Should the emergency brake ever be used to slow or help stop the car. thanks
Ken,
For a 1925 and earlier Model T Ford with the original cast iron brakes the answer would be "no" unless it was an actual emergency. I.e. if you are going to hit something if you do not use it -- the use it. The metal against metal is not designed for repeated use.
For the 1926-27 that had a lined emergency brake and the accessory 1906-1925 lined emergency brake shoes may be used -- but they were not really designed for that use. If you think of them more as a "parking brake" and emergency brake then they will be ready to use if you have a true emergency. Some folks use them regularly with the goal of reducing wear on the transmission brake band. But I would recommend one of the accessory brakes if you want to use a rear lined brake shoe as your primary brake rather than the transmission service brake as Ford designed the system.
As many others say -- your mileage may vary.
Respectfully submitted,
Hap l9l5 cut off
Iron brake shoes are intended to be occasionally used in an emergency situation and for holding the car stationary but, they are not the best for slowing the car down. Lined brake shoes are better suited for slowing the car down than bare iron and are great at holding the car stationary. I installed a set of lined shoes on a friends 24 touring and was really surprised at how well they slow the car down considering the relatively small size of the brake drums. He now uses the hand brake often to help slow the car and so far has had no problems. Just remember that when you pull the brake lever back you will also put the transmission into neutral.
Stephen
I have bad knees and often use the lever instead of the pedal to stop the car. I have lined shoes on all my early cars and aux. brakes on most of them. I throttle down to slow my speed and use the lever just before stopping so I maximize the braking effect of the engine.
Thanks for the tips on using the E brake! my model t is 1924 and i chose to install the lined brakes. I have never driven a model t so i thought i would upgrade. after all, when i get this car ready to drive i might need some extra braking. Ken
Val has the right idea. Plan your stops and let your engine do most of the braking, with minimal application of the pedal and/or the lever at the end of your stop. With lined rear brakes, I see nothing wrong with using the hand brake (easy to replace) to save wear on the foot brake (not easy to replace). But the important words here are minimal application. The less you can use either brake, the better. Of course, if somebody does something stupid right in front of you, feel free to jump on that pedal and yank that handle all the way back to the seat.
Had one of those try to jump in front of me today. You know when you have become a T driver when you can lock the brakes up in a panic stop and not kill the car because your left foot goes right to neutral. In heavy traffic my brake band wants to drop out, I have gotten pretty quick with the neutral, brake, pulling back on the emg. lever and throttling back. I have lined shoes and it's a 21. Your right about planning stops, it's the best plan but doesn't work out all the time.
If you need to use the parking brake to stop the car, throttling back won't do any good in neutral. be sure to go into low with the pedal. When it is in low, throttling back will slow the car.
Norm
I should have added go into low with the pedal at the same time you pull back on the lever.
Norm
The point I was making was that you need to get use to doing several thing at the same time. I added throttling back as an after thought and should have been first.
The 1926 rear brakes may be used as a service brake in the normal way, which means accessory outside brakes are not required post 1925. I've driven this way since owning the car and the linings are still good after 22,000km. I alternate between transmission and rear brakes, using the transmission brake more as I come to the complete stop; thus the initial slowing down does not stress the drive train. I get 10,000km, or thereabouts, out of cotton linings for the transmission brake in city traffic.
One thing that becomes obvious is that if the brakes are not adjusted equally, the car will swerve if you're using only the handbrake to stop it at high speed.
Even if I had a pre 26 car I'd want a 26 rear end in it - wouldn't feel safe otherwise.
One can get an accessory equaliser that connects the foot pedal to the handbrake, but why bother.