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Old 09-18-2019, 07:21 PM   #6
HDowse
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Hancock, New Hampshire
Posts: 375
Default Re: Brake adjustment 1937

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There several threads on the notched board approach to adjusting mechanical brakes and while most explain how to do the adjustment, there’s usually a comment that it’s really not the best way to adjust the brakes since it results in the rears locking up before there’s full application of the fronts.
I start out with the car raised up off the ground, front or rear first doesn’t matter, and tighten the adjusting nut in until the brake just starts to drag. Do that on all four wheels and then get ready for the road test (fun) part. You really need a dirt/gravel road for this but others may have ideas on how to deal with it on hardtop roads. Drive down the road and carefully apply strong but not full brake pedal pressure. If the cars jerks right or left that means that one front brake is too tight, loosen it a notch or two. Get that done and test again to be sure the fronts are equal. If you then still feel a drag to the right or left that means the rears are tight on that side. Loosen the notch or two. Now the best part. Go onto the dirt road of choice. Start off and get to 15 or so mph and apply full brake pressure to skid the wheels for only a short distance, 5 to 10 feet. Stop, back up and note which wheels locked up. IMHO, I want the fronts to lock up and skid on dirt just before the rears do. That’s because I want max stopping on the fronts since the car's weight gets transferred forward and the rear lifts when stopping. Be sure the skids are equal side to side, adjust accordingly. Others may do this differently but the three A's I've had really were able to stop on a (big) dime using this approach.
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