Hopped in my 50 fleetline earlier, going to visit my friend and his parents. Luckily pushed the brakes while still in the garage and had a nice pedal to the floor air noise and zero brakes. So I shut her off, saw the fluid puddle near the rear tire and went back inside. Oh well a project for later, lucky I wasn't on the road when I found that one out. Kinda makes me curious though, I've done many a full brake job and I completely reworked its brake system not 6 months ago and it rarely gets road time. I guess it wasn't my time yet huh?
Similar thing happen to me, but it was "All Hallows Eve" (a.k.a. night before Halloween) I took it as a sign to finish parting that beast out and use what was good to build onto my Kustom project...
A dual master cylinder is a must. Even if the ride didn't come with one is should be a manditory addition. I know they still can go to the floor though. Gad you, the car nor anyon else were hurt. I have to check the brakes on the '58 each spring cause it happens to "spring a leak" somewhere.
There have been a LOT of posts on here about dual chamber master cylinders...I always come down very hard on needing one-it's a must. There are more than a few guys on here who frequently chime in and say that they've never had a problem, as long as you maintain your brakes properly, blah blah blah. Well, you said you went through the whole system six months ago, and today you learned that one leaky rear wheel cylinder cancels out the entire system. From my personal experience, I can tell you that had you been on the road and blown that rear cylinder, the Emergency Brake on that side wouldn't have done squat, because the shoes and drum would have been hosed down with brake fluid. Your car won't stop on the one remaining, narrow rear brake drum. Congrats on dodging the bullet--Merry Christmas George! -Brad
reminds me of this weekend. i was driving a friends truck up to woodland ( 78 ford on 42's) found out it had dodgy steering and i lost the brakes on the freeway... fun. luckily it was a four speed with a granny, so i could at least stop. loosing brakes suck, glad you didnt chance it.
better than them going ut on your way home, i was on my way home from class in my 61 econoline and about 3 blocks away from my house the pedal got really mushy, luckily i got home and as i pulled into the car port i had to stop it on the back wall, there was NO fluid left. damn that sucks...
I make it a practice on all my old cars, to stomp hard on the brakes before driving off, just to check 'em. Not a guarantee, but at least if a line is "iffy" or close to failure, a high pressure jolt might blow it before you are in an emergency situation. Several years ago one of the lines did let go - better a puddle on the garage floor to clean up, than broken parts & blood on the street.
I've driven enough junk thru the years that I always check mine before putting one wheel on the road, even on the newer junk. Had one chamber go dry more than once over the years. And yes... when a wheel cylinder pops you have very slippery wheel innards. Not much "whoa" power. I also do a walk-around, checking the lights any evening I'm headin out too. The folks with those fancy blinking lights are just lookin' for a reason to stop folks around here. Plus, I like to be noticed by those wonderful drivers with cell phones stuck out their ears. Glad you are safe.
You're very fortunate . . . the Big Guy was watching over yah! Put a dual master cylinder in it -- and preserve your safety. Make it a Christmas present to yourself.
yep thinkin about that dual reservoir power unit I've seen which still bolts up to the stock frame location. Kinda puts a wrinkle in my fentons and dual carb swap I was planning but at least I'm not scrapin pieces of the car off the pavement.
At least no one is scraping pieces of YOU off the pavement. And if you are looking at go-fast parts you should have stop-faster parts too. I'm not talking about you but this idea of keeping things traditional at the expense of safety is just plain crazy. Yes, I want my car to look nice but I want to be around to enjoy it and don't want to run anyone down either.
I'm having trouble finding a dual master cylinder, I know I've seen them before, anyone know who's selling them?
I'd like to have a nickel for every mile I've driven (and stopped) with drum brakes and single master cylinder.
Halloween is "All hallows Eve", not the eve of Halloween. Halloween is the eve of All Saints Day. Which is November 1st. Sorry but I'm a stickler fot getting facts straight. That sucks about your brakes dude. I think I might give mine a quck checkup this afternoon.
I had the stock rear brake hose unscrew itself from the t as I approached a busy intersection. I now have a dual master, and it looks stock unless you are 4" tall. I ended up copying the Filling Station design with some 10 gauge sheet. link link 2
The guy that helped me put my hot rod together told me one thing that stays fresh in my mind...."Brakes are the cheapest thing on your vehicle that'll save your life the most." I scored a replacement disc brake swap set for my subframed M5 truck this spring. Glad you lived to drive another day!
Hudson had addressed this problem by 48,maybe sooner. My 49 stops fine(OK maybe not disc brake fine) but has the added feature (and lots of rube goldberg linkage) to apply the emergency brakes once the brake pedal is approx. 3/4 of the way down. I've been fortunate enough to not have to use it but have it adjusted to factory specs. Pretty cool (to me at least) that in a single master cylinder world,they took the time to engineer a redundant back-up.Probably also helps to explain why they were out of business less than 10 yrs. after.
I'm pretty sure Chevs of the 40's sells the master cylinder you're looking for ... you might also try Impala Bobs. Good luck - glad you're okay.
If you did maybe you could afford to to take it to someone to do the conversion for you. And if you had a nickel for every mile you'd gladly trade it back not to have killed or hurt someone when they fail at the wrong place/time. It's such an easy fix even I've done it.
found my problem today, pinhole in the hardline about a foot from rear T. No idea how it got there, probably because it was one of the only lines I didn't change. Also still looking for a dual reservoir master cylinder to fit in stock location, its a '50 chevy Fleetline with a 3 spd. anyone know where to find one? I've been looking with no luck. thanks.
I made mine, I'm guessing you have a welder, or access to one? It was real easy, one of my first custom made parts, still works too! link
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