I found this and couldn’t figure it out

[jerryt]

The 1926 ford model t had a ford rear end with drum brakes. I saw the brakes but the wheel cylinder was mounted on the bottom. Basically the drum brake set up was upside down. Anyone ever heard of this?
Thanks
Jerry

[rotorwrench]

A photo would go a long way.

[rich b]

Sounds like an A rear end with the juice brakes installed upside down as the wheel cylinders don't clear the shock mount if installed normally.

[jerryt]

I will take a picture. I never thought about clearance issues.
Thanks
Jerry

[redmodelt]

You really need to start posting photos when you ask these questions. Your car is very modified as it is, so we often have no clue what you are seeing/asking about without one.

[jerryt]

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[jerryt]

The top photo is the bottom of drum brake

[jerryt]

I think the wheel cylinder was put at the bottom because leaf spring runs across the top of the rear end. No shock system.

Thanks
Jerry

[rotorwrench]

It's all later model stuff. I can't tell if the axle is Ford or not. The rear axle may have been installed up side down or the right & left backing plates were swapped. This would put the primary shoe on the wrong end. The brakes may work but not as they were intended. It may make it difficult to bleed the all the air out of the wheel cylinders.

[jerryt]

I agree the wheel cylinders on the bottom will be hard to bleed.I didn't notice until I started trying to bleed the brakes after I put in the new master cylinder. The rear end I think is a ford 8 inch. The pickup bed on my roadster is a leaf spring. Think like corvette. No shock absorbers. Can you just clean out bleeder screw? I have a little fluid going to the bleeder screws. Maybe the screws are plugged up from sitting so long.
thanks
Jerry

[jerryt]

Sorry I meant the suspension is a large multi leaf suspension like a corvette

[rotorwrench]

A single transverse spring was used from the early days of the T clear up through 1948. The spring mounts design changed several times from the model T thru 1948. Only the model T and model A designs had the spring directly over the axle. From then on, the spring was mounted behind the rear axle.

I can't see the suspension so I don't know how it was set up on your car. The Corvettes had a transverse spring set up but they have other members to hold the axle movement in check and it had an independent set of half shafts on both sides of the differential case. Some folks mount the spring on top with weld on perches and then add a torque arm and radius rods or multiple radius rods to hold the axle movement in check. Who ever decided that mounting things upside down, didn't think this through all that well.

This may lead to other problems such as how to drain and fill the rear axle. If the brake backing plates can be turned over or swapped then that would at least fix the brake problems.

[jerryt]

I am going to check to see if I can just unbolt the backing plate and reverse everything. Short answer is first get brakes working and see how back brakes work. If doesn’t work well then see if I can flip everything.
Thanks
Jerry