Brake adjustment 1937

I am not familiar with Model A's, but am interested in the tool, though I don't know what it is. Can you please elaborate and post a pic or additional info on the tool.
Thanks,
gregg
 
Are you referring to the swing arm type of gauge that mounts to the spindle? The title of the attached photo is "Vlc tools to check centering of break shoe model A-B-V8 (front and rear)"
 

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There several threads on the notched board approach to adjusting mechanical brakes and while most explain how to do the adjustment, there’s usually a comment that it’s really not the best way to adjust the brakes since it results in the rears locking up before there’s full application of the fronts.
I start out with the car raised up off the ground, front or rear first doesn’t matter, and tighten the adjusting nut in until the brake just starts to drag. Do that on all four wheels and then get ready for the road test (fun) part. You really need a dirt/gravel road for this but others may have ideas on how to deal with it on hardtop roads. Drive down the road and carefully apply strong but not full brake pedal pressure. If the cars jerks right or left that means that one front brake is too tight, loosen it a notch or two. Get that done and test again to be sure the fronts are equal. If you then still feel a drag to the right or left that means the rears are tight on that side. Loosen the notch or two. Now the best part. Go onto the dirt road of choice. Start off and get to 15 or so mph and apply full brake pressure to skid the wheels for only a short distance, 5 to 10 feet. Stop, back up and note which wheels locked up. IMHO, I want the fronts to lock up and skid on dirt just before the rears do. That’s because I want max stopping on the fronts since the car's weight gets transferred forward and the rear lifts when stopping. Be sure the skids are equal side to side, adjust accordingly. Others may do this differently but the three A's I've had really were able to stop on a (big) dime using this approach.
 
Someone will post a picture but it is a board that fits between the front of the driver's seat and the brake pedal. The notches increase the pedal pressure incrementally as you tighten or loosen the brake adjusting nut. The original version results in the rear brakes having more force that the fronts as you apply pedal pressure.
 
You don;t need a hokey jury rig notched board. The parking brake operates the cross shaft just like the foot pedal does. Use the parking brake one notch at a time till you discover the sweet spot for each wheel. Make your adjustments to coincide the wheels, with the rears a couple clicks behind the fronts. Front or back on jack stands only? Put all wheels up, do it all at once. Road test is absolutely required, no matter how close you think they are adjusted, one wheel or another will need another tweek.
For those who can't get all 4 to do the same every time, your system has seen better days, and needs rebuilding like all other things mechanical. New cables, properly lubricated, and perhaps most important, at least for me, is floaters. These little gems convert the Hotchkiss adjustment system to the Bendix adjustment system, which uses a brake spoon to adjust the stars. This single modification allows the shoes to self-energize like Ford had advertised back then, and does it with zero interference of wedges that tend to hang up due to the constant pressure and friction against those Hotchkiss adjusters.
 
Here is the one I used with my model a. not sure if it helps. Worked well on my model a.


Agree with alan the later takes some time and adjustment. Having a pedal pressed helps for pedal "feel". But the e brake is connected to all the cables on the later models. Lots of linkage to check.


Dang Bob C had it right off. I had to search my computer. Next time I'll click the links posted.
 

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