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86 Ranger brakes


1great40

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Mar 1, 2016
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Vehicle Year
1940
Make / Model
ford
Transmission
Automatic
Hello all, first post for me.

I have a 40 Ford pickup that I built on an 86 Ranger chassis. The chassis had manual brakes. When I built the truck I put in a new manual brake master cylinder, all new lines, hoses and new wheel cylinders. The calipers, rotors and drums seemed fine so I kept them. I do not recall seeing a proportioning valve when I took the original truck apart, so there was none installed when I put the '40 truck together.

After a few days of driving the truck, the brakes required an awful lot of footpower to stop the thing. So for my next trick, I installed a "Corvette style" street rod master and dual diaphragm 7" booster and a GM style proportioning valve.

The brakes are so-so. Not bad at all for everyday driving but in panic situations, I really have to stand on these things to get the job done. The truck has a fiberglass cab and fenders and I'm running a 4.3 TBI Chevy V6. I think weight wise, It's probably not much different than a V6 Ranger.

Now I'm considering trying a Ranger MC, booster and pedal arm for a power brake setup, in an effort to get rid of any trace of my home grown brake engineering.

Does an 86 Ranger have a proportioning valve? Also, I have 2 other Rangers in the family, a 98 and a 2000. Can I install parts for a newer Ranger with the 86 drums and disk set up?

And, I'm guessing that sourcing a pedal arm for an 86 with power brakes may be a tall order. If anyone has information or guidance I would appreciate it.
 


RangerDange

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Virginia US
Vehicle Year
1986
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Ford
Engine Size
2.0
Transmission
Manual
I could be wrong but I checked my 86 and I don't think it has a proportioning valve.
 

AllanD

TRS Technical Staff
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1987... sorta
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'93 4.0
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Manual
No, the "thing" that people typically point to and say "proportioning valve" is nothing of the kind...

What they are pointing to is typically only a pressure differential switch that serves to warn the driver that one part of the brake system has failed...

"proportioning" is accomplished by the ratio of the relative sizes of the caliper bores and rear wheel-cylinders...
and to a lesser degree the tension of the springs internal to the master cylinder.

On my '86 & '87 the only thing in the brake line to the rear straight length of line from the master cylinder to the rear hose.

And in the front line a "T" block to divide left & right, '89-on (until 4wABS).they delete this "T"-block, because it's function is integrated into the upper end of the driver's side front brake hose...

AD
 
Last edited:
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Location
Connecticut unfortunately.
Vehicle Year
75 87 96
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
351W , 2.9L , 4.0L
Transmission
Automatic
I you have the 9" rear drums you may want to upgrade to 10" , there is a article in the tech section here.
 

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