My 88 Longbed Extracab Pickup, 27 inch tires, is carrying ,1000+ lbs of weight every day. It's not a 1-ton, but the rear gear is upgraded to the 8-inch 1-ton, as are the springs, front and back.

One fine day, my brake power booster blew out internally, causing the brake pedal to go the floor. Fortunately, at a stop sign, at under 3 mph. Fortunately, my parking brake works, so the incident ended "without incident." Got a new booster; the master was already new, as is everything else in the system except the hard lines. And the truck is back on the road.

But the incident got me wondering weather carrying too much weight causes a safety problem. Am I placing myself in danger by loading up the truck and relying on the stock brake system. Should I upgrade the system by getting a 1-ton booster and master?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and recommendations.

 

I don't think you need to upgrade but I would go through and inspect the brake system thoroughly. good time to replace rubber brake lines and inspect hard lines for corrosion. Inspect and test the rear portioning valve.

 

I also agree, check everything thoroughly.

If you want a brake upgrade, then I would start at the wheels, not the pedal. Larger rotors and pads will increase stopping power and dissipate heat better. A larger booster will make the pedal travel easier, but it will have the same brake setup after that. I am assuming your truck is 2wd, so 1-ton brake parts would be an easy upgrade. I have not personally done this swap, but I believe it is a bolt up swap. The matching master cylinder would also help once you do the 1-ton rotors and calipers.

Since you already have an 8 inch rear end, you have easy swap options for lower gears that would also help, both in power and being able to down-gear to save the brakes. I drove a Toyota motorhome once that had been swapped to 4.88 gears and it made a big difference. Toyota motorhomes without the full floating rear end would sometimes snap axleshafts. I doubt 1000 lbs. is a problem, but if you want to be as safe as possible with lots of weight, a full floating rear axle might be something to think about.

 

Thank you for your input. Redoing the whole system is too expensive, and I would be throwing away too much new stuff that's already working well.

As this is a work truck and I run my own business, I've taken to driving slowly, and confining my service area, so that I have little need or incentive to get into stopping trouble.

The one thing I have yet to do is bleed the proportioning valve, which has been recommended.

Thank you for all your help.

 

No, just check it more often like at every oil change or once a year.