Install Front Brake Roller Track Assy

johnr9q@yahoo.com

johnr9q@yahoo.com

Senior Member
I read herein about how difficult it is to get the "Centering Bracket" in exactly the right spot. First off, I don't know what a centering bracket is. Does it have anything to do with the Front Brake Roller Track Assy? Is the Front Brake Roller Track Assy the item people are talking about that is difficult to locate exactly? It looks to me like the holes in the backing plate and the holes in the Front Brake Roller Track Assy will dictate it's location without any input from me.
 

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For the front brakes the picture you have is up side down. The flat sections on both sides is where the roller shaft head rides. The roller shaft is different than the pin on the other side of the shoes. It has a cylindrical shape and not rounded at the end. If the tracks are not straight as shown in the photo, the roller will not sit true. They can be welded up and filed or carefully ground flat. The center of the shoes can be tested with the centering gauges sold on the various sites.

The shoes do not have to be perfectly centered because natural wear will grind away the high spots. But they should be damn close. The brakes will not work as well when the shoes are first put on if they are not perfectly centered. It will take a few hundred miles for them to wear to a centered condition.

It is my contention that the holes will get you close enough. You need to use rivets that will expand to totally fill the holes. Do not use bolts there.

The Flat Head Ted Floater Kit has a self centering feature and both shoes will be self actuated. This means that the brakes will work better and less pedal pressure will be needed. The tracks are not used with the FHT Floater Kit. It also means that both shoes will wear equally rather than one shoe more than the other as for stock brakes.

Contrary to the usual instructions, the brakes should be set up with more bias to the front, 60% front and 40% rear. This will give you better braking. I have done tests and with front bias I can stop in 20 feet at 20 mph whereas with the normal bias it is more like 26 feet.
 
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Thanks nkaminar, Again, I am confused. (Item 1), you said: "For the front brakes the picture you have is up side down". As far as I can tell the roller track assy is symetrical so no matter which way I turn it, it will be the same. (Item 2) you said "The roller shaft is different than the pin on the other side of the shoes" Are you referring to pin that holds the Brake Adj Shaft (Snyders part #A-2042) to the brake shoe, (part number 5 in my pictures)? (Item 3) you said: "If the tracks are not straight as shown in the photo, the roller will not sit true" It looks to me like the rivet holes will dictate where the roller track assy goes. (Item 4) you said: "The center of the shoes can be tested with the centering gauges sold on the various sites". I don't see anywhere where I can change the "center of the shoes". Can you give me the Snyders part number of the "centering gauges sold on the various sites"
When you respond could you please refer to my item numbers to keep my confusion to a minimum.
 

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I turned the roller track right side up and put in arrows to point to where the heads of the roller pins ride. My understanding is that Ford used a jig when he riveted in the part to make sure it was in the exact proper location. But I think that just riveting it in without the jig will put it in close enough. The rivets are special that include a place to attach the springs. So you will need a special tool to back up the rivet when you put it in.

The tracks that have been in the car for many miles will be worn and not straight. They mostly have concave places where the rollers have been riding. You can weld them up and machine them straight instead of putting in new parts.

You can adjust the centering of the shoes by adding or removing material at the flat places where the roller pins ride. But I would not bother with that unless they are out quite a bit, like 0.030 or so.
 

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I once met a Model A owner in a city in Georgia. I commented that his brakes were working really well. He said that he just rode the brakes until the shoes were bedded into the drums. That meant that they ended up being concentric and arced to the drums. This is the basis of my believe that exact centering is not that critical and that the shoes will eventually bed in and the brakes will start to work much better. However, to have the brakes working at their best right off the factory floor, Ford used jigs and fixtures to make sure they were 100% correct. The Model A is a simple car but it was built with precision.
 
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The Red Book, pages 1-36 and 1-37 have good sketches of how all this stuff goes together and shows worn roller tracks that are not straight. Model A Ford Mechanics Handbook, Vol. I by Les Andrews.
 
nkaminar, I drew an outline of the roller track and if I turn it upside down it still fits the outline. I removed the old ones because they were worn, now installing these new ones. So I should be ok? I also installed new adjusting wedges and Brake adjusting shaft so should I still be concerned with centering the front brake shoes?
 

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Looks OK.

There is apparently a miss communication with the phrase "up side down." If you flip the track over as you did to compare with the tracing then it is the same. I was referring to the position on the backing plate where the part is rotated 180 degrees from the original photo. Sorry for the poor communication on my part.

Do not be concerned if the shoes are not exactly centered.
 
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I tend to weld them up and then carefully file them back to profile. A person also has to check the diameter of the roller pins since reproductions may not have the correct diameter. Old ones wear down.

Riveting the roller track plate in can also be tricky. I have a tool that I fabricated to fit the original spring holder end of the rivets for driving. I heat the rivet tails red hot and start bucking them in by driving on the tail side. It's a pita to get right so I try to weld the old tracks instead. Either way, it's a thankless lob.
 
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