What do you guys use?
 

What contraptions do you guys use to put pressure on the brake peddle to adjust the brakes????

Re: What do you guys use?
 

a wife

Re: What do you guys use?
 

A board wedged between the seat and the brake pedal unless you're trying to bleed the system, then get your wife, girlfriend, kid, best bud to help.
Paul in CT

Re: What do you guys use?
 

I never use the brake pedal when bleeding brakes on all my vehicles including early Ford. What I do is really simple. I use air above the brake fluid in the reservoir to move the fluid once the bleeder is open. The air pressure is no more than 5 pounds. I modify the filler cap so i can add a fitting which is then connected to an air regulator. Some air is always escaping from the master cylinder however there's still plenty to move the fluid once the wheel cylinder bleeder is open. When doing this I always start at the furthest bleeder from the master {rear} ending up at the front. Works perfectly every time.
Rnnieroadster

Re: What do you guys use?
 

Hi Everyone! rockfla, I didn't watch all the way, but the beginning of this video shows what we have around our shop for the task. Looks like he's fixing to make one out of a caulking tube gun and a length of rod.

How to make a pedal depressor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMIE6xCJSxc

Re: What do you guys use?
 

I would use a one-handed wood clamp that can be converted to a spreader clamp, such as made by Irwin or Craftsman to name a few. I assume you are trying to set the 25-35 lbs force to adjust the shoes following the procedure 19Fourdy posted recently.

Re: What do you guys use?
 

This YOUTUBE video brake depressor, if you listen to the audio, is not meant to be used for bleeding brakes but to check for brake light operation.


(a mirror on the wall would do the same thing)

Re: What do you guys use?
 

We're getting a little sidetracked. Rockfla was asking about during adjustment. This is (I suspect) after reading the instructions posted recently. To be honest this is a new one on me, I never thought about applying any pressure before. Can anyone say what the reasoning behind it may be?

Mart.

Re: What do you guys use?
 

Helps get shoes centered while adjusting the eccentrics

Re: What do you guys use?
 

lol!

Re: What do you guys use?
 

Yes, exactly......SO a couple of good Idea's here SO the next question is how to measure the 25-30 lbs of force, I saw a "bathroom" scale mentioned BUT any other ideas??

Re: What do you guys use?
 

my daughter ..at 22 she still helps me.

Re: What do you guys use?
 

The range of force in the instructions is 25 - 35 lbs, so the value is not real critical. You could use the bathroom scale to calibrate yourself before using the clamp in the car.

Re: What do you guys use?
 

I had a weird dream the other night that I was helping someone to adjust hydrophilic brakes by explaining only. Someone was frantically pumping the pedal and no one was under the car at the wheel cylinder.



Don't know what it means. hahaha :)

Re: What do you guys use?
 

Looks like some of you are confusing hydraulic with mechanical brakes. I have gravity bled hydraulics quite successfully.
Adjusting mechanical brakes requires the pedal be held in a certain position for a period of time so you can see if the wheel are grabbing equally. There is a wooden adjuster for the Model A that has four positions and what your brakes should be doing at each one.

Re: What do you guys use?
 

Frank, no confusion here. The OP had asked an earlier question about the proper way to adjust the hydraulic brakes on an early Ford/Mercury. The procedure includes depressing the brake pedal with a force of 25-35 lbs to adjust the anchor pins. The procedure is in the attached link. https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=291543

No bubble chasing involved.:)

Re: What do you guys use?
 

Thanks for the correction. I thought after that there were a few years that were not the conventional hydraulic used on millions of cars later.