Band adjusting not going well

Great Lakes Greg

Well-known member
Pictured are my bands. When they are adjusted almost tight, I push the pedal down. The pedal slides out of it's notch, but does not spring back, nor does it further tighten the band on the drum. I assume I am missing some parts somewhere to make this happen. What do you guys see?
 

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Usually when the pedal does not spring back it means the bands are not tight enough. Your springs may not be strong enough, try some new springs or put washers between the band ears and the pedal shaft.
 
What I see is an aluminum hogshead for '15 or so, with reinforcements at the corners, that has been RADICAL modified for accessory brake arm, and some type of control arm for the clutch lever too.

The inside support boss for the brake pedal shaft has been cut off.
And that accessory brake pedal has an oversize shaft too, maybe because the original bore was worn.

Anyway, this what the hogshead should be like in the photo, note the boss inside that the 'ear' of the brake band needs to rest on for a fulcrum.

As you have that modified shaft, and you have the brake band REAL tight on the drum, the spring is now fully compressed, and since there is no boss inside for the band 'ear', the ear is riding on the oversize pedal shaft and pushing the pedal outboard.

The only fix for that mess, is to LOOSEN up the nut on the brake pedal, relaxing the band completely. Leave that brake band loose, as the arrangement now for the brake pedal with extension is for the trans brake pedal to operate rear external brakes on the rear wheel drums. The Ford brake band on the brake drum is likely for use only in emergency now, so that is the set-up somebody did.

Big bunch of modification going on.

Photos of original alum hogshead, sketch. Other photo is iron hogshead, but shows the boss in the hogshead casting that the 'ear' of the bands ride on for leverage.
 

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tmodelman -
Do you recall what paint you used on your aluminum hogshead? I have tried several aluminum and silver type spray paints, but all look too fakey or too reflective. I prefer the soft aluminum look as seen on new high performance intake manifolds sold in hot rod shops (no such shop around here), not the shiny florescent glow of a modern aluminum or silver spray. Your hogshead looks pretty close to what I am looking for. Spray brand and color name or part #???
Thanks in advance.
Marshall
 
My suggestion would be to find a different hogs head they are not rare. Or install a metal sleeve to bring the boss back out to where it needs to be. Not sure how well that would work or for how long. If it can't be fixed then maybe wreck it in a way that it can't be reused so no one else has to deal with it again. Good eyes tmodelman.
 
Looks like the band linings are worn out. Time to pull the hogshead and replace it with a better one while you do a relining job on the bands.
 
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