40 Ford brakes

[jbc]

I had all my drums turned on my 40 Ford, the shoes were arches to match the drums, they were bled and adjusted by a well known and respected brake shop. I have a Farley hard pedal, but it's very close to the floor. Kind of scary. I never know if I'll have brakes or if the pedal will go all the way to the floor. Should I readjust the brakes. And if so, should I start from scratch with all fore of the adjuster or just the two on the sides. Any suggestions?

 

[Phil Gillespie]

I should take it back to the Brake Shop for attention before you attempt any fine tuning. Should be covered by their warranty to ensure brakes are correctly adjusted.
Nobody likes the pedal to the floor. Better some more resistance in the hydraulics.
Phil
NZ

 

[Lawson Cox]

Adjust both front and back again. Regardless of whether or not you had the shoes ground to fit the drums, they will wear a little bit before they are where they should be. This well known and respected brake shop may know absolutely nothing about the early brakes. Adjust them your self if you can follow directions in the service manuals. Good luck.

 

[mrtexas]

Are you following the procedure for adjusting 40 brakes?

 

[Charlie Stephens]

Be sure the shop has the procedure for adjusting the brakes. They may not have found all 4 adjusters. They probably don't do '40 Fords very often. Is everything stock on your system?

Charlie Stephens

 

[19Fordy]

Hi John, Looks like your "Shop guy" probably doesn't really know how to adjust stock 1940 FORD brakes. Here's how it's done. Click on photo to enlarge.

 

[jbc]

Thanks Guys, I'll adjust them tomorrow. I appreciate all the response. With this group, I would expect nothing less.
Thanks again
JBC

 

[Randy]

I've found that you have to adjust the shoes closer to the drums than what I was accustomed to with later model drum brakes. If you tighten them up and then back them off until they don't rub at all, you probably won't have enough pedal. They have to drag a little bit.

 

[TJ]

Also make sure you have the proper free play at the pedal. You may have too much and the rod needs adjustment.

 

[donQ]

I agree with those that suggest the brake shop isn't familiar with the 4 adjusters per wheel used on the 40 Ford. Most of the repairmen that worked on these have retired. There are a number of V-8ers who switched to the later backing plates, because they didn't fully understand how to adjust the lower anchors properly. The suggestion to look at the actuating linkage at the master cylinder is also a good one.
Donq

 

[Straightpipes]

I had my 35 in for inspection and they didn't know how to get it in the stall so they pushed it.........