Front hydraulic brake conversion.

nosoup4u

Senior Member
Awhile back I posted some pics of the speedster I built using John Deere parts and model A axles. At this point, I have only model A rear mechanical brakes, no front brakes, but in driving it, it seems like they won't be enough. Due to the way the thing is put together, I can't imagine trying to install original type mechanical brakes to the front axle.
What is the easiest and or cheapest way to add hydraulic brakes to the front axle? I've done some googling but most conversionss seem to be geared toward the V8 cars. I would consider disc.
 
I sure hope you are planning to add hydraulic brakes to the rear axle at the same time. Mixing the two would be a VERY bad idea.

Charlie Stephens
 
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It will be difficult to equalize front and rear as you propose. You could try hydraulics on the rear only if you like, they are much better than mechanicals. If doing them on only 1 axle, use a smaller m/cyl. or increase the mechanical leverage to the m/cyl.
 
Ck on the HAMB or the EV8 swap here. Many people are upgrading to Lincoln brakes and posting their old backing plates, etc on those sites. FWIW
Paul in CT
 
Lincoln brakes are the same diameter and shoe width, but being self-energising, they require less foot pressure to operate. IMO, no real advantage.
 
Is this the rig that you want to go 1.5mph in? Shouldnt take much braking to stop that. Maybe im confusing posters.
 
Posed the same question on a speedster site and a guy linked an article on using hydraulic wheel cylinders from an older Mazda to activate the original A brake shoes.
 
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