Replacing an air booster with one off of an M35 (conversion)

Hi all,

I have had a 404.1 TLF (fire truck) for the past 13 years. It has since had a Ford straight six coversion and it was converted to 12 volts. It is a working welding rig and I have been using it regularly for the past seven years as a field rig doing service calls on everything from body panels to repair welding broken transmission cases and everything in between.

My problem is that my air booster is going out on me fast. In fact I have stopped using it because its causing my brakes to lock up and they won't release unless I dance on the brake pedal a number of times. It was bearable at first as that would only happen once or twice a day when I was out. Now it happens at every stop sign. I run without the air assist. While I can do so, I prefer to have it operational as it provides me with braking power I feel comfortable with especially in heavy traffic.

I got my hands on an air booster off of an M35 because I read somewhere (I can't remember where as I did so much browsing / research on the subject) that these can be adapted to the unimog.

Has anyone done this conversion before? I looked into getting metric to SAE adapters for my brake and air lines but no luck. I plan on splicing and welding (or brazing) the two dissimilar lines together so that part will not be difficult. I would like to know if there are any issues I should be aware of before I undertake this project as it will have me down until I complete it, meaning no truck, no money. I will be highly motivated to get it running as quickly as possible.

Shown are a few shots of my truck. I did an upgrade to my welder a year ago. The hoist is to be able to dismount the spare tire, otherwise I have no way of putting the spare back on top. I also attached a few shots of the winch installation. It is off of an M35.

Attached also is the air booster I plan to install and a shot of the stock one.

Thanks for any help,

Tony

So I posted your question on http://www.benzworld.org/forums/unimog/ to see what kind of answers you would get since it is a Unimog specific forum with very active members.

Here is a link to the thread: http://www.benzworld.org/forums/unimog/1853489-replacing-404-air-booster-one-off.html

You may also want to try putting an add on the Unimog Exchange... http://www.unimog.net/exchange/index.php?page=1 ...I've had decent luck with selling and locating a couple of parts on there. Free to list, stays on a month, lots of 404 stuff usually.

Nice 20k Garwood, btw. Just make sure you leave yourself room to drive forward to release the tension so you don't get into a big pickle! Those winches work great as long as you get one the in/out shift is still working and not locked up like a lot the surplus units seem to be.

Hi and thanks for your replies. Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. The instant messaging doesn't always work and I just happened by to check on my thread. Thanks for posting for me on the benzworld forum and the tip for using the Unimog Exchange. I was able to order the adapters I needed from United Parts Service (https://www.unipaser.com). I am going to first try and rebuild the old unit. A Heavy equipment mechanic said to bring it to him and he will have a go at it. If it is not doable, I will work on adapting the M35 air booster. We'll see.

Thanks,

Tony