Model T Ford Front Brakes

[J1MGOLDEN]

Why were there never any Model Ts made with front brakes, when they were deemed required on the first Model A vehicles?

Very few people have ever added them or provided a reason for needing them.

Rear disk brakes are often added and considered required!

[TXGOAT2]

Most early cars lacked front brakes, and "light" automobiles up to about 1928 often lacked front brakes. Better roads, more powerful and heavier cars, denser traffic, and higher speeds made 2 wheel brakes inadequate, especially for city dwellers, who were rapidly becoming a much larger segment of the population.

[Allan]

When introduced, the transmission brakes on the model T were adequate for their time, as adequate as rear wheel brakes can be. Accessory external brakes were made available, and these were effective to varying degrees and they still worked if there was a failure in the T driveline. If any of the brakes can lock up the back wheels, that is the best they can do, even modern disc brakes.

Brakes on the front axle are by far more effective, but the model T front axle assembly design is not up to the task. Two of our members devised a way to fit modern brakes to the front of their T's. One utilised hydraulic drum brakes from the rear of an early Toyota Camry. To the untrained eye, they were never noticed, and they worked well. A second adopted disc brakes from a later Holden Torana. They were a pig ugly addition to a T. On a downhill approach to a hairpin bend, these brakes stopped the front axle, but the car rolled on over the top! This incident led to the fabrication of ugly vertical braces on the drum braked car to stop the axle from bending up under the car like they did on the disc braked car.

There is no substitute for driving a T within its limitations and at a sensible speed for the road and traffic conditions.

Allan from down under.

[Wayne Sheldon]

There were a few front wheel brake kits offered for use on the model T in 1927, and maybe a year or so earlier. They did not sell many of them, the designs were flawed, And I would imagine they did not work very well. I cannot recall ever seeing a real original set of them, however I have seen a couple model Ts with era four wheel brakes on them. One speedster had a set of early Lockheed hydraulic (external contracting) brakes on it (on the market by 1924). Another had mid 1920s Buick mechanical brakes on it.
So it has been done.

Safety is a good thing. So I can't really be against the idea. However, personally, I do not like modern disc brakes on model Ts. While there are some technical advantages to them, they just look so very incorrect on a model T. Frankly, there are authentic enough ways to add braking safety that if properly done and properly maintained are adequate for the amount and type of driving most people will ever do with any model T. Even front wheel braking can be added that doesn't look nearly so bad as the disc brakes. If it is properly done, they can add a lot to braking ability without looking really bad.

[Norman Kling]

A few things. As you know it is possible to get the front wheels to pull to the side and lock up in that position if the steering goes over center. The later ones had a pin in the steering gear box which would prevent that from happening. If one wheel brake pulls harder than the other it will pull the wheel to one side. Brakes can be installed if the front axle assembly is beefed up. The early T's with the wishbone over the axle must be stiffened to keep the castor from changing as it is braked.
The Model A front brakes actually were made to slow the wheels but not enough to lock them up. And if the A brakes are not adjusted just right it can cause it to pull to one side. This pulling was really not completely resolved until 1939 when Henry finally started using hydraulic brakes on the V8.
Norm

[TXGOAT2]

Cars with 4-wheel brakes had the steering geared down a lot more than the T's 4 or 5 to 1. That allowed much better control if the front brakes grabbed or pulled. Poor roads and no roads were very hard on axle mounted brakes during the T era, but on many "roads", getting the car to move was a greater challenge than getting it to stop, especially in wet weather. A T with front brakes would benefit from shock absorbers and a steering damper, or better yet, a proper steering box mounted at the frame. A stiffer tie rod might be a good idea, too. At the very least, be sure your tie rod is not bowed or otherwise weakened. If you want anything approaching modern power and speed, you need a Model A or B chassis with hydraulic brakes.

[Chris Barker]

Among the thoughtful points made above is the basic fact that the front axle support structure and probably the wheels are just not strong enough for front braking. They were never designed to take torque.
Rear brakes are self limiting. When you brake, weight is transferred off the rear. Brake too hard and the wheels lock because weight has been taken off them - the axle loads limit.
That weight transfer off the rear goes onto the front so the harder you brake, the higher the tyre load at the front and if the surface is good, they won't lock; if the front brakes are powerful, you just get more torque into the wheels and axle.
A quick comparison of the front of a Model T with the front of a Model A will surely convince.

[TXGOAT2]

A 1934 driver education book, "Youth At the Wheel", made the point that "brakes are about 5 times stronger than the engine". That could be a problem for Model T wheels, given the the forces that front axle brakes could generate under some circumstances. Hard front braking might also cause problems at the wishbone attachment to the oil pan or even at the rear engine mounts. Ford cars with factory front brakes had heavier axle structure from the radius rod attachment point out to the king pin attachment point as well as stronger kingpins and related structure.

[bdtutton]

I have a 14 Touring car with Rocky Mountain brakes. I have a full size battery and all my tools under the back seat to keep as much weight as possible on the rear wheels and I keep my brakes well adjusted and have good tires. My engine is unmodified and I try to use common sense when I am driving. Because of these factors, braking has not been an issue.
.
That being said, I would be scared to death to drive a Model T with only the transmission brake. Installing Rocky Mountain brakes on my car made a huge difference and I would recommend them to everyone.
.

[walber]

I have added front brakes to my speedster and love them. Following the example of several others, I have incorporated brakes from a Nash Metropolitan. the 8" drums and related backing plates are obvious to Model T folks but easily missed or ignored by folks not very familiar with the Model T. Recognizing the stress/load put on the front wishbone, I removed the stock unit, found a Model A wishbone, split it in half and anchor it to the frame with a flex fitting (tie rod end) and bracket. Others with these brakes have used a similar configuration. Caster is set by the shape of the brackets and bending the modified wishbone. Being sensitive to stock T steering I make use of a newer style steering box rather than the planetary gears.

My car is light in the rear and when I tried Rocky Mountain brakes on it I was not satisfied. Thus this conversion. Some folks won't like what I have done and that's OK, these brakes work well for the way I prefer to use my car. I really like being able to stop.

[Rod]

Just saw this for the first time at the National Tour in San Diego.

[DHort]

Good thing he/she has a double wishbone. I wonder if the brakes are set up so that the rears grab first and then the fronts, or is there a second brake pedal, or are the front brakes activated by a lever?

[TXGOAT2]

I believe the Model A was designed to apply the rear brakes first, then the front brakes, if the pedal was pressed harder. When adjusted properly, the front wheels would not lock, but would leave a "heavy road print". This took advantage of weight transfer and prevented loss of steering control due to locked front wheels. Many long-time Ford drivers in the late 1920s had never experienced the effects of locked front wheels on steering control, and most experts agree that maximum braking effect occurs just before the wheels lock up.

[TXGOAT2]

A split wishbone on a T removes any front braking stress from the oil pan and engine mounts. On hard braking, A T with 4-wheel brakes would transfer almost all front AND rear braking forces to the frame via the oil pan and engine mounts. The rear pan arms and their mounting bolts would get most of it, and a lot of stress would be applied to the frame flanges at the mounting points.

[Allan]

Under front wheel brakes,the load on the wishbone mounting at the pan end is down to the fact that the centreline of the T spindle is above the T axle centreline. Load applied at the spindle centreline causes stresses to be transferred to the wishbone ball. Adding a second wishbone strengthens the wishbone assembly, but it does not reduce the stresses at the pan. 26-7 spindles with their raised centreline make the problem worse. A dropped front axle makes it worse still.
Speedsters/race cars with split wishbones are mounted so that the wishbone is lowered at the rear to be much closer to the centreline of the spindles. In this configuration the twisting motion under load is greatly reduced. I could be wrong again.

Allan from down under

[Craig Leach]

I would think that split & doubled radius rods would be a must with a efficient front brake system. Wood fellow/spoke wheels are in question
also the braking forces on a turned wheel are much different than the rear wheels in a straight line. I would love to see more pics of front
brakes & the geometry of the mechanisms as well as hydraulic systems.
Craig.

[Rod]

More pictures of the same car with front brakes. He passed us like we were in park today. I’m told the top speed is near 70 mph with a stock engine and Warford transmission.

[SurfCityGene]

The pictures of the '12 Torpedo above was taken on the recent SD National tour and belongs to me. I purchased it back in the early '70s and have driven it on many tours.

My best friend and neighbor Ralph Ricks RIP had four wheel hydraulic Nash Metro brakes on his brass PCup/Speedster made by Orville Ernhart from Long Beach and they worked comparable to a modern car! RDR required buckling up to ride with him. RDR was a strong proponent of Front wheel brakes.

Many years ago I first installed a set of Bennett outside brakes on the rear of the Torpedo. I saw patent drawings of the McNearney and also the Big Four brakes from back in the twenties and thought I could make some using ideas from both companies.

The picture posted above is what I first ended up with and had always wanted to make a couple of improvements. Now after many years and miles and the second set of linings I'm still running them and have had no problems with them. I run an equalizer system and have backed off my tranny brake band slightly. A cable system connects the front and back with the rods operating the inside shoes on the small drum rears. Initial set up and adjustment is a nightmare but with an assistant and then some driving everything seems to wear in to a happy balance.

It's not perfect but a sort of a period correct look and does perform better than original design.

[TXGOAT2]

It's worth noting that Model Ts, especially the roadsters, are lightweight cars. Narrow tires limit maximum braking forces.
But Physics must be respected, and any front braking forces will combine with other substantial forces acting on the various parts.

[Tmooreheadf]

There was a guy by the name of Daryl Bendickson (deceased) from Ohio, who ran disc brakes from a motorcycle front and rear for many years, starting in the early 1990’s. He drove that touring car hard and fast. We were on some tours with him and his family for many years. To the best of my knowledge, he had no extra support on the front radius rods, but did have a proportioning valve to the front brakes that was adjusted down for fairly low pressure. I do know that the front end of that car had a definite wobble when he was hard on the brakes, like going down hill. He was the first person I ever saw with disc brakes, front or rear or both. But he insisted it was one of the best things he had ever added to a Model T. But then again, it was the only T he had with that brake set up.