeding. If you don't I'll give a little more info from it. Jack tires off ground. Fill resovoir with fluid. start engine and let run for a second or two. It probably dropped alot. Stop engine and check fluid level. If it lost fluid then repeat til fluid stops dropping.



Note: If at any time during this bleeding the fluid in resovoir has air bubbles or is brown milky looking it has air in it so wait for fliud to be clear. Sometimes this may take 10 minutes. I used flashlight to look in the resovoir.



Turn engine on and turn wheels gently lock to lock close to stops but not hitting them hard. Also hit brake pedal randomly during turning of wheels if you have hydroboost. Check fluid and refill. When fluid stops dropping then turn lock to lock contacting stops for more turns up to 10 or more. When fluid stops dropping put wheels on ground and turn lock to lock and recheck fluid.



Take it for a drive and recheck fluid.



Edit: I just can't resist. If you just changed your hydroboost pat yourself on the back for a job well done. If you also changed your steering box to a 3 1/4 turn box and took it for a ride you will have a grin ear to ear that won't go away when your driving the truck. Am I right "rotohead"? :-laf

Ha. . Ha... he. . he... WOW... uhh... hum.



Dave

 

[tolmsted]

Hello Dave,
I 'm changing my P/S pump in the morning and I would like to know where you got the better steering box 3 1/4 turn from? Part number please? I want to get one right away. Thanks, Tom

 

[Dave M]

Hello Dave,

I 'm changing my P/S pump in the morning and I would like to know where you got the better steering box 3 1/4 turn from? Part number please? I want to get one right away. Thanks, Tom

I got it from PSC Motorsports. The PN is SG-841M. Seach on my user name "dave m" and you'll get lots of info on when I changed mine but here is one thread:



https://www.turbodieselregister.com.../177599-psc-steering-box-install-problem.html



A link to the PSC steering box is here:



PSC Motorsports



It was a great upgrade.



Good luck,

Dave