A little help would be appreciated.

A co-worker has a 1996 4-door 4wd (Blazer, obviously)
Brake failure.
dragging back brakes it appears, very little stopping power - pedal on floor

He limped it to the nearest Midas (he's in the city, so everybody hold their breath for the next part)

Their diagnosis:
Brake Booster bad
Fronts intact
Rears need new shoes and drums

Total (w/labor) $1100.00

I've got 26+ yrs experience wrenching on my own rides, though NONE with Blazers.
Is the brake booster that big a pita? It appears they can be had online for $200.
Something weird about Blazer rear drum brakes that makes them more complicated than they were in, say, 1980?
Easily done in an afternoon, or no?

Does this seem high (price wise) to you guys?

thanks in advance. Very nice site, btw.

 

I got a brake booster for $98....It's not that hard to change one out, took me about an hour. Kinda hard to get to the four bolts on the firewall from the inside of the cab, but other than that it was easy. Do a search and you'll find another thread about changing one out that goes into greater detail that was posted a week or three ago.

 

Saw those threads, thanks. (As a "Use-the-Search" cop on my home board, I ran a simple one on "brake booster" and got some info)
There was a mention in one thread that the pics from the other might be incorrect, but it looks the same.

One last question:

Anyone have a recommendation on a specific manual or service CD (e.g. Haynes, Chilton, GM, etc.)?