I have a drum I removed from my ‘40 axle. I’ll see if they’re the same size, if not I’ll come up with a measurement.
My neighbor from up the road saw me tinkering with the car. He builds off topic drag racers and has been keeping an eye on my Model A. He offered to bring his 3-jaw puller by. I know everyone advised against it, but I went ahead and said yes. Unlike the one I rented when trying to take the ‘40 apart, the teeth fit deep down in the groove and had plenty of contact area, so I went ahead and gave it some tension. It didn’t take much - it popped right off. We’ll still make a better puller in case another drum puts up more of a fight - I’ll call this luck and not push it. Here’s what we’ve got. Right off the bat I can see that I’m missing the e-brake guts, so I can rule the e-brake out as the cause of the problem. Only... now I’m not sure what the problem could be? This wheel used to turn freely until I started exercising the brakes. The shoes retract fully (I think?) when the pedal is pulled out. I don’t see any protrusions, or anything the drum could be snagging on. I can turn the axle by hand and it never catches so it must be something catching on the drum. The good news is the shoes have plenty of material on them. Do brake shoes suffer from time or are these ok to run?
Also, the speedometer gear sent by @Aaron D. arrived today! I’ll have it on in a jiffy! You rock dude.
Yep. I can turn it by hand and it never snags. I can hang the drum mostly on and turn it forever without a snag. If I snug it up fully it starts hanging.
do you have both wheels off the ground? reason i ask, the brake stuff shows no problem i can see here, so i am wondering if the spyder gears are bad. so, if both wheels are up, are they both turning the same direction, or opposite direction?
The wheels are both in the air. When you turn one, the other turns the opposite direction. I will add that when it locks up, you can rap on the drum with a hammer and it will go back to free spinning until it catches again on whatever it's catching on. The lower shoe is a little loose but I wouldn't think that would cause it to suddenly lock up completely. It feels like steel hitting steel. @amodel25 saw it I believe, it is really quite odd.
Stick your finger in the hub and try to roll the bearing around a couple turns. the rollers sometimes crack...just guessing now.
Sometimes the hub will slide too far on the axle. There is a shim you can buy from the Model A stores that lays on the taper of the axle. I had one that when tightened down the brake shoes rubbed on the inside of the drum. Since you said that it turns ok until you tighten it down, maybe it is pulling the hub over too far. Also, if the brake linings are oil soaked or the drum has an oil film on it, the brake shoes will grab.
I've got nothing for your snag problem, but I can help you prevent another problem. When assembling any Ford rear hub to a tapered Ford axle, make sure there is no grease on the taper. Those two tapered surfaces need to be dry so they can compress tight and stick together. The huge force of the axle nut holding the hub to the axle is all supposed to be transmitted through the friction of the tapered surfaces. The key is just a last resort in case the fit is done poorly (like on your car). If the hub pops off easily, it probably wasn't on tight enough. Some guys even use valve lapping compound to make a nice tight fit between the tapered surfaces. They clean the surfaces, apply the compound, swirl the hub around with no key, then clean the compound off and assemble with the key.
Notice that fresh groove on the face of the drum, most noticeable at 9 o'clock in the picture? I'd guess that the drum is riding on the edges of the shoes and locking up. Look for a shiny spot on the stuff on the end of the axle that matches...
I noticed the bottom shoe seems loose. On the left side of the shoe, where it is acted upon by the cam, I can pull it out a good ways by hand and it also wiggles back and forth, whereas the upper shoe won't budge unless the brake pedal is depressed. If the inside face of the drum is dragging on the side of the shoe, as loose as it is, friction could be forcing it to extend and lock up against the drum, and the harder you tried to turn it the harder it would want to grab, whereas in reverse it would just be pushing it up and inward, hence no lock up. I'm too tired to mess with it tonight but that is my theory.
I’m not 100% sure. I can’t find a good diagram or parts list to compare to so other than the obvious it’s hard to tell.
Isn't there something about brakes in those books I brought to you? I would have thought they would have good diagrams based on the fact that they are for restoration.
X2 for the lapping compound. Guaranteed to make your drums and taper have solid contact. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
They have lots of good diagrams but I couldn’t find one showing what I am looking for in regards to the brake assembly. A lot of the diagrams omit things like springs for clarity. I’ll keep looking, I haven’t had a lot of time in the evenings these past few days so I may have missed something.
OK, so I have all the springs I'm supposed to have, but I'm betting they aren't in peak springiness. Anyway, I removed what I believed to be the offending shoe and it spins freely now, so I think I was on the right track. The cam is not wanting to move freely. I think there is some old grease in there that is keeping it from centering, and therefore keeping the bottom shoe kicked out enough that it's interfering with the drum.
Been a busy day! I listed the '40 rear end I got from Salado for sale (not on the HAMB yet... Facebook is easier on the phone). I decided I won't be using it. The Model A banjo will be able to handle the stock V8 just fine, and if I get serious about hopping up the V8, I'll build a quick change rear. That will be a tidy project in its own right and something else to do down the road after the car is drivable. Work was killer today and all I wanted to do was take a nap, but I was tired of dragging ass on this thing, so I made a list of things to do and got them done. I got the passenger fender off, removed the fender struts and running board mounts, and installed the body blocks I got from my friend Monte. This required some creative jack techniques that would have cost me my OSHA cert if anyone else had been watching, but it's done. I still need the frontmost and rearmost blocks, but at least the body is now securely bolted to the frame. That took a while, so I didn't have much time to mess with the brakes. As I suspected, the cam was sticking hard in its channel. It took some soaking in PB Blaster to get it to come loose. I got in there with a brush and cleaned it all up and now it slides smoothly in the channel. I'll put the lower shoe back on tomorrow. I bet the other three are in the same condition to varying degrees. Mike's called yesterday and said they are out of stock on essentially everything I ordered, including everything between the carb and the fuel tank. I'll give them a few days. I think I will also go ahead and sell the front fenders, but I'll keep the rears for now. They are too rough to be worth anything in their current state, and I might want to go fendered later, just would prefer the 30-31 fenders if I do.
Well, if i knew for a fact the A rear end was in excellent shape, i might sell the 40 rear, might is below the 50/50 scale being a hoarder of old ford parts. you may want it some day, its money in the bank, just move it out of sight. Your fuel lines you make yourself, you just need the correct nuts. They were actually called "ford nuts" in the old days but dont try that at autozone, just buy them from brattons
Lol if it doesn't sell it will go live in my new shed. As for the fuel lines, I don't have the sediment bowl or shutoff, and I want both of those things, so I might as well get the premade lines while I'm ordering and save myself a bit of headache. I have already made hard lines so I know I can do it if I needed to for some reason. It won't save me any money to do it myself.
Very true, when you have an order going, get it all. everything except the one thing you forgot until after its too late to add it on the order...if you are like me
I'll take the front fenders if we can strike a deal on them. I'll rehab them and stash them for a future project. Let's discuss it before you let them go.
Glad the video was able to get you educated on the brakes! Keep picking away on stuff and you will get there soon enough. Glad to see the hinges are being soaked, keep it up and get all those things that have been sitting for so long working again!
Reassembled and rolling. I will add that I found a secondary trouble spot, the adjustment wedge was seized and the adjusting pins were not sliding easily. That is fixed too. Just realized I forgot a cotter pin on one of the shoe pins but now I don’t have a way to get the drum off again hahaha Hey - look what just arrived! I got around to shortening up the door handle rods. Obviously the '32 plate is not the right contour for the A door, so I won't be able to fully install them until I come up with the plates for A door handles. But progress is progress!
Here is an exploded view and parts to replace the missing stuff if you decide to stay with the original rear. https://www.brattons.com/assemblies/rear-brake-assembly-16.html This page shows both rear drum pullers that may work, depending on the rear drums. Hope yours is the 29-41 style so you can do both rears. https://www.brattons.com/protruding-hub-ring-rear-wheel-hub-puller.html Again, no personal experience with the seller, just found the info might be useful. EDIT: they also have some videos posted, including the one with the rear brake parts I had posted earlier and another for adjusting brakes and a couple on timing. https://www.brattons.com/video-gallery.html
The Jalopy Journal
