Brake springs lost their springiness

Doug in NJ

Doug in NJ

Well-known member
Hello,

A few months ago I installed the flat brake rod anti-rattle springs (bought from a well-regarded vendor). I took care to put them on the correct way, and I bent them as necessary to put a reasonable amount of tension on the brake rods. Today I noticed that they were mostly no longer pushing against the rods, and there was often a small gap between the end of the spring and the upset on the rod that it was supposed to be pushing against.
So, is this a common occurrence? Or did I possibly get a batch of springs what were not properly made?

Thanks,
Doug
 
I ran into the same thing on mine and planned to readjust since I don't think I gave them enough tension in the first place. I got the Ford service bulletin book and it is a wealth of information. I recall one of the articles advises dealerships to replace the flat style spring with the 31 coil style spring for better performance. I don't have the book in front of me so im not sure what the exact wording and reasoning was but sounds to me like it may have been a known problem from the beginning. Had I have known it was in the bulletins I would have put those in instead of trying to be accurate for the year.

Bob, NJ
 
I've seen a couple of A's where the brake rod isn't in exactly a straight line with the pocket in the flat spring. It therefore likes to slip to the side of the notch. I've had to bend the mounting braket on some to make it correct and I've had to bend some repro flat springs to make the pocket grip the upset. I always put a dab of grease in the pocket also.

Once I bend a repro spring I usually don't see it again, so I can't say if the brake rod comes out of place again after awhile.

Remember the front springs mount on the front side of the bracket, and the rear springs mount on the rear side of the bracket.
 
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Yep, they can be a PITA.. I've bent em, doubled them up, etc and still had problems.. The round '31 style seem to work the best..
 
I have a July 31 coupe which would have come with flat springs. However sometime in it's life the fronts had been replaced with the later springs. I just replaced them all along with new brake rods and couldn't be happier. A month in and they are working just as I had hoped.
 
I installed the '30-'31 coil style a couple of years ago and the tension has been steady. These were repops not originals.
 
Not all flat springs are the same. Most are shaped so poorly that they will never contact the upset. Brattons makes springs that fit, and they are sold by them and several other vendors as well. The last sets I installed are holding up ok, one broke after 20k miles. Its also not unusual for different lots of repop parts to vary. I once got some brake tracks that were sold as hardened, but were not. Walt checked with the mfgr, and it turned out they "forgot" that step on one run. They were replaced at no cost. So. its possible that even if your springs are the "good ones" that the batch they are from was not made correctly. If they are good spring steel, it will be very difficult to bend them into a permanently new shape without cracking them. I have found the late style coiled springs work better in general, but even some lots of those do not fit.
 
Thanks for all the advice! I'll probably order a set of the wire springs sometime and give them a try.

Doug
 
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