Hi All, I have a 1932 ford pickup that I want to convert to juice brakes. Where do i start looking for parts and roughlt how much do you think I will need to spend. I am fairly new to this hobby, but i would be able to do all the work myself. Thanks Rod3fish
I'd start looking for some 37-41 round back or 42-48 square back spindles. Although Speedway sells some sort of adaptor ring for earlier spindles. I'm not sure if they work on 32's though? Get the backing plates and hubs from late 39/40-48 spindles as well. Are you using the 32 pedals and K member? If so the brake actuating arm on the pedal has to be cut off and welded to the bottom. SoCal sells a plate that locates a Lockheed style 3 bolt master cylinder to the back of the K member. Aren't 32 rear axles different than most banjos? I don't know enough about them do I'll leave that to the experts. Hopefully that gives you a place to start on the front end. I've got a 32-36 front axle with 40 spindles, and 46 brakes on my roadster. It all pretty much bolts together.
You might want to try Mac's also. They sell a complete conversion for Model A to hydraulic brakes. They probably have a kit for early V8 as well.
rod3fish, really need a bit more information on the car and what you plan on doing with it. questions.. whats it got in it now? RHD or LHD is the diff early or late 32, if its a 4.11 ratio are you going to change it? full rego or street rod permit? where in oz are you as that will mean if you need engineers etc. keeping original steering or converting? - equates to steering arm Firstly if you have the original 32 spindles, you need to get an adaption kit to mount later hydraulic brakes to the front ( rears bolt up) or you can go the 37-41 round back spindles, but then you need to swap your draglink as the 32's have a ball on the end of the steering arm for the 'tierod' to mate to. if you plan on having a dropped axle you will need to sort this out to with spindles and steering arm and spindle arms. there are kits available to use the original pedal setup to actuate a MC, but depending on where you are, you may be required to have a booster by the rego authority, so you need to look into that. Lines and hoses are easy enough as is handbrake. as for brakes, the best bet is the wilson welding lincoln fronts and original ford rears, but this set up isn't cheap, its heavy and will cost to get into the country, but that is the gold standard. you can source 40-48 backing plates locally and rebuild them but do the math, by the time you do that and buy hubs and drums and new bearings etc. its not cheap either. Also best to read up on the two different types of early for hydraulic brakes 39-42 and 46-48 , there are differences and you don't want to get caught trying to mix and match. easiet way to tell is the earlier of the two have two adjusters at 6 o'clock and the laters don't have them. get hold of 'peddro' here on the HAMB or visit his website http://www.kustomink.com.au/tardelbooklets.html and get hold of vern tardels little booklets on brakes, they will be a good start to educating yourself on the parts you need and what you need to do. it's not difficult, but a bit of reading first off with make it less difficult and save you $$ from stuffing something up and having to start again. good luck.
Richard Lacy at the Early V8 garage has everything you need and ready to bolt in. He has a kit for the 32 ford which includes the brake lines and master cylinder. I've used two of his kits and they work fantastic. Geoffrey
You can use '32 spindles with juice backing plates. You just need to modify the backing plates with a little cutting and a little welding to re position holes. It actually would be my preferred method especially on a '32 since the spindles are too cool to get rid of. It's one of those things that when you see a '32 with it's original spindles it stands out and it a nice touch. There are some other things to contend with but it should be no more work then finding another set of spindles and converting that way. Just work instead of money for the most part.
I'm in the process of doing hydraulics on 32 spindles but I'm using M/T products Lincoln backing plates from Bohling Bros which are drilled for the spindle pattern and the brg spacer from Richard Lacy to complete the install.
Keep the '32 spindles if building a semi-stock chassis, with the later ones you will need to lengthen the steering link, and I think also the late spindles will also raise the front slightly. Aftermarket steering arm can't be used without lengthening the draglink as its pickup location will be offset, moving steering box off center when wheels are straight.
Note...Lacy makes every aspect of conversion, and his master cylinder setup is probably best choice for that. The '39-48 Ford brake conversion is the economy choice, the repro Lincoln setup from Lacy is the DeLuxe spread but quite a bit more expensive.
40 Ford Brakes on 32 Spindles Quick Tech click this thread, this is a good way to upgrade but keep your cool early spindles.
The Richard Lacy everyone talks about is Richard Lacy at earlyv8@aol.com, (626) 338-2282. I built the master cylinder mount for my '32 roadster about 30 years ago. If I did another one I would use the one from Richard. Definitely run the original spindles with the adapters (about $25 from most suppliers). The reproduction Lincoln ones are definitely the best but from a cost factor you would probably be better off finding '39-'48 Ford brakes locally (note if you use '39 backing plates you would need the '40-'48 brake drums, the '39 had a 5 on 10 1/4 bolt pattern). Charlie Stephens
I do not post on the HAMB all that much, as we have been busy - THANKS to those of you who have recommended our stuff. Our 32 hydraulic conversion avoids all of the pitfalls and negatives from the "Good Old Days" methods. The design criteria back in 1996 was to be able to use the original unmodified pedals, no drilling/cutting/welding, and no need to relocate the battery. Our master cylinder mounts between the battery and the torque tube, and does not hang way down. It mounts using ONLY factory holes, and there is absolutely NO need to modify the K-member. In fact, it can be undone without a trace should somebody lose their mind and decide to do so... We also make pre-bent lines and can supply everything else needed, and again uses factory holes to install. We highly recommend using the original spindles on 32-36's. It is especially important on 32-34's because the aftermarket steering arms are made incorrectly and always have been, which results in the original draglink being about 3/4" too long, which in turn causes the geometry to be incorrect AND when the steering gear is on high center, the vehicle will be making aleft turn!!! Dave Wilton used to make a "Deluxe Kit" for adapting the 39-48 brakes to the early spindles, which consists of two "flanged spacers" to fit the brake plates and two "bearing spacers" to fit the later hubs to the early spindles (not required on some 35's and all 36's...) The flanged spacers fit between the grease shield (yes, they are still needed!) and the brake plate and are drilled to match the spindle bolt pattern and bolt size (3/8") so all that must be done is to use a 3/8" round file to file little quarter-moons from the original 1/2" holes just into the large center hole. The bearing spacers are made to the correct dimensions to be a slight press fit onto the spindle so that they do not rotate, and serve as a surface for the grease seal to ride on. We now make this Deluxe Kit. Note that he "good old days kit" for $20 is actually brittle-and- too-thick piston rings (which often break during installation) and a mis-sized valve seat. Our Deluxe kit costs alot more but is well worth it. Thanks again for the positive feedback! Richard (and Dennis)
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