Re: Adusting Front Brakes

Posted by Doug Linden on November 25, 1996 at 11:45:31

In Reply to: Re: Adusting Front Brakes
posted by Bob Carabbio on November 24, 1996 at 21:00:53

: All the adjusters are right-hand threaded so tightening the brakes is accomplished by turning the adjuster clockwise. One thing to watch for, by the way, is the progressive wear that results from use. It's pretty important to check the adjustment pretty often since the pedal will work down slowly as the shoes wear. This won't show up as poor brake performance under normal driving, but can cause a real problem in a panic stop situation since the pedal will hit the floorboards without producing enough braking effort to get you out of trouble (like the time I almost rear-ended a school bus in my '31 tudor back in '59). For a daily driver, an adjustment every two weeks is a good idea.
I agree with Bob on the brake adjustment slowly getting worse without you realizing it. I decided to adjust the brakes on my Town Sedan yesturday and could believe they had gottenso far out of adjustment in only 2500 miles :-) It didn't take long at all to return my brakes the way Henry wanted them. A test run down the street produced perfect working brakes with two nice skid marks in the rear.
Properly adjusted brakes in a Model A will allow all the stopping power the tires can handle.

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