56 ford master cly.

B

bill h

Senior Member
Hi Just got a 56 Victoria. Runs and drive great but appears to be a brake problem. All new shoes and brake cylinders. Adjusted good and no air. Problem low brake pedal and poor stopping power. Has excessive play at brake pedal to master cyl. about a 1 inch and a half. I don't think the piston is moving enough brake fluid. Is the push rod adjustable or there n more than one pushrod. Master cylinder appears right for car. Brake pedal does not pump higher by pumping the pedal. I do have a brake pedal but seems to low. Thanks
 
Just checked the push rod. There is about 5 threads on the end of pushrod but it is not threaded into anything ??? Thanks
 
I know that the TBirds had a little plastic tip at the end of the pushrod. I assume that the sedans had the same. They are available from the parts suppliers. The group number is 2142 as far as I know from a TBird catalog. But they don't add much in the way of length. If you have that much travel, I would say that there may be something wrong with the master cylinder and the plunger is not coming back all the way.

Pull the master cylinder and check the travel.
 
Sounds like brake shoes are not adjusted out far enough. I like to use a bottle jack or floor jack to raise one wheel at a time and rotate the tire while listening for friction between brake shoe and drum. Go in and stomp on the brake pedal and rotate again and listen. If it is free-wheelin, you may want to get under and adjust out while tire is rotating till you just begin to hear friction, then back off a couple notches at most. That should get you as close as you can be without draggin the brakes. Do that to all four wheels and it should improve how your pedal feels.
There is supposed to be a litttle nylon cap at end of the pushrod going into the back of the master cylinder. That cap prevents metal to metal wear between the pushrod and the piston. But we are only talkin about less than 1/8 inch play if it is lost. Make sure that cap isn't struck on the piston whn you remove the pushrod.
The '56 car models do have a hi and lo pedal adjustment at the brake pedal arm whereas the '55 models don't have that. Take a look at where your pushrod eyelet is connected at the pedal arm. Changing the position of the pushrod eyelet connection to the arm increases or decreases how much pedal you have before you hit the floor.
 
Have the pedal apart. Wrong pushrod. about 1 inch short before it hits the piston in master. Does anybody have one or a measurement or a picture Thanks
 
Be very careful to ensure that there is some free play between the pushrod and the piston. You don't need a lot, but you must have enough to allow the piston to completely return, or your brakes will drag.
 
New problem Made a new push rod 1/8 play. Now noticed when i apply pressure to push rod into master cylinder the first 3/4 inch of travel of the piston no resistance. it's like there is no pressure at first then it gets harder to push. (lots of pressure) Is this normal it's like the master is not working at first. Still low pedal. Maybge not moving enough fluid.
 
Do you know for sure if your master cylinder is the correct one for that car? What was the bore of the original master cylinder supposed to be? Maybe your master cylinder has a smaller bore than was originally installed on that car. There is a relationship between the master cylinder bore and the wheel cylinder bore.
 
1/8 of free play may be a little more than needed. You only need enough free play to insure that the piston is completely returned when you release the brakes. Be patient, the experts on here will help you get this corrected. Good luck.
 
The pushrod should be adjustable ~1/4". The bolt used to attach the rod to the peddle is eccentric and when turned will move the rod in and out. Ensure to lock it in the position you choose with the lock nut.
 
Problem. was missing end cap. i thought it was threads and was the wrong push rod. Made new push rod and was better but still not right. Finally took off master cylinder and found someone had stuffed something like cloth or something soft into the piston and it had broken up. I guess everytime i removed the pushrod the stuff moved and made the pedal better or worst. I put on a vacuum plug temp and it is now perfect. Sometimes it is just something stupid that you don't think about. I can't find the part at Macs but Tbird stores have them. Thanks for the help. Bill
 
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