Brakes - very hard to stop at 50+ mph!

[mattyj858]

At 50mph the brakes seem very tight and takes 600Ft+ to stop the thing. Feels like non power brakes. With front disks I would assume I wouldn't have to put all my might into the brake peddle? I have plenty of vacuum according to the gauge. Peddle is hard even at start of engine, seems like no booster?

[Rickf1985]

You need to check the one way valve at the inlet of the booster. With the engine running it allows vacuum to build in the booster canister. When the engine is at full throttle or shut off the valve keeps full vacuum in the canister. I am going to guess that the booster probably has a bad diaphragm. I am not real familiar with the placement of the booster on these but get yourself a piece of hose, any hose like a garden hose that you can cut to a length that you can hold one end at your ear and the other close to the booster. Now start the engine and listen for a vacuum leak, move the end of the hose around and listen all around the booster, especially where the pedal rod goes in. If you can get someone to step on the brake while you are doing this the normal sound would be a SHHHH-SHHHH, every time the pedal is pushed. Pull that valve out of the booster, it is in a rubber grommet, and start the engine and make sure you have vacuum going through it. If not follow the hose and make sure it is connected. You might want to do that before anything else, someone may have disconnected it due to a bad booster.

[mattyj858]

The brakes sound like a can of worms, but I will dig into these as well. Really appreciate the DIY advise, that's what I am looking for.