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Brake Master Cylinder

Brian B

Sr. Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Messages
703
Does anyone know if there is a difference in a master cylinder for a 1975 and a 1976 Bronco? My Bronco is a 75 with a 76 front end. Of course I have disc brakes on the front and drum's on the rear. Any help is appreciated.
 

Cooter_76

Sr. Member
Joined
May 18, 2004
Messages
863
Aside from being setup for disc/drum application, I think the '76 MC will have ports on the passenger side, which will interfere with the throttle linkage unless you have power brakes. The non-power drum/drum MC I took off my '73 had ports on the driver side.
 
OP
OP
Brian B

Brian B

Sr. Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Messages
703
Do you have power assist disc brakes like a 76 model? A 76 booster maybe?

Greg

Forgive me if this is a stupid question but what is the difference in the power assist disc brakes and standard disc brakes. I have the factory front disc setup a 1976 would have.
 

half cab

Contributor
Guru Bronco
Joined
Dec 8, 2010
Messages
16,306
Big round booster that the mc is mounted to... and will angle out over the dr side inner fender..
 

cjcargo

New Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2012
Messages
19
Loc.
Baltimore
Does anyone know if there is a difference in a master cylinder for a 1975 and a 1976 Bronco? My Bronco is a 75 with a 76 front end. Of course I have disc brakes on the front and drum's on the rear. Any help is appreciated.

Yes there is. Besides the differance from which side the lines connect on the MC's. There is a differance in the thread connections also, size wise didn't match the brake hoses from the 74' to 76' MC's. Adapters are available in any auto parts store. I first switched from a single reservoir MC on my 66' to a MC from the 74' with power assist. Now have also gone to disc/drum with the 76 MC.
 

DirtDonk

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
47,345
Like mentioned, all power-assist EB masters had the ports on the right, while manual masters had them on the left. I think you could special-order manual brakes even in the last couple of model years, but not sure if I've ever seen one first-hand.

Nobody brought it up yet, but in case you were wondering about it, I'm pretty sure that the master cylinder's piston bore was the same size for both power and non-power, disc and non-disc Early Broncos. So no problem there.
Reservoir size for the dual-reservior types was virtually the same for all years too.

Another "possible" difference is that the port for the front brakes on a manual master might have come with a residual pressure check valve behind the brass cone seat.
While I would think that all the original ones were so equipped, not all aftermarket ones have the valve. Either way though, you'd want to check, and if there is one, take it out for use with disc brakes.
I used mine for awhile that way, with no ill effects. However, the potential for dragging brakes is there, so I'd remove any RP check valves present.

Basically then, you'd usually end up using the master that was appropriate for your body (power or manual) and/or for whatever hoses you're using from the master cylinder to the frame.
Only needing to remove any check valves (disc side only) and make sure you plumb the front disc brakes to the rear (larger) reservoir's port.

A lot of us are running Ford disc brakes with the orginal masters with no assist. Works fine for me with up to 33" tires at least.

Good luck.

Paul
 
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