'39 Lincoln style brake conversion

[HCO41]

My son and I are starting on our 1937 Coupe The '39 brakes were seized. So we decided to replace the shoes, wheel cylinders and springs. We bought a kit for '39 brakes.
We started at the rear. The parts were made in China. (JUNK)! Instructions included a note saying to grind off material at the cylinder end of the shoes if the drum will not go on after adjusting the shoes all the way in. I started getting suspicious at that point but we proceeded to grind off enough material so the drums would slide on with a little drag. When we went to install the Emergency brake hardware, we found that to get the anchoring holes to line up we had to spread the shoes. After getting the emergency spreader in place we found that the drums would not go on. At that point we stopped. I'm considering a "Lincoln" drum conversion using the wide 5 drums. I found one source that claims to be made in the U.S. They're made by Boling Brothers, out of California.

Have any "Barners" had experience with these conversions? Are there other kits to consider?

[Brian]

They are superb...buy them through a member here 'Krylon32' and get a discount.

[drolston]

Boling Brothers brake conversions are excellent quality and have the advantage of being self-energizing for more braking power per pedal force, versus the 39 - 48 Ford Lockheed brakes. You may notice that the longer brake lining is on the rear shoe on the Lincoln/Bendix style brakes, versus on the front for Lockheed/Ford style brakes. That difference is correct. The reason has to do with which shoe does the most work, based on the design of the brake mechanism.

[tubman]

I have also experienced aftermarket brakes not fitting properly. There was a thread on here recently about the same problem. One member had a great suggestion : If you have a set of worn shoes that fit, send them out to be relined and avoid the fitment problems.

[19Fordy]

I bought Boling Bros. Lincoln brakes kit from Krylon many years ago (2011) and never looked back. At that time they were called MT Products. Gary (Krylon) is an honest vendor with excellent quality products. I reused the FORD OEM rear wheel bearings as I was worried about the quality of the repro. bearings. Check with Krylon on this point. I also ordered the 2 inch wide shoes rather than the stock 1 3/4 in. The only grinding I did was with a die grinderbto the top of the spindles to make sure the backing plates "fit" properly. I made a paper template that I made. I will mail one to you, if needed. Also trimmed the E-brake tubes. This was on a 40 Ford. Yours may be different.

[glennpm]

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"Also trimmed the E-brake tubes"


The trimming is on the inside of the drum. Why did you have to do this Jim?


Glenn

[19Fordy]

Glenn: It's been quite a few years but, as best I can recall the E-Brake cable would not easily curve and flex below the grease catcher so I shortened the E-Brake tube. Thinking back, perhaps I could have adjusted the E-brake cable so it was shorter rather than cut the tube.

However, below are photos of OEM Ford E-Brake cable set up before the Lincoln brake install and after. You can see the difference in the curving of the E- cable. If you compare the photos, you can see there is a difference in the configuration of the OEM FORD E-Brake lever arm (1st photo) and the E-Brake lever arm (photo 5) that comes with the Lincoln brake kit. They are not interchangeable. I think this difference in the Lincoln E-Brake lever configuration affects the E-Brake cable attachment. I did install the Boling Bros. backing plates on all 4 wheels. I am not understanding what you mean when you say: "The trimming is on the inside of the drum."

It would be interesting to see if others encountered this same issue.

[glennpm]

Thanks Jim, I understand the problem now.


Glenn

[38bill]

Also make sure to get good coil springs for the parking brakes. Some springs are too long and some don't have enough distance between the coils so the spring will not compress enough. I had to both stretch and shorten mine when I converted to the BB LZ brakes.