Pushing hard on brakes

[Dodgerdallas]

The brakes on my 66 are power and I have to push abnormally hard to get them to work,should I try bleeding them first and then go from there? Any suggestions?

[adauto]

Your booster ok? No Vacuum leaks? A bad booster will make for a hard pedal.

[Ghoste]

That would be the first thing I would check too.  Look for a vacuum leak or poor vacuum signal to the booster.  Are you running a big lumpy cam?

[Dodgerdallas]

No the cam is bone stock,is there anything that can go wrong w the booster besides the vacuum line?

[Ghoste]

Diaphragm can leak.  Backing up a bit though, were they working before and then this cropped up?

[Bob T]

Check pcv fitting on booster, mine went bad and had similar sounding problem

[Dodgerdallas]

I haven't had the car long,it's been this way

[John_Kunkel]

Shut the motor off and pump the brake pedal several times, then push hard on the pedal while restarting the motor...if the pedal drops as the motor comes to life the booster is probably OK.

[Dodgerdallas]

I'll try it thanks

[Dodgerdallas]

I've tried pushing the brakes after startup/pumping and nothing,the pedal won't depress hardly at all when engines off or on,think it might be the booster? The vacuum is good to it.

[Dodgerdallas]

Well it ain't the booster,took the front 2 brake cylinders apart-good God! The things were filled with rusty crud and thin fluid that looked like dirty water,the master cylinder was bad but salvageable. I'm going to have to basically replace all the lines and repair or replace everything else-why is this happening to a car just 47 years old? Lol

[Ghoste]

The positive side is that good brakes are probably the single most important component on the car and now you'll know that the system is good from one end to the other.