Hydraulic Brake Replacement

[DanLyle]

Need advice and solutions:

Basket case 1960 Safari is on the road to restoration recovery. Has the Stromberg (borg-warner) hydraulic system. If you are familiar, that system is setup to connect to the tow vehicle with a hydraulic device that is acctuated by the tow vehicle's hydraulic system. It is spring loaded to act as a break-away device as well. Makes a nice parking brake. Currently, the master cylinder seals are shot, I have not seen the slave cylinders condition, and I don't think I could find a tow vehicle attachment replacement. Everyone says hydraulic-hydraulic is obsolete and dangerous.

I can think of many advantages to restoring the hydraulic system, such as proportional braking, maintaining the positive force break-away system, and keep the cool parking brake.

Safety has to be the first consideration. Been looking at the California Vehicle Code and it seems that break-away brakes are required for any vehicle over 1,500 lbs. Service brakes are require to stop a tow-trailer combo from 20 mph in less that 40 feet. Now a 22' 1960 Safari wet is pretty light, but I don't want to push it.

Looking for the best approach. I loved the description on VintageAirstream.com on modifying the backing plates to fit the Hadco axle. Is there a bolt-on solution out there? Anyone aware of a complete hardware, electric controller, wiring, all-in-one application?

Looking to the collective knowledge of Airstreamers!

[FrankR]

In my opinion, hydraulic brakes are superior to any other type brakes except reverse thrusters.... Our '79 Landyacht has the original vacuum over hydraulic brakes. The original master cylinder and connections are terrible for many reasons. Some time ago, I was exposed to a new master cylinder made by Ausco. Their master cylinder is a new design based on an electric motor used to actuate the master cylinder and apply the calipers. The unit is very easy to mount, and is very compact, but also somewhat pricey. The units are made for either drum brakes #TB.800... $660 or disc brakes #TB1200 ....$850.. Ausco has some great braking improvements over other systems. Ausco may be contacted at 616..926 0700.. Benton Harbor, Mi. The sales rep is a guy named Mark Howard. Email is Howard@ auscoproducts.com

[davidz71]

Contact Andy at www.inlandrv.com. There is a tongue mounted system that eliminates the need for a vacuum source from the vehicle. This way, you can keep the fine disc brakes.