Brake help

K

Kevin Johns

Junior Member
Hi everyone. I have torn my brakes down for repair on my '30 coupe and have some questions about the rollers. My roller track that sits behind the rollers looks worn, but I really don't know what a good one looks like. Can I file these flat and be okay or do they have to be replaced? Attached are photos
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    58.4 KB · Views: 316
They must be flat. They can be welded up and ground flat, or you can get good replacements. It doesn't look like you have enough material left to just file them.
 
Hello and Welcome. Tell us a little about yourself and your A.

As long as you are into the brakes, and you are seeing the wear and debris that is in your photo, you ought to consider a complete brake tear down. Rollers, levers etc. are criticle to good stopping power. A careful inspection of your drums should be on order as well. Shoe wear, cracks etc. Good brakes start at the pedal. Do you have a repair manual?
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I'm 28 and bought by coupe in October. I've wanted an A for a long time and just bought a house with a big garage. I also restore hit and miss engines as well so a garage was a must. Found the car in town and bought it. I'm doing this brake job right. There were molded brake shoes on that will be replaced with a liner. The rest of the brakes are great and solid. The drums show little wear and the rollers are nice with little play. This part seemed to be the most worn part of the brakes. I wasn't sure it it was worn or came from the factory like that so I appreciated you guys steering me in the right direction
 
Not to hijack, but another adjustment is to bend them up or down to center the shoes. I still don't see how they can be effectively bent, so I weld-build or grind to move the shoes up or down. All this stuff adds up, Kevin. Best to hit it all at once like QGolden says and do it right, or you'll be disappointed with half a job.
 
Kevin Johns said:
The drums show little wear and the rollers are nice with little play.
Click to expand...

Check your shoe rollers and be sure they are still round, a flat spot is pretty commons do will cause the shoes to not track symmetrically. Even if you don't need parts, I would pull everything, clean, and lubricate all metal on metal parts, also there are bronze camshaft bushings where the shafts pass through the Backing Plate, very common to have hidden wear in the bushings, if so the camshafts will not move smooth, or can twist as the are put under load.

What state are you in? There may be others nearby to bounce questions off.
 
I'm in pa. Real close to where the groundhog sees his shadow every year. Everything else seems good. Good bushings and little wear on the rollers. I'll weld them up and grind them back.
 
Welcome and I'm also a fan of hit and miss engines.

That much wear on the track would make me think the other brakes parts need to be restored also. This is especially true since I see black paint sprayed over rust, which leads me to think the car (or at least the running gear) got a quicky paint job with no repairs being made. There are several brake threads explaining the importance of complete repair for the entire brake syatem if you want good stopping power. I know the brakes on 2 of my A's were badly neglected and I'm redoing the complete system.
 
1930 coupe said:
You are wright they cannot be bent, and if you heated them and bent them they would not be level. I do not know how that myth got started but everyone says that is how to do it, IT WILL NOT WORK!!!!!!!!
To center your brake shoes the roller PINS need to be changed for pins with larger or smaller heads, after the tracks are repaired or replaced. I do not know if the vendors sell pins with over and under size heads. I made my pins out of drill rod on a lathe.
Click to expand...

They myth probably got started from this article. Read the line under the word NOTE
about the middle of the page.

Bob
 

Attachments

  • Barrett Mechanical Brakes2.jpg
    Barrett Mechanical Brakes2.jpg
    61.9 KB · Views: 167
Hi Kevin--

Welcome. I'm following this with interest as I need to look at brakes next on my 29 tudor prior to a big road trip coming up. I've had the 29 for 52 years, and the sickness also spread to hit and miss enginesabout 30 years ago.
 
If you're doing your rear brakes Bratton's makes the whole job of replacing the roller tracks pretty easy with a brake roller track kit that includes the roller track, shaft with new bushings, rivets, lever pin and all that. Their p/n 2440.

All you would have to do after removing the brake lever is grind off the rivets that hold the assembly in place on the backing plate then knock out the old shaft, cam and track unit out, and then rivet in the new assembly and re pin the lever to the new shaft. It's a lot of work but that way all is new and functioning properly.
Once the new tracks are in place you will probably need to also replace the rollers and the pins that ride on the tracks.

Front tracks are done in the same fashion but are a little easier. There again just grind off the rivets the hold the tracks to the backing plate and then rivet a new track on in place of the old.

You will need to get all the rivets and pins red hot with a propane or mapp gas torch and then peen them over.

02440.jpg
 
The replacement kits are pretty straight forward and personally I enjoy doing them. If you just file the tracks flat it would locate your shoes too low and when you step on the brake pedal the shoes would engage improperly. If you weld them up and grind them flat you must be sure to do them back to ford spec not just a random amount. A lot of people do not understand how essential the tracks are to the brake operation.
 
If you don't have them yet, there a couple of real good books to help you with the overhaul, Les Andrews book is very good, there are 3 on Amazon now for under 45$ which is a good price, also, the Service Bulletins from 1928 to 1931 are available on Amazon for 25$ . Great resource.
 
PS: You will need a special device to facilitate the riveting, cheap and available from nearly any parts house.
 
Les Andrews book says to bend roller tracks up or down on page 1-39 I started to bend mine and cracked it. Not a good idea not sure why it says to bend them. Need 0 at top and .010 to .015 at clearance at the bottom of shoe. Lost faith in manual after that.
 
While I would not argue the point of bending the Roller Tracks, or the merits of starting with the Brake Rod Length set to 51 7/16 to 51 1/2, as the book indicates, there is far too much valuable information in that book to discount it over these issues. IMO.
 
I agree the book has valuable information now I think about what it is saying before doing as some information could just be passed along.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top