Mechanical brakes

[Gerald cook]

I have been following SO-CAL TEX posting on just another model A Roadster drop axel. I have followed the posting but added 1932 brakes on the front and taller front brake actuating arm. I have always in the past gone with hydraulic brakes on my model A’s I just wanted to keep my mechanical brakes on this car. Is there any serious problems that I am overlooking going this route. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Jerry

[Gene F]

Cast iron drums sound like a must given what you asked.

[Phil Brown]

How much drop on the axel ? Obviously the more drop the tricker it is to get the brake rods to line up and stay under the fenders.
If you have something specific you can try sending Tex a private message through the message board (HAMB I would assume ) he's a good guy that used to be my nabor when he was in San Diego

[jack backer]

Teds floaters

[Y-Blockhead]

Originally Posted by Gene F

Cast iron drums sound like a must given what you asked.

Don't '32 already have cast iron drums? I agree, install cast iron drums on rear.

[Synchro909]

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Originally Posted by Y-Blockhead

Don't '32 already have cast iron drums? I agree, install cast iron drums on rear.

IMO, the rear brakes on a MOdel A already have too much braking. They always lock up early. With respect, why would I want to give the rear brakes more braking and have them lock up even easier?
I put cast drums on the front only, woven linings all round and the longer actuating levers on the front as I have described in the past and the floating pin in the wedge at the front. The downside of that has been wiping the face marks off the inside of the windscreen!

[Y-Blockhead]

Originally Posted by Synchro909

IMO, the rear brakes on a MOdel A already have too much braking. They always lock up early. With respect, why would I want to give the rear brakes more braking and have them lock up even easier?
I put cast drums on the front only, woven linings all round and the longer actuating levers on the front as I have described in the past and the floating pin in the wedge at the front. The downside of that has been wiping the face marks off the inside of the windscreen!

No argument here. The only reason I say cast iron on the rear is because in my experience the original steel drums fade, so all you have is the fronts.

I believe the '32 front brakes are larger than the Model A brakes, so he will already have more braking on the front.

[jack backer]

Ford biased the brakes to the rear to allow steering on hard brake application. Biasing brakes to the front allows the weight of the car to assist braking,when biased to the rear the weight of the car works against the braking effort. Although centered brakes can be effective, allowing the inertia to assist application or ‘floating’ brakes reduce pedal effort. I prefer equal application force 50/50 (no bias).

[nkaminar]

I have mechanical brakes. I have the longer arms normally used on the rear on the front. (Make sure the rivets don't restrict the movement of the arms.) I have the Flat Head Ted's floaters. I backed off the adjustments on the rears to put more braking on the front, not so much that the front skid. My braking is better by about 20% based on panic stops at 20 mph. The brakes feel real good in normal driving and give me a sense of security.

The proof of the pudding is in the stopping. Do a panic stop at 20 mph. Keep adjusting until you are satisfied with the stopping, not pulling to one side or the other and stopping in less than 20 feet on dry asphalt.