Front end alignment and brake Question
 

I hope you all can put up with me asking questions all the time , but being a new owner as of Saturday I need a little guidance . I need to do a front end alignment and to adjust the brakes , and I am wondering if anyone knows of a good book that shows how to do that step by step . This is for a 1930 Model A Tudor . Also I am trying to figure out the correct length of each brake rod linkage , not sure if that is the correct terminology , the rods from the brake shaft to brake assembly front and rear . I have a book my Dad gave me , forget the name of book , but it is not be very detailed on how to do it .


Jeff

Re: Front end alignment and brake Question
 

Welcome! First off, get a copy of Les Andrews red book, all of the suppliers have them. The brake rod lengths are fixed so that is easy. The brake actuation is determined at the lever and should be about 15 degrees forward for the fronts. another great book is the Ford Service Bulletins. Get the full size copy for the pics and all of the details. Are you part of a local club yet?

Mike

Re: Front end alignment and brake Question
 

Second the Les Andrews books. They are all good to have.

Marc

Re: Front end alignment and brake Question
 

Thanks for the info , I will be joining a local car club in the next month or so , the same one as my Dad .

Re: Front end alignment and brake Question
 

I'm a recent new guy also, so ask away. I learn something evertime someone asks something that I haven't asked yet.

As for the front end alignment i have learned that there is not much you can do for camber and caster unless you have the ability to bend the axle and radius arms.

For toe-in it is straight forward. Adjust the toe-in to 1/16" +/- 1/32". I've seen several procedures described on here for measuring.

I'm sure you'll get better info from the "Guys That Know".

Pictures of "Tool" I made for measuring toe-in;

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3915/...27ea569922.jpg

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5551/...404a354db2.jpg

Re: Front end alignment and brake Question
 

The Service Bulletins is where you start. Reproduced in the 1950s by Dan Post Publications and available then and now in a yellow hard-cover book at about 2/3rds the original page size - pix not too clear as befits a photographic copy of that era. Usually in the 25-35 range from booksellers or Ebay.

Better is the Service Bulletins that have been reproduced by several clubs or hobbiests - and done in full size and with full content. Usually around $45 on Ebay.

IIRC both of these SPECIFY in hard numbers the eye to eye distance for the brake rods. I can't tell you the number from memory - but this is where you start. If you have damage to your car (like a bent front axle - they tend to "curl" around the fulcrum of the spring perch), you may want to adjust the number accordingly for that particular rod - but certainly start at the hard number and see if you can make the adjustment work.

You also want to have each wheel set up with the shoes cleaned, tapered slightly at the end, and "arched" to match the mating drum.

Several people have published both online and in their respective "How to Repair Your Model A" books instructions on how exactly to adjust your brakes. One of these includes instruction for a "piece of wood" in graduated/calibrated length to simulate and hold the action of pressing the brake pedal.

My own particular method involves putting the car on jack stands and then doing similar - but doing it a wheel at a time. This "roughs in" the adjustment.

Once roughed in, I then take the car out for a short ride and then adjust the fronts to the point where the wheels skid on a slightly sandy road.

Then I do similar to the rears.

Then I work them over one wheel at a time looking for the wheel that skids first and trying to get ALL wheels to skid at the same time.

Then I do the same thing again but this time on dry clean pavement. This time trying to get to a point where the front wheels lock ever so slightly before the rear wheels.

Some work this last step to have the rear wheels skid first - which actually is Henry's instruction (and methodology to make sure the car doesn't do a 180 in a panic stop.)

But I feel I have better brake control making the front skid first (i.e. front brakes are set up a little "tighter.") Ford's rationale about a 180 turn didn't include the fact that a good driver can "steer" a stop using the brakes - and most instinctively do.

You're doing well to ask in advance - there are a lot of different ways to adjust the brakes - Dad used to do his in a crushed stone driveway - again looking at the stones for the wheel that didn't skid rather than the wheel that does skid.

I tried his method and didn't feel it was that precise.

Joe K