1940 brake troubles

4

40 Deluxe

Well-known member
Hi, Can't get a good pedal. I got the car from my dad with the brake pedal (very spongy) going to within a half inch of the floor and the car jumping toward the ditch. He had recently put all new wheel cylinders on but left the old shoes (rears were oil soaked, fronts to the rivets, but that's the way they did things during the depression when he grew up-just enough to get by). I figured new shoes and bleeding would get the job done, but nooooo! Still have the spongy pedal going almost to the floor. I have disconnected the emergency cables, adjusted the anchor pins and upper eccentrics, bled every wheel cylinder, rebuilt the master cyl (it was alnmost new), adjusted the pedal free play and nothing helps! Any ideas? Thanks! Allan
 
Any chance he used silicone fluid which will trap a lot of small air bubbles? Is the system completely stock? It sounds to me that you need to try bleeding it again, post the procedure you use to bleed it, that may be the problem.

Charlie Stephens
 
40 Deluxe said:
Hi, Can't get a good pedal. I got the car from my dad with the brake pedal (very spongy) going to within a half inch of the floor and the car jumping toward the ditch. He had recently put all new wheel cylinders on but left the old shoes (rears were oil soaked, fronts to the rivets, but that's the way they did things during the depression when he grew up-just enough to get by). I figured new shoes and bleeding would get the job done, but nooooo! Still have the spongy pedal going almost to the floor. I have disconnected the emergency cables, adjusted the anchor pins and upper eccentrics, bled every wheel cylinder, rebuilt the master cyl (it was alnmost new), adjusted the pedal free play and nothing helps! Any ideas? Thanks! Allan
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Used shoes are ok, wheel cylinders they usually work or leak.The master cylinder will lock one wheels,but what i see is when changing the wheel cylinders,DO NOT pinch the rubber line or swist it.I would get new one for that side or both,also the mc piston should be fully out.
 
I agree with Charlie Stephens. You need to describe your technique for bleeding the fluid. Spongy brakes generally means air in the lines. So, how did you bleed them? John
 
Spongy brakes can also be the arc of the shoes not matched to turned drums , may need shoes re-arced
 
You have or more of problems, worn lining, shoe properly adjusted,hydraulic leak, air insystem, pedal incorrectly set and or not enough brake fluid in the master cylinder.
 
Shoe fit in the drums is good; drums are standard, not turned (car only has 36,000 miles on it). Bleeding: start at right rear; pump up and hold, open bleeder screw, close while pedal down, repeat as necessary. Then left rear, right front and finally left front. After all that pumping I did another major adjustment, and after sitting overnight bled the system again and got a tiny spit of air form the right rear. Pedal is a little better; good enough to try driving a bit and readjust.
 
bleeding may several tries, while constanly filling the master cylinder so as not to get air in witha low fluid level. Each time you bleed the entire system you will get a little more air out till the pedal is hard. Try it again and the try again for the haard pedal. Stopping with half *** brakes are never good enough...
 
The 1/4" lines hold a lot of air and fluid. I usually run 4 to 6 ounces of fluid though each bleeder before I am satisfied there is no more air in that line. I have used a home made pressure bleeder to make the process easier. PM me if you want some detail on that unit. Do not use it for any thing other than DOT 3.
 
make yourself a bleeder bottle, attache a steel brake line to a jar lid-I used JB weld- this line should go to within 1/4" of bottom of jar-put some clean fluid in the jar-enought to cover the line, attache a hose from the bleed screw to the brake line on the jar,open bleed screw, SLOWLY work the pedal down and SLOWLY let it up, a couple of times and the air is out of the line. This lets the fluid release the air on both strokes of the pedal--been doing this for over 35 years with silicone brake fluid in lots of cars and always seems to work for me. I used to get silicone fluid from the Honda motorcycle dealer, only place in town for a lot of years
 
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