Cast iron brake drums

Late '31. Seldom encountered. I ran into a set at a swap meet but everyone thought they were '32. Look close except for diameter. Have you checked the judging standards for introduction date?

Charlie Stephens
 
The ones I have seen have cutouts in then so that they are open to the outside world. I don't think many people use them on drivers because of the problem of dirt or mud getting into the brake mechanism.
 
I have used original cast iron drums on two of my cars. and I have two more sets of them. but they are hard to come by that are good.
 
My car has the cut-out drums, front only. I didn’t know Ford made them for the A at any time. I don’t know if they’re Ford or aftermarket. This is the first time I’ve read about them at all.
 
I've had A's for 70 years. The cut out front drums are common. The rears are solid castiron. I never saw any of the rears until the last year and they were un usable.
 
Rocky Mountain Brakes refer to after market brakes on Model T cars. They operate on the OD of the rear brake drums, which are pressed steel. They are better than the stock brakes and will stop the car when the service brake in the transmission fails. But they only work well going forward. At least one person has died when having to use the Rocky Mountain Brakes in reverse. That was the reason the disk brakes for the Model T were invented as the person who died was a friend of the inventor. Both the Rocky Mountain Brakes and the disk brakes for the Model T are still only rear wheel and not as good as the 4-wheel brakes on a Model A.
 
Model A brake drums were pressed steel. Cast iron slotted drums were supplied on cars by Ford late in 31 for the front wheels. They were not available for the rears for some reason. The press on bands were available as aftermarket for the pressed steel drums with the theory that they provided some additional cooling surface. Some vendors were still selling them until a few years ago.
 
Brian brings up an interesting point. Some performance cars in era of the Model A had aluminum drums with cast iron inserts where the shoes contacted. I am wondering if aluminum bands with fins would be a good idea for the cast iron drums. It would have to be a heat shrink fit as the aluminum expands more than the cast iron.
 
I am using two complete sets,(all four)on two cars.One set was on a November of 31 car that my uncle gave me in 1968.I'm still using those drums.I have another set that I bought from a guy building a hot rod,and were in his iron pile.I always seemed to find singles at the flea market,so I bought them as I came across them.Right now I have four rears and two fronts in the shed.If you have a pre-September 31 car with cast drums then somebody put them on,they didn't exist before that.
 
Keith, both my Model A's are 31's and have cast iron slotted drums on the front. I have never seen a cast iron rear drum, if you have them, can you post a picture of what the rear drum looks like.
Thank You
 
here you go, these are late 31 original cast iron drums. when the wheel is mounted you can't tell the difference between the front or rear
 

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Happy, are you asking because you are curious, or because of judging? You know judging does not mark off for things like adding a fuse, of cast iron drums, right?

I must say I have had original drums, re-enforcing bands (a waster of time & money), and now cast iron drums. What a difference cast iron drums are! They are well worth the money.
 
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