'33 Ford mechanical brake question

[DavidG]

I agree and the same goes with Ford mechanical brakes. It is accomplished by using differing lengths of operating lever arms front versus rear and in the design of the wedges in the front and cams in the rear (in the case of the '32-'34 version).

The reason that the operating arms move forward in the front and rearward in the rear when the brake rods are disconnected is that the brake shoe retracting springs are strong enough to exert upward pressure on the front brake wedges to force them upward thereby moving the operating arms forward and the same applies to the cams in the rear moving those arms rearward. At any point-in-time adjustment, the more subsequent wear of the brake shoes and/or the drums the greater the movement of the retracting springs, the wedges/cams, and the operating arms when the rods are disconnected.