1939 - 1942 brake problems

B

Bdupes

Junior Member
I have a 1937 ford truck with the 1939 - 1942 drum brakes, I had a L/F wheel cylinder go bad and for the life of me I can't get the brakes back. I'm sure I'm missing something small. I have replaced all the wheel cylinders on the truck but I can't get the pedal back. any help is greatly appreciated. the truck has a master cylinder from a 1968 chev 4 drum brake system on it. prior to losing the L/F wheel cylinder the brakes were fine. PLEASE HELP:mad:
 
Unless you have a monstrous leak, my guess is the master cylinder is at fault. Did you bench bleed the master cylinder?

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Maybe see if you can find somebody with a power type bleeder. I finally purchased a air powered venturi bleeder and it makes it much easier to bleed, especially when starting from scratch.
 
This "new" wheel cylinder---did you take it apart to see if the holes are drilled properly---i have seen the bleeder passage drilled 1/2 way down---no way to get air out, and have seen the "fill" passage drilled behind the travel of the cups

used to have a 39, and a 46, now have A and 36 because they have reliable mechanical brakes

I just replaced wheel cylinders on a 36 Packard, ones from a full page advertizer in Hemmings were made wrong too----had to get them from another place that had 'usa" ones---and they wanted the old original ones back
 
Since no one mentioned it yet , if you haven't adjusted all eight shoes individually you may be using pedal throw to compensate for the shoes being too far from the drum.
 
Thanks sofaking. I"ll give that a try. It"s kind of embarrassing it"s such a simple system but I"m stuck on this one. Haven"t worked on this style brake before I"ll let you know how it goes.
 
Kurt in NJ may be on to something. Did you look at the LF wheel cylinder, while someone pumped the brake pedal, with the drums off, to make sure it was working? The shoes should be moving.
 
If the brake hose to that wheel cylinder is old (and rubber) it could be deteriorated internally. This usually (in my experience) shows itself by a sticking wheel when the petal is released.
 
The shoes are moving I'm going to try sofa kings suggestion on the brake adjustments and I'll let you know. Thanks for the input.
 
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