high / hard brake pedal

F

fast fredy

Senior Member
Hi guys .. on my 55 wagon I've did the brakes with new wheel cylinders and shoes and rebuilt the original master .Brakes work great but the pedal seems unusually high and hard. I must have had the fronts set a bit too tight because after a trip around the block the front brakes were tight and it would not roll down a hill , so I backed them off a bit. I also noticed that there seems to be enough residual pressure in the master that sometimes the brake lights were staying on . Kind of opposite problem to most posts. also noticed my speedometer only goes to 20 .. no noise or bounce, just stays there till I stop Any thoughts on these problems would be appreciated. Yesterday was the shakedown run.. thanks Fred
 
Brake-pedal play should be adjustable (it is on my 55 Tbird). Brake lights? Common problem. An adjustable mechanical brake-light switch is available for 55-57 Tbirds and should work for your wagon.
 
If you put the car up on jack stands, and put it in neutral, can you spin the wheels by hand with just a vary little bit of drag being heard? If so, get in and jump on the pedal a few times, then check them again?
 
The symptoms sound like the master cylinder actuating rod from the pedal is too long, not letting the piston return enough to allow the hydraulic pressure from the lines return to the reservoir. This is keeping pressure on your brakes and keeping the brake light on. There should be about 1/16" slack in the rod before it actuates the master cylinder.
 
Assuming you have a '55 shop manual... look at Figure 4 on page 318. The master cylinder actuating rod adjustment is an eccentric shouldered bolt holding the rod to the brake pedal arm.

Also on the same page notice there are Major and Minor brake shoe adjustment procedures.
To help assure the shoes are centered in the drum the upper brake shoe anchor pin position is adjustable.
'55 was the last year for that hardware.
photo below.
 

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If you cannot get free play with the eccentric, it might be a small plastic cup that goes on the end of the rod. Sometimes the cup does not come out when the rod is removed and re-installation of the rod crunches the cup rather than just going into the cup.
 
BLEED your brake lines.
The eccentric adjustment that dmsfrr mentioned should never be touched unless somebody has messed with it or the new brake shoes do not match the originals exactly.
This eccentric helps to center the shoes so that the space between front and back shoes are equidistant. If the eccentric has been tampered with, one of the shoes will be closer to the brake drum than the other and you will notice when you step on the brake, but it may also drag.
I have found that if you tighten the shoes up against the drum, then back off the shoes about 10-12 notches on your star-adjustment, that should be a good adjustment.
At any rate you can use that as a starting point, then jack up the car and spin the tire. It should spin freely, with little to no drag at all.
 
dmsfrr (and I) are talking about the eccentric bolt holding the master cylinder rod to the brake pedal assembly.


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Daves55Sedan said:
BLEED your brake lines.
The eccentric adjustment that dmsfrr mentioned should never be touched unless somebody has messed with it or the new brake shoes do not match the originals exactly.
This eccentric helps to center the shoes so that the space between front and back shoes are equidistant. If the eccentric has been tampered with, one of the shoes will be closer to the brake drum than the other and you will notice when you step on the brake, but it may also drag.
I have found that if you tighten the shoes up against the drum, then back off the shoes about 10-12 notches on your star-adjustment, that should be a good adjustment.
At any rate you can use that as a starting point, then jack up the car and spin the tire. It should spin freely, with little to no drag at all.
Click to expand...
 
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