Juice Brake Identity

[stevests]

Help - can anyone identify this juice conversion on this A ? Master cylinder was I.D.'d as a F 1 Ford Truck - have a replacement for that but I have a leaky rear wheel cylinder so I need to repair or replace. It has sat for a number of years.
Thanks for any assistance !

[Mike Peters]

Looks like the earliest Ford hydraulic brakes that came out in 1939. Got the exact same system on a s/w fordor that I bought a couple years ago. The difference between mine and yours is that my rear wheel cylinder is on top of the backing plate. Yours is is at the bottom. Advance Auto parts can get you new wheel cylinders for about 50 bucks. Ask for wheel cylinders for a '40 Ford.

[stevests]

Many thanks !!!

[Phil Brown]

Yea , not going to ever really get them to bleed very well in that configuration.
Flop them side to side and roll the wheel cylinder to the top, going side to side will keep your e-brake working

[stevests]

Where would the rear spring perch end up ? Conflict with the wheel cylinder ? My apologies - I'm a T guy !

[Charlie Stephens]

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You have the post war brakes ('46-'48). Looking at your picture you can see what looks like peened over rivets behind the spring perch. Of course in the original application these were at the bottom. On the pre war brakes there were threaded studs with flats and locking nuts in this location. Be careful and order the '46-'48 parts as not all of the parts interchange.

Charlie Stephens

[CWPASADENA]

46-48 Ford.

But you would want to turn the wheel cylinders so the bleed screw is above the inlet line. The way it is now, you may never be able to get all the air out when you bleed the brakes.

My opinion,

Chris W.

[Mike Peters]

Originally Posted by Charlie Stephens

You have the post war brakes ('46-'48). Looking at your picture you can see what looks like peened over rivets behind the spring perch. Of course in the original application these were at the bottom. On the pre war brakes there were threaded studs with flats and locking nuts in this location. Be careful and order the '46-'48 parts as not all of the parts interchange.

Charlie Stephens

Charlie, you are right and I stand corrected in my earlier post. Looking at the Mac's early V8 catalog, the wheel cylinders interchange from 39-48, but the brake adjusting cams don't interchange. 46-48 are different from the earlier Ford brakes. Master cylinders are the same for 39-48. I had to buy a new master and wheel cylinder for my Model A two years ago and forgot about the differences between 46-48 and earlier brakes. Thanks for clarifying.
BTW, If I had it to do over again, I would have pulled off those V8 backing plates and restored our Fordor with it's original mechanical brakes. I've got all the necessary parts to do that and I may one day convert the car back to original.

[Randy in ca]

Agree that backing plates are 1946-48 (which is good as they're much easier to adjust than earlier ones) but I believe that the hubs/drums are 1940-42.

[nkaminar]

Use hydraulic brake fluid and not any kind of juice, particularly orange juice.

[stevests]

I prefer apple myself - thanks guys !

[MickyD]

I have hydraulic brakes on my 31 Tudor and the previous owner used dot 5 brake fluid in it. Not sure why 5 and not 3. I was told to continue with dot 5.

[callcoy]

Your later backing plates are more desirable, the info you received on the wheel cylinders is spot on. The info about the location of the wheel cylinders at the bottom has a great deal of merit, next to impossible to get all of the air out of the system, unless you have access to a pressure bleeder. However moving them to the top opens a can of worms, the brake lines and maybe the bleeder screw will not like the location of the stock shock linkage. I wont go into the fix for this but will encourage you to do a search on this site with regards to Hyd Brakes, there is a lot to be learned. However I strongly recommend that you do not replace the the master cylinder with that single type. You will need a dual/split master. This improvement will give you a backup system, using the old single master you chance losing all of your brakes if a wheel cyl blows, with a dual master cyl if you blow one cyl you only lose half of your brakes

[stevests]

I thank everyone for the insightful information !

[nkaminar]

The wheel cylinders on my Model T disk brakes were upside down so that the bleeder screw was on the bottom and the brake line fitting was on the top. I bled them by cracking the brake line fittings.

[Randy in ca]

Originally Posted by MickyD

I have hydraulic brakes on my 31 Tudor and the previous owner used dot 5 brake fluid in it. Not sure why 5 and not 3. I was told to continue with dot 5.

The main advantage of Dot 5 fluid is that it does not attract moisture which can cause rust problems. In most areas it can be used for many years without having to be replaced. It also will not affect paint if some gets on a painted surface.

Do not mix with other grades of fluid or you'll have a mess.