Ted's Floater Kit Again

S

Steve Rinaldo

Member
I am still trying to make this system work and have been talking to Ted and I can say he is a most helpful person. I know that many of you have used this kit and think it's great. I am jist tired of fighting this stuff and want to go back to the old style set-up. Ted says that all you can use if you go back is the square pins. I can see retrofitting to the old adjusters but I can't see what problem there would be using his wedge and roller set, allong with adding back the upper spring. My question is have any of done any retrofitting of original style parts and which of Ted's stuff did you keep. Thank for the help, Steve.
 
I tried Ted's floater kit for 3 years with all new brake parts including cast iron drums and arced linings. They would stop on a dime and worked great. The only problem was they were undependable. After months of good stops they would one day,usually at the worst moment, chatter and grab, sending everything out of adjustment.
Ted was very helpfull and I worked hard to make the system work. I must have done something wrong.Finally, I gave up and switched to hydraulics.
 
One of the clubs has an instructional video for installing ted's floaters. From the posts here most swear by them, others seem to swear at them, as the indicators I get are the instructions leave something to be desired. Perhaps the video might help you. They say a picture worth a thousand words.
Paul in CT
 
Mine have worked really well and I have worn out a set of 21" tires over the last 3 or more years. They seem to be quite dependable. I did not install them. An experienced Model A man did a great job for me.
 
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Make sure your drums have been turned properly. If they are out of round they may catch the shoes prematurely.

Also try fitting the shoes to the drums as follows:
Spray paint primer or really cheap paint on the inside of the drums. Mount the drums. Spin the drum by hand as you apply the brakes slightly. Remove the drum. Sand down the shoe lining on the high spots and repeat until you get full contact between the shoe and the drum. This is what you would have to do with stock brakes anyway, however with the Ted's setup the fit is a bit more sensitive in that you can tell there is a contact issue earlier because they get grabby because the shoes can move.

The Ted's setup still means you have to have a good drum/shoe contact as with the stock setup. I still had to run mine for a 100 miles or so to make sure they were set in properly. Yes it sounds like a lot of work, however, it's the same process you have to go through to get the stock setup working properly.

Hope this helps...
 
30Tudor said:
Also try fitting the shoes to the drums as follows:
Spray paint primer or really cheap paint on the inside of the drums. Mount the drums. Spin the drum by hand as you apply the brakes slightly. Remove the drum. Sand down the shoe lining on the high spots and repeat until you get full contact between the shoe and the drum.
Click to expand...

How about asking around to see if you can find someone with a shoe arcing machine. I have one and also know of a few others in the area. If you do find someone with a shoe arcing machine, have them arc the shoes as close to full contact with the drums as possable without getting into a situation where initially, you just have heal and toe contact of the lining. This greatly shortens the time it takes to "bed in" the linings where they are in full contact with the drums.

The normally, the maching is set up to arc the shoes on a slightly smaller radius then the drum but it takes a longer period of time to obtain full contact of the lining with the drum.

Just a suggestion,

Chris
 
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I have teds on 3 cars and they work great. like some of you at one time i though about through them in the lake , until i was willing to let them get set to my drums . like ted says you have to drive them enough to get them arched to the drums. and get them adjusted. I wanted them to stop on a dime when i first put them on .dozen work that way.
 
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