Well you are old enough to know how to drive so lock up and pucker should not be an issue for you. They work well when they are up to par, but they are often not up to par. The slider bolts (that is no doubt the wrong name) get warped and galled from heat and the inside show drags. Keeping them hot and hot brakes fade doesn't matter if they are a disc or a drum. I have replaced the bolts twice on the wife's Silverado for just that reason. This is not to say that drums are any better they have to be maintained as well. I normally set mine up with self adjusters so mine are a set it and forget it. I lived in a "rainy" environment when I was in Mexico and we used to pull the discs off our late model trucks and replace them with drums. The trash and mud ate the disc brakes up all the time. The drums were more dependable. Now I doubt that anyone on the HAMB is going to give their rod the abuse that our off road trucks got but it goes back to how your vehicle is going to me used. If I were canyon carving or auto crossing than without a doubt I would be running discs. But like I said earlier I would not be running floaters. if you are going to build a performance car and build it to more modern standards then without a doubt build a performance car.
A '56 Ranch Wagon and the deluxe model at that. Yup just another old Ford. LOL My second legal car, well actually second car on a full driver's license and not a provisional (hardship?) license was a '55 Ranch wagon. Back then it was a poor man's Nomad. I loved that car. Thanks for the pic
The very first car I drove was a 55 ford custom line ranch wagon with 223 and 3 on the tree in 1967 Sent from my SM-G965U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
By the way...I've never seen an ABS system on anything with drum brakes, Bendix or otherwise. Could it be....? Hmmm?
LOL in '67 we were borrowing (late night) the '49 Chrysler that belonged to the old guy across the street from me. In '68 I was invited to leave home. I owned a 30 dollar Brit car and a '57 Norton. I drove a hardship license for 2 years when I was old enough to drive. Mike it is rumored that the '71 Chrysler Imperial had optional ABS. It was called 4 wheel anti skid system from what I have read. They were drum brakes cars. It was not until about '73 or '74 that MOPAR put discs on full sized cars. Big drums were considered to be better brakes for a heavy vehicle by mother MOPAR. Never the less I say rumored because I have not seen corporate paperwork on the option. Maybe someone else has.
Ahhh yes the good old days of our youth .but seems our generation had good work ethic .we all started young Sent from my SM-G965U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I have 15x6 rims so they will clear the dics . the rotors for the nova will only move the tire out 3/8 " each side and should not be a problem
I have been on my own since I was 14. Long story and probably not best for a HAMB topic of discussion. But yes we worked hard and played harder.
Actually, anti-lock brakes have been available on semi trucks for decades, even required by the NHTSA since the late 90's.
It started in the late 1980's on the back of pickup trucks. 3 anti lock sensors with one for each front wheel and a shared sensor for the rear drums. Since then drum brakes have become less common on new cars, but there still out there. My little '17 daily has 4 wheel ABS with rear drums. -Dave
Rear-only hydraulic drum brake ABS, or RABS, became popular on light-mid weight trucks in the '80s because of increasing DOT brake requirements that non-ABS cars could still p***. I remember some of the drum brake designs having to be updated for the abuse ABS can deliver. Front disc brakes were already standard production on cars and light-mid trucks when ABS became widely available in the late '80s, long after front drums. I am pretty sure the '71 Chryslers with the Bendix 4-wheel ABS had front discs, as MOPAR started using front discs around '65 on lights and around '69 for the heavies, but I may be wrong. I spent seat time doing some of the testing on these '71cars, but don't remember the front brakes. Heavy vehicle drum air brake ABS started around the mid '70s with the DOT 121 requirements, matured in the '80s/'90s, eventually became common on buses/trucks/tractor trailers and also led to traction control, which effectively reduced the need for expensive positraction differentials.
Actually what is traditional? The EAA Flew a 1929 Ford Trimotor p***enger airliner into one of our local airports and they sold flights in her .we bought a couple tickets and went for a flight .it was a model A of the skies had cables running outside the fuselage to the control surfaces and I have to say it was one of the coolest rides I've ever taken .the point is though that 1929 model airplane had Disc brakes . Sent from my SM-G965U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Interesting I looked at my book and for parts for the '71 Imperial and no disc brakes other then aftermarket stuff shown available. That does not mean that you are not correct just the info that I have does not show it. I don't recall doing any brake work on an imperial of that era so I have to draw off of your info and the info that I have. Thanks for clearing that up.
One of my Bendix disc brake catalog shows front discs were available starting in '66 for the Crown and Le Baron Imperials, along with 11" X 3" rear drums. I just wasn't sure what the low production '71 ABS Imperials used for the fronts, although discs would have been the logical choice.
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