Manual brakes vs Hydroboost

[Snowracer]

its tuesday so figured now was the time to ask this. i have always ran vac brakes on my builds as was stock to the truck i built off ect. new buggy build i bought Wilwood manual brake pedal and dual master set up but not super happy with how i have it mounted. after talking to a few friends running same set up they dont seem super impressed with the brakes on their rigs. so is doing a hydro boost set up that much better over what i have as can fit an off the shelf hydro set up fairly easy on my build.

 

['84 Bronco II]

its tuesday so figured now was the time to ask this. i have always ran vac brakes on my builds as was stock to the truck i built off ect. new buggy build i bought Wilwood manual brake pedal and dual master set up but not super happy with how i have it mounted. after talking to a few friends running same set up they dont seem super impressed with the brakes on their rigs. so is doing a hydro boost set up that much better over what i have as can fit an off the shelf hydro set up fairly easy on my build.

The brake calculator in the resources page is extremely helpful. Basically, if you have a heavy rig with big tires, it is hard to get enough force at the calipers without big rotors in a manual system. A booster can make up for a lot of less than ideal set ups, whereas with manual brakes, you need everything (master, calipers, pedal ratio) sized perfectly. If going to manual brakes get the biggest rotors and most aggressive pads you can find.

 

[Gumbybronco]

Like mentioned above, you need to evaluate the whole brake system.

With everything else equal Vacuum vs hydroboost the hydroboost has more power. I used a 99-02 SuperDuty Hydroboost on my EB. It was fairly easy to fit and works great.

Ideally a larger rotor would be the best solution.

 

[Clb]

In a word
Yes

Longer
I hydroboost'd my idi from vacuum booster... night and day.
Ymmv

 

[Snowracer]

its just stock dual piston calipers front and rear on a 79 Ford D60 and a Sterling 10.25 so leaning towards doing a 99-04 superduty hydro boost set up

 

[samy crawler]

Do it. You wont regret it

 

[Winchested]

The Hydroboost on my scout is worlds better then the stock 9" dual diaphragm booster. Running the same but took me 3 master cyls to get proper pedal feel. Tried two 1.25" that felt like shit. The went 1 9/16" late model gm master. 81 dually front Dana 60 single pot, rear 2000 something 14 bolt dual Piston calipers.


So even with HB still need a proper sized master to the calipers.

 

[Wfoyota]

I like my manual brakes but it would really benefit from the big pedal. Most people make the mistake of dual master single pedal for ease but two single pedals with their own master for each one is the way. Bolt a chicken poopy piece of plate to one so it catches the other when pressing on them.

 

[RTH]

manual brake packaging is nice but you do have to have it work... if packaging isn't too much of an issue I'd do hydro boost...

i have branik legacy brakes and manual willwood stuff that works with my bent fab pedal assemblies.

i love it. but it's spendy. told tim what i was running from branik he suggested what to set the brakes to (his assemblies are adjustable) and been awesome ever since.

i run dual masters single pedal.

throwing money at it isn't always the answer but that worked for me...

 

[snivilous]

Also the electric ibooster is an option, unless you're dead set on hydroboost. Food for thought.