Technical Parts required for 32-35 brakes on A front end

I have this completely stock 28 Tudor. I want to give the braking a little bit of boost and fix brakes in need of love. What parts are required to put the 12" mechanical brakes on the 28 spindles and the 21" wires back on? So far I have backing plates with the "stuff" (shoes, hardware,springs), and drums and the actuating pin through the king pin (I read that it is longer).(edit: i meant i have these on my list, not in my possesion) Am I missing any other odd and end pieces? Are the levers a different length to bias the larger brakes differently? I will be upgrading to cast iron rear drums as well. I searched and found a few threads but did not find the golden nugget with all the required bits.

 

i think you have it all. i have planned this for a while too, and found several threads at fordbarn using google. drums, backing plates and actuating pins should be all you need from memory. woven linings on the shoes is still the way to go with mechanical brakes.

 

thanks! Hopefully I can snag all the parts locally.

 

What year brakes do you have? '35 brakes are different than '32-'34.

'32-'34 brakes are the ones commonly used to upgrade "A"s.

 

So far I have one bare 32-34 backing plate. So the options are still pretty wide open. From my research the 35 is a wider lining and pretty oddball. The 32-34 stuff seems more plentiful. I am embarrassed to say this is my first very stock A. My father always had hot rodded stuff so I have always driven things with at least 40 ford brakes. I work from home since the pandemic and when I do need to go to work its only 11 miles of two lane back road so I decided to simplify and live a little slower.

I am currently waiting on a set of 12 volt bulbs to come in as well as a set of 12 volt field coils for the generator. I already have the proper diode for the cutout. I have also swapped to a 12 volt coil, reset the timing and cleaned up the points. I have been charging my battery on a good automatic charger after driving and have had no issues other than one mild overheating incident prior to the coil, points and timing setup. The engine was way more responsive afterward and the timing appear to be retarded even in the full advance position before. I would have probably left the car 6 volt, but someone before me had already fried all the bulbs, it had a new battery and the cutout was bad as well.

 

here's a thread on 35's, https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37695

 

and some more https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=189598&showall=1

 

I put 32 brakes on model A spindles before. I used brass shim on the taper of the spindles. You gotta do something or else the bearing rides up the taper too far and hit the backing plate. Much like putting 40 Ford brakes on 32-34 spindles.

And if you want a little drop you can use a 32-36 axle with 32 to 34 spring perches and all the stuff you already have for like a 1.5" or 1.25" drop.

 

another https://fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=222083&showall=1

 

Good deal. I will collect up some parts and make it happen.

 

I run '32-34 brakes on two of my cars, complete with Ted's floaters. Haven't had a problem with the bearing running up the taper?

Anyway:-
the A Fordor runs '32 brakes on '32 spindles but using the A kingpins and brake cross shafts.
On the Tourer I used A spindles. The '32 brakes bolt straight on. Make sure to use the right length pushrod!

My Coupe has '35 brakes fitted to A spindles using A kingpins and brake cross shafts. You need a bearing spacer for the inner bearing which also acts as a seal surface - the '32 brakes have the same inner seal as the A's. You need to pry that off the kingpin.
You also need to clearance the underside of the top adjuster boss/top of the kingpin, and open up a clearance hole in the backplate just under the boss to allow the spindle to turn to full lock. All becomes clear if you get a set and try fitting them. Worth the extra effort though - I like them. I also fitted Ted's floaters to the top adjuster. The bottom wedge already floats.
Some of the '35 brake parts are made from Unobtanium however. And nobody makes 32-35 drums that I'm aware of.

 

I scored a set of 34 brakes complete on epay. I probably could have scrounged locally and found everything cheaper, but I honestly just want to get this all sorted before fall and a do a little bit of touring.

 

keep us informed!

 

Got parts in the mail. Everything is looking good. I will post up some pics soon.

I did not get the through spindle operating rods. True or false that a SBC pushrod works for this? I can certainly build them on the lathe out of something like 4130 or drill rod if I can not locate a suitable part.

 

Pics of the car atleast

 

Brake rod have a ball on the top end and socket on the bottom

 

32-34 brake pins are 7.75 inches long with a ball on each end. I used hollow push rods that measured 7.8 inches long. Been 5 or 6 years now with no problems. Not sure if they were sbc or not. Stock 32 brake pins are hard to come by.

 

Good deal. I will have a couple on hand.

 

So... I got a set of NOS accessory floaters that go where the adjusting wedge sits. Should I also run the equalizing type operating wedge with the little pin that Mac's sells or is this an either or thing?

I am leaning toward sending the shoes to Porterfield to have their kevlar lining put on. According to the website, it works well on mechanical brakes and doesn't cause unnecessary drum wear. But riveting woven linings on would be cheap and easy diy. The disadvantage is that I don't have the tooling to arc the shoes to fit the drums whereas they do. Is arcing the shoes as critical with the floating setup?

 

Finally getting the rest of the parts for this. Progress!

 

i have not heard of kevlar linings, new news to me. i have always been in the belief that mechanical breaks should have the softer woven linings as opposed to the hard linings that entered service with hydraulics. however, i am a guy with a bunch of "junk" around here, and i see many old axles i have bought from junk yards/auctions over the years that are of the mechanical era, it seems that often times the 35 thru 38 stuff will have hard linings inside when i open them up. never seen it on 32-34, but later mechanical s can be either way. i wonder what was original? did they change the leverage to accommodate hard linings? food for thought. anyway, i have always used Brake & Equipment in mpls. send in your shoes, they come back glued and looking new. which ever lining you want, and arched if you can give them an accurate size. thanks for the update

 

Just picked up a good front '32 drum to replace a junk one. Putting them on my '31 Roadster P.U.

Dave

 

Here's a couple of pictures of 32 brakes on an A model.
I didn't do the conversion, so cannot answer any questions - sorry about that.

 

^^^^ That also include a '33-'34 axle and perch bolts.

 

That's the setup I have on my Fordor. Except RHD...

 

Another pic of my big brake kit lol

If you need everything to be perfect, look away. These came from up north and while they are structurally sound, the plates do have some pitting after being stripped and wire brushed.


Pics of the removed brake setup. Everything is in decent shape, there was just no "bite" to the brakes. The steel drums are polished to a mirror finish, as are the linings. Maybe fresh linings would have helped but I really do not think so. I will put these up as I think a set of 31 iron drums and fresh linings would put them into order for a lighter car. I am also looking into collecting pieces for a another stockish car/truck build so I can slap these on and have a roller with some brakes if needed.



I am currently waiting on rivets to arrive. The linings came with steel rivets and they just don't seem to crush like I want them to.

 

you have round back spindles which should not bolt up to early backing plates. now i am confused

 

AR spindles - early ones were roundback.

 

well thanks, learn sumthin today

 

Yep. This is a fairly early car. I haven't even looked to see if it has a multidisc clutch. It chatters like crazy when cold but after about three start/stop events (by the time I get out on the main road) the clutch calms down and releases smoothly. My emergency brake handle is mounted to the right of the shifter on the trans, so most likely it isn't THAT early. To be fair, I havent dug into production date etc. etc. with this car.

Edit: the clutch chatter may also be operator error. My other manual trans vehicles are a 350z, an Isuzu NPR, and a 1 ton chevy with an sm465. All are drastically different from each other and the Model A.