Front wheel brake floaters (old design)

D

David Martin

Member
Back in April of this year I asked Ford Barners to help me locate an old design front brake floaters. I had a great response from the group, especially Purdy Swoft. While Specialty Ford Parts is no longer making them, Jim Gordon was able to locate enough old parts (and made a few new ones) to put together three sets for me. (The last of the dinosaurs). I'm anxious to install a set on my 1930 Standard Roadster.

I would like to hear from anyone that is currently using them or have used them in the past.
 
I have 2 sets of them in cars that I have not driven in a few years. I posed the question a few months ago and got a few responses. Technically I like them design better but there is a down side. If your brakes are not adjusted you might not be able to remove the drums. Review the past threads.

Vic
(I was in the Elgin Model A Club a few decades ago)
 
Here is a pic of the early style floater that David is talking about . I put a set in the c
4440922-T400300.jpg
oupe in the mid ninties and they are still performing good.
 
i have used a set i found in an old doodlebug (mogee to those in nh). i have had them for 8 yrs, 10000 miles. i had to guess at lentgh to cut operating pins, but apparently was close enough. anyway, i found them tricky to adjust to work with rears, very squealy, and the rear lining (on front wheel) wears out about twice as fast as front. but they do stop, and all in all i like them, and would like a set for my roadster. i didn't know they are no longer being sold.
 
Sacramento Vintage Ford listed them in the past, don't know if they still do. I'll check if I can master my new fangled computtor---Bill W.
 
They are on my Cabriolet and I was having major problems stopping. My brakes would heat up and cause serious brake fading. I had them looked at by a very respected A mechanic and I was advised to change to the modern version which I'm in the process of doing. I only have 42 miles on the odometer. 7 miles of that was nursing it home after not being unable to stop going down a hill on a major roadway while on a club tour. Fortunately I was able to squeal around a corner and come to a stop.

Maybe I'm just unlucky using them. They were on the chassis when I bought it 18+ years ago.
 
Here are the instructions that use to come with the floaters. I run them with cast iron drums with the coupe and original drums with reinforcment bands on the speedster. I couldn't ask for better brakes or long trouble free service.
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I have a few sets of the old style floaters but when I tried them back in the 70s they made my brakes squeal. Went back to the stock setup.
 
They are actually pretty good but like most things you need to have other components proper or you can quickly be worse off. I ran some in the mid 70's.

First, if your shoes are not properly arced to each drum you will have problems that can vary. Second, if you don't have the brake adjusting wedge properly adjusted so the heal of the shoes are barely touching the drums when cool you can have problems. If they are WAY too loose you can have serious problems with the links going past center and locking the brakes which will make it difficult to remove the drum and reset it. These are simple geometric facts.

These are not floaters. They are simply equalizers for uneven shoe expansion which is more common than not. There MAY be a leverage advantage (slower shoe expansion) which would be helpful but when I used them almost 40 years ago I wasn't smart enough to think of that and do the necessary tests/measurements to determine that.
 
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