Should One Save Old Brake Components?

[ericr]

much gets written here about the necessity for thorough brake jobs; but also much gets written about the inferior nature of many repro parts.

as regards brake jobs, do you guys save parts like the rear brake cam, retracting springs, actuating shafts, etc.? Or do people feel repro brake parts are correctly reproduced?

[Oldbluoval]

Keep anything that is original and functional......even if functionality is uncertain.
Thats why my shop is such a clutter but who cares?

[Mitch//pa]

Or sell the stuff at a swap meet.... Model A people will suck that stuff up

[DougVieyra]

It depends. Do you live in an apartment in New Yark City (poor fellow); or do you live on a 40 acre farm in Arkansas (lucky fellow).

Of course today's world is quite different now (Brattons, Snyders, Berts, etc.) from when I was growing up in the '40's and '50's. But back then no one threw ANYTHING away ! Everything pertaining to the car that had no readilly available parts - Chevy, Dodge, Duesenberg, FORD - was kept. There were no 'bad parts', only 'less useable' ones, to be stored in the 'back forty', for possible reuse or salvage at a future date. 40 acre farm yes, New Yark City apartment, not so much.

[H. L. Chauvin]

Hi ericr,

Many here can remember the era when far fewer Model A parts were available in catalogs when compared to that of today.

Appears if this question would lead to a Model A Forum Vote about who keeps "used" Model A parts, this is just one opinion:

The senior Model A owners could probably all be labeled, "Leaders of the Pack" ....... "Pact Rats". that is!

We may want to be considered by the younger Model A owners as, just a different generation. LOL

[2manycars]

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I keep those parts that are useable or can be made useable. While many new parts are good quality, many are not an exact fit, and some are really substandard. Some folks keep stuff that is truely trash. One guy tried to sell me an oil pump that had the housing broken in two. He claimed the gears were good, but what good are they without a housing? I guess it depends on the size of your barn. Mine is 30x60, and it is cluttered, but not full. At my age (and many of us are sort of old) I am not collecting more parts.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

You DON'T call yourself a PACK RAT, in front of a RAT TERRIER!!!!! !
Bill W.

[Cool Hand Lurker]

I am nobody's fool, I am an Inventory Procurement Specialist.

[Kevin in NJ]

No, Do NOT keep the old brake parts.

There is a reason why so many people have less then great brakes on the car. It has to do with a bunch out of spec parts hung on the car. You have to consider that the brakes were designed to work to .001" tolerances. So think about the brake wedges. Over the years people have 'dressed' the wedges with files to fix the wear. Now you do not really know if the wedges are angled right. So how are you supposed to get the brakes even if the wedges have different angles?

Today we have a bunch of new parts known to be good. Use them and take the time to set all the part up properly. Then you have some hope of making 4 wheels stop at the same time.

I hope the above makes some sense.

[loubob]

I am finding myself in the same situation and I've only had my 'A' for 2 years.
I am going through all my take-off brake parts and will keep very little.
My brakes were rough and I've replaced 95%. Will never reuse the take off parts.
I plan on disposing that stuff in the Spring.
Same for replaced stress bolts, studs, etc.
Why keep what you will never reuse?

[Tom Wesenberg]

Make some interesting yard art from junk parts, or donate them to a local yard art person that welds.

[Larry Jenkins]

Originally Posted by loubob

I am finding myself in the same situation and I've only had my 'A' for 2 years.
I am going through all my take-off brake parts and will keep very little.
My brakes were rough and I've replaced 95%. Will never reuse the take off parts.
I plan on disposing that stuff in the Spring.
Same for replaced stress bolts, studs, etc.
Why keep what you will never reuse?

Assuming the original parts are still in tolerance, there are two great reasons to keep and use them.

1. They fit

2. They are metallurgically superior. This one is extremely important from a safety and longevity standpoint.

Clean them and lubricate where necessary.

Larry

[Barry B./ Ma.]

I never throw out Model A parts that may be usable (after inspection of course). I have a separate white plastic pails for brake, steering etc. parts, even the mounting hardware and brake springs.

[Kurt in NJ]

the rollers and some short pieces of 2x6-2x?, some angle iron to tie them together--4 holes drilled in the angle iron the size of the roller pins ---8 brake rollers, 4 pins and you have a low dolley that can be used to slide something heavy under the bench


a lot of good shapes for making "art"

you could post pictures here and we could vote---scrap ---repurpose ----good enough to use

[SeaSlugs]

hmm personally with AA stuff not alot of it is reproduced so ive kept most of it. broken springs or ones that are severely worn go in the scrap pile, same with any fastener that doesnt have a decent head and decent threads on it, the rest i save.

unless it is utterly fubared, broken chunks, cracks that are irreparable, broken fasteners, worn fasteners i end up saving it and organizing it in a divided tray of brake parts.

as far as art goes i LOVE old beatup brake rods! I've made some interesting things out of them.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

Make some interesting yard art from junk parts, or donate them to a local yard art person that welds.

Tom,
I'd love to have the back half of a Tudor body for a COFFEE NOOK, in the front yard. NEXT, an OUTHOUSE!
JET-FUEL Bill

[Kevin in NJ]

Always keep the nuts and bolts. They are generally far superior then any of the modern stuff and they are not built like new. Many fasteners are tighter tolerance threads and should NOT be cleaned with tap and die. Some fasteners are way harder then you might expect.

I hand clean with picks and will use rusy nasty over new fasteners for most of the mechanical parts. Yes, you will find rust pitted nuts and bolts on my car.

[ian Simpson]

Originally Posted by Larry Jenkins

Assuming the original parts are still in tolerance, there are two great reasons to keep and use them.

1. They fit

2. They are metallurgically superior. This one is extremely important from a safety and longevity standpoint.

Clean them and lubricate where necessary.

Larry

I keep old parts until they have been successfully replaced. Then they go to the local recycling depot. I do this because:
1/ They are no longer fit.

2/ I have doubts about the metallurgical quality.

I did keep an old brake rod, it is now the hood prop on the 57 Chev.

[dumb person]

i keep many parts that i can repurpose for other things. Even bolts with stripped threads can be turned down & rethreaded.

Originally Posted by 2manycars

One guy tried to sell me an oil pump that had the housing broken in two. He claimed the gears were good, but what good are they without a housing?

Put the gears in a used housing would be his thinking, and probably mine too.

[Larry Jenkins]

Originally Posted by ian Simpson

I keep old parts until they have been successfully replaced. Then they go to the local recycling depot. I do this because:
1/ They are no longer fit.

2/ I have doubts about the metallurgical quality.

I did keep an old brake rod, it is now the hood prop on the 57 Chev.

The old fasteners will not change metallurgically unless you heat them above the point where the chemistry changes.

As far as the fit, re-read my first sentence.

Larry