Installing emergency brake return springs

[H. L. Chauvin]

Best to remove "C" as mentioned above; however, if everything is already assembled, hope this helps in this particular case:

Just installed two last night with backing plate on & everything assembled.

1. First, the point on the emergency brake spring hook, (which ressembles a large fish hook), points towards the differential on both the right & left side springs; & the spring fits between the emergency brake arm lever & the backing plate. The hook part of the spring hooks at top on the emergency brake lever & the bottom straight part of the spring hooks on crevice between the backing plate & the rear radius rod. (The end of the straight part of the spring at the bottom points towards the engine compartment).

2. Tool: Make a hook tool with a coat hanger with about a 1/2" return on the hook side, & from the 1/2" hook on the tool hook to the bottom of the wood handle should be about 7".

3. Tool Handle: The handle can be a 5" long broom handle, large dowel, or a piece of 5" long wood, 3/4" x 1-1/2", with a coat hanger wire size through-hole drilled through the 3/4" side & centered on the 5" width. After the wire goes throught the wood, make a knot with the wire to keep it from re-entering the hole in the wood handle when pulling the hook.

4. Hook the hook tool on the top of the emergency brake spring hook & pull forward towards the engine.

5. TRICKS:

A. Work from inside the rear wheel fender well, (under the fender where the tire goes), as oposed to under the chassis.

B..The emergency brake spring hook point pointing towards the differential will definitely stop after pulling forward when it hits the emergency brake lever arm; however, get a flat head screw driver & compress & push the emergency brake spring hook sideways & outwards, i.e., towards the backing plate & brake shoes, while simultaneously pulling the emergency brake spring hook forward with the hook tool.

C. Snap -- both of mine went in -- compressing the emergency brake spring upper hook sideways & outwards allows this emergency brake spring point to bypass the emergency brake lever with less friction & snap in place, forward of the lever. The emergency brake spring should place pressure on the lever towards the rear of the car.

Hope this helps.

(When providing & trying to install two (2) new emergency brake lever arms, two (2) new emergency brake toggle levers with new grease zerks, & two (2) new emergency brake lever bolts & half moon key sets, the two (2) new emergency brake lever arms would not fit because the two (2) new half moon keys were too wide & too high -- solution was to place keys in a vise-grip pliers, use a flat file, & remove a few thousanths of an inch from the sides & from the bottoms of the round parts of the two (2) half moon keys -- then everything fitted together just fine -- please expect to fine tune & "fit" lots of new replacement parts using Dremel Tools & files -- the Model A parts vendors are doing their best to provide quality parts, but they can only sell what they get from today's parts manufactirers).

[Alex Dragone]

Does anyone have a picture of what they are supposed to look like when they are installed on the car? I dont understand how they go on. My car had the orignal springs on it and bothe were broken so I dont have a referance. If anyone can help I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by Alex Dragone

Does anyone have a picture of what they are supposed to look like when they are installed on the car? I dont understand how they go on. My car had the orignal springs on it and bothe were broken so I dont have a referance. If anyone can help I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

Are you looking for a picture of the springs that pull the band together, or a picture of the spring on the outside of the backing plate that pulls the lever back?

[wbs]

hello- i am inexperienced but recently replaced some springs and basically used mr chauvins excellent note but i thought i would make a few suggestions whi9ch helped me-
1 take off wheel
2remove lever of course but leave it off after inserting spring
3mark where the key groove is on lever hub
4pull service brake rod all the way fwd gives you more working room
5 notice which side of hub is 'in' and which side is out before removing lever
6 put lasso loop over the lever side of the spring
7 put the lever on loosely
8 pull lasso fwd as you slip lever on shaft and catch the spring clip on lever- takes very little force to slip spring clip over lever front
9 rotate hub slihgtly to find the half moon key
10 if hub wont go on all way, make sure of spring loops is not blocking- if so use screw driver to move loop out of way

[Bill G]

Originally Posted by wbs

hello- i am inexperienced but recently replaced some springs and basically used mr chauvins excellent note but i thought i would make a few suggestions whi9ch helped me-
1 take off wheel
2remove lever of course but leave it off after inserting spring
3mark where the key groove is on lever hub
4pull service brake rod all the way fwd gives you more working room
5 notice which side of hub is 'in' and which side is out before removing lever
6 put lasso loop over the lever side of the spring
7 put the lever on loosely
8 pull lasso fwd as you slip lever on shaft and catch the spring clip on lever- takes very little force to slip spring clip over lever front
9 rotate hub slihgtly to find the half moon key
10 if hub wont go on all way, make sure of spring loops is not blocking- if so use screw driver to move loop out of way

Did mine recently too. Those dang things are really not for the faint of heart. "The book" says to assemble the backing plates on the workbench then attach to the Axle.

There was just no acrobatics nor positioning of the levers, prying with anything handy or cuss words that would allow me to put an assembled unit on the axle.

The alternative was to put the backing plate on the axle without the e-brake carrier and assemble the e-brake while on the car. I got lots of practice picking the woodruff keys off the floor and a lot of tries positioning the illustrious spring.

The book (Les Andrews) makes it sound so easy. I would like to see a video of how to get a backing plate with both levers on the dang axle.

I did learn early in the process to temporarily move the service brake lever out of the way.

[IndyA]

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Well, here's a fresh idea ..... you first have to disconnect all the linkage (so pull the drum!) Take two small pulleys which will swivel on their eye and connect one end of a rope to the rear fender support brace; put the first pulley on the running board support brace and a second pulley with a loop (use a material that you can later cut with a knife) on the the spring-end - run the road thru the running board pulley, then the pulley at the wheel; get a friend to pull the rope (toward the front of the car) while you lay underneath the wheel with a notched screw driver to guide the spring into its seat.

This method uses the mechanical advantage gained by using two pulleys --- worked for me after spending hours using other methods.

Good Luck...

[QGolden]

Originally Posted by IndyA

Well, here's a fresh idea ..... ....
This method uses the mechanical advantage gained by using two pulleys --- worked for me after spending hours using other methods.

Good Luck...

Sound plausible, but I'd like to see a video!