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54 Belair Power Brakes - Bendix Treadle Vac

 

(@jerry-berry)
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Joined: 10 months ago
Posts: 81
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I sent my power brake booster to Harmon in Georgia for rebuild. It cost $565 for the rebuild and the return postage. I am hoping someone on the forum has the same setup and can answer a few questions on installing the booster. It was off when I got the car so, I have no clue on some parts of the install. The 54 shop manual has a section on how to rebuild it and all of that, but it doesn't answer my questions. If someone has a close up picture of the under hood side and under the dash so that I can see how the bellows looking piece installs, I would be in hog heaven. I'm going to take pictures and edit this post so you all can see what it is. Incidentally, Harmon sent back all the parts they replaced and, trust me, the booster was really bad...rubber parts were hardened and broken and the insides were corroded. It was well worth the bucks to have them rebuild it. 


   
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(@jerry-berry)
Estimable Member Registered
Joined: 10 months ago
Posts: 81
Topic starter  

I got my Bendix Treadle Vac brake booster back last week and installed it. I can say that Harmon really did a great job restoring this thing. It looks brand new and what’s really interesting is they sent back all the parts they replaced and clearly, this pump could never have operated with the old parts…they were corroded, dried up and simply covered in old fluid muck.  After installing, I used a Harbor Freight one man brake bleeder and it worked just fine. At first, it seemed to take forever before I saw fluid coming from the reservoir but it finally did. It passed bubbles to the furthest cylinder (right rear) for such a long time, I thought there must be a leak. Just before I considered aborting, the line cleared up and I moved on to the next. It took a long time to bleed the breaks, but once it was done, I felt confident all would go well. I cranked the car up and pumped the brake pedal a few times and it was evident the brakes would work, and they did. So, glad that job is done.


   
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