Who has rear brakes only?

I have rear brakes only on my Harley.
I plan to put a front on it (mabey sooner than later).
Stops like shit and my rear tire has to have some flat spots on it.
I cant imagine only rear brakes on a car

 

Slightly OT but I have rear only on a 1922 Pierce Arrow and it weighs 5000 lbs and has very skinny tires. There's a reason they stopped using rear only towards the mid 20's. Just plain not safe. I was in my friends 23 Pierce and we had to do a somewhat paniced stop. Stomping down hard and grabbing the emergency, not fun. If you have a choice always choose smart over stupid.

 

You'd get 100 answers, but 98 of them would be no, and two would be yes.

So is that 100 answers, or two?

 

I say if you only want brakes on one end put them on the front.

 

Stopping is traditional

 

Just my opinion but I'm thinking you may still be drunk & crazy.. These last 2 comments you made contradict eachother.... We've all done stupid shit in the past and I guess since we're here talking about it, we somehow survived. That dosn't mean it's ok to give bad advice...

 

I Have a 1400# car with rear only and I have run it from Ok city to Viva. It stops ok. Thats Ok not good! I think it works on in my car because its light and the rear tires are good sized. If you can run em at all 4.

 

Don't do it. Simply put, you could kill someone and you don't want to even think about that.

 

My friend died with only rear brakes and another friend died with 3 wheel brakes.
A wheel cyl leaking Oh well let me just crimp this line. Dec 10 1961 Santa Maria
dragstrip R.I.P. Bob(Robert Dufford) 1934 ford a/g No front Brakes.

 

I guess if it worked for them they would be here saying so. If not, I guess you will never here from them in this life. RIP

 

And a big drag chute.

 

If you HAVE to, be sure and run the STICKIEST rear tires you can find. I had a Bantam roadster yrs ago with hard rear tires and rear only brakes. It would just slide through intersections. NOT fun

 

I can't beleive someone would actually consider this. And there's NO reason why someone would "have to" do that Just think about how you would feel if you hit and killed or even injured some little kid!

 

For the sake of this conversation/question, I'll assume you mean your Altered Chevy at the drags.

I only ran my 2 Altereds with no front brakes and only because they weighed around 2100 lbs. But as they got quicker/faster a chute became a requirement. I ended up running high 8's @ 150 mph with it.

I had all the brakes, on all my heavier door cars. Needed ALL of them at times too. What's yours weigh? How fast are you going with it?

Looking at yours, it's probably much heavier and not as fast. I would suggest you run brakes front and rear. The extra braking will be handy and if it's a stick car, a linelock would be useful on the line. If you're not class racing and are just E.T. racing, why worry about the weight savings? Unless you have another really good reason for going without, I'd vote against it. Stuff happens and when it does, more is better.

Just something to think about, speaking from experience. Your traveling at 125+ mph and heading for the stripe. The other car, suddenly comes across in front of you. A chute can't work that fast. Would you want rear only brakes then? Spend the money now, just do it right. It could save some lives down the road/strip as it were. Just my opinion.

 

You're probably not running an e-brake either... Don't do it. Or Darwin will get you.

 

i think pats right. you should give it the green light.

 

The answer is so obvious I can't believe someone would ask such a question and even admit that they weren't smart. It hasn't ever entered his head the implications, if his insurance company found out he was only running rear brakes, much less the other person's lawyer in the accident, which is bound to happen.
Every car I get, the first thing I do is go through the brakes.

 

Many years ago I bought an old drag car - spindle mount halibrands on the front. I was just DYING to drive it so I took it out for a spin around the block - rear brakes only. Knowing full well it wouldn't stop very good - well I was WRONG - it stopped HORRIBLY. One trip around the block was enough - it went right back into the garage until I could figure out how to get front brakes on there.

Today I run my digger with rear only disc - it stopps fine, but I still use the chute for good measure.

Please find another way to show us how cool and hardcore you are. The life you save may be your own.

 

Rat rodders do it all the time. Idiots.

 

Or some innocent pedestrian

 

Number one it is a very bad idea as others have noted. Aside from that what does the law say about brakes? If you were involved in an accident what would the other person's insurance company say?

Charlie Stephens

 

You'd get 100 answers, but 98 of them would be no, and two would be wrong.

 

Ratio of stooping power 80 front 20 rear.

 

You might be able to stop it ok, but when the car in front of you can come to a complete stop is 20 ft, but you need 60 ft, and there is on coming traffic in the other lane, plus your shit box probably doesnt have seat belts, and your girlfriend/wife/kids/friend etc are sitting in the seat next to you. What happend when that asshole in front of you stands on his brakes?

You may not care about your own safety, but I care about mine and my family.

Crap like this is why there are so many restrictions on our hobby today.

Yes, things were alot of different when the cars only has 30hp, highway speeds were 35mph, and rear only brakes were standard. So that argument is out of the question.

Theres alot of stuff I can say, and as alot of others have said; Dont FUCKING do it!

 

thank you all for your opinions/experiences. i should have been more clear. its a period correct drag car with a chute. IM NOT RETARDED. the last thing i would want to do is hurt someone else or myself. i was simply asking everyone how there's has worked in the past

 

If it is a period correct drag car with a chute that you are "only" running at the strip there isn't a problem.

All of us who chimed in and voiced our opinion against running rear only brakes were under the assumption that this is to be a street driven car that is attempting to look like a drag car. Most of us feel the same way, we don't want to open a thread that someone in your area posts about you killing yourself or someone else because the damned car didn't stop fast enough when someone pulled out in front of you.
If you had clarified yourself in your first post we just would have said yea that might work but make sure you have plenty of room to stop and been done with it.

My 48 currently has drums on all four corners and it stops ok for a drum brake 3400 lb truck. That said, I always have it in my mind where I am going to go if I don't have room to stop in time. Knowing that your rig won't stop as quick as others around you might be able to tends to make you a very defensive driver who always knows where his "out" is.

 

Ha!...I'm gonna use that one all the time...thanks!

 

100% correct

 

I run rear brakes only (2" wide drums) on my 56 vette had no problems
2100#
But I do alot of steering with the pedal on the right

 

Weight transfer when you go to slow down or stop the front of the car dives down lifting the rear up. This is were you would loose your breaking.
I was told this is the same principle Gasser cars would use to help with traction on take off.
My 2 cents its your car and life please don't follow me on a trip!!!