Yesterday I had a weird noise coming from the right rear wheel. Luckily I was only 100 yds from my favorite garage and pulled in to see if I could get the car on the lift. We did and a E-brake retainer fastener had failed and part of the linkage was in the drum. That we fixed. While inspecting the other wheels we found that some were locked up and some were not. Had a devil of a time getting the car in the shop and on the lift. We closed the brake shoes as far as we could and the wheels barely turned. The drums and back plates were not hot. When we finally got the drum off the right front, the left front spun freely. We put the drum back on and could hardly turn the left or right front. We had found fluid in the front cup on the right cylinder. Does the fluid some how equalize in the system? Could this be causing the brake shoes to over tighten and then loosen? I've ordered new front cylinders and will install the old shoes on the front as we think we found a hump in the center of the new shoes. Any Ideas??
Regards, Steve Lee
sarahcecelia
08-19-2017 @ 6:06 PM
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Tom may be right on track. Check the "free play" on the master cylinder.You only need a little, but if there is none, the pressure will build to the point that the brakes will actually "lock up."
Is there anyway I can copy this thread to print out a hard copy for my notebook?
Thanks again
To adjust the freeplay, loosen the locking nut on the push rod and then adjust the rod for 1/4" to 1/2" of free play at the pedal. Tighten the lock nut and recheck the free play.
You can pull the pedal to see how much freeplay there is. You should be able to feel the rod touching the piston in the master cylinder.
The free play would have changed when you rebuilt the master cylinder.
Click on "General Ford Discussion" and you should see a topic called "Print a Discussion".
Tom
This message was edited by TomO on 8-21-17 @ 7:31 AM
Regards, Steve Lee
This message was edited by sarahcecelia on 8-21-17 @ 6:38 AM
Drove the car 4 miles home and pulled into the garage. Checked the front hubs which were hot. The rear was luke warm. Put the car in neutral and it would not budge. Any ideas? The rear cylinders were rebuilt, but after seeing what the fronts looked like, I'll probably replace them with new complete ones. Brake hoses were replaced when this started initially. The new hoses corrected the lock up problem at that point. Could the new hoses be collapsing? The car will go back to the garage next week and the master cylinder valve will be checked. We will also be turning the drums to clean them up and double checking the shoe adjustments {new shoes already installed}.
The only things left to replace after the rear cylinders will be all the springs.
Very frustrating. Will welcome any other ideas to try.
The bypass port must be open when the brakes are released and the intake valve also acts as a residual valve.
Too much freeplay will only lower the pedal, so you can add 2 turns of freeplay to the pedal to see if that is your problem. The brake fluid expands as it get warm from use, so the freeplay could seem to be OK when the fluid is cool, but end up as not enough when the fluid is warm.
If adding 2 turns of freeplay fixes the problem, you can back off 1 turn and recheck the free play and brake action.
If it does not fix the problem, the intake valve may be defective.
Most local parts houses can order a new or re-manufactured master cylinder.
Rust on the wheel cylinder pistons should not cause this problem as they should be aluminum and the rubber cups provide the seal.
Tom
Did not get the link. Have ordered new rear wheel cylinders and a new master cylinder. When these are installed all parts will be new, except the metal lines which seem ok. Installing on Wed., I hope. I'll let you all know how it goes and if there are anymore problems with the brakes. Sure hope not. Can I print out certain sections of this thread by highlighting them, instead of the whole thread getting printed?
Thanks
http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/FH_images/FH_brakes-pics/Flathead_Brakes_mastercyl_1939-40.jpg
The rust comes from the cast iron wheel cylinders. The aluminum corrosion is white and the pistons will corrode if left in a water solution for a long period of time.
DOT 3 brake fluid attracts water, so if you did not use a fresh can of brake fluid, it may have had water in it.
With that amount of corrosion, I would flush the brake system with denatured alcohol and then again with fresh DOT 3 brake fluid before the new parts are installed. You will have to plug the rear lines in order to flush the front lines.
The only way that I know how to print certain sections is to highlight the sections and copy them and then past the copies into a word processing program. You can then prit from the program.
Tom
Of all the old cars I've had this is the first time I have ever had this much trouble with brakes. Most of those cars never got the fluid changed and no problems. Guess I was just lucky and ignorance was bliss:)
Thanks again for your help.
Brad