MTFCA Forum

I need to adjust the handbrake on my model T because if I set the brake on a hill, it still rolls forward slowly. Anybody know how to do this? It needs to be tightened but I don't know how to do it.

Thanks in advance,

Carson

If you have a 25 and older with unlined cast iron shoes, then I don’t think there is anything that adjustment will help.
Adjustment is done to the rods connecting to the brakes

Crawl under and disconnect the two rods up at the cross-over arm. Lengthen out each clevis a turn or two, reattach, test.
Keep doing it until you're happy. Make sure they're even. I jack up the rear end off the ground while adjusting, then take it to a slope and try.

"Shorten"

Whoops! You're right Scott!! My bad!! Was thinking "lengthen the rod into the clevis" ...bad wording

Elevate those guns a little lower!

If you still have the all metal cast brake shoes, there are lined versions available that might provide a little more grip. Check you favorite vendor parts catalog or online version.

This is why it is always good to have two people in the T when parking on a hill. The driver pulls on the hand brake and keeps his foot on the foot brake. The passenger then places the chock in front or in rear of the rear wheel. Then if you can find a rock also place it on the other side. Likewise when you leave, be sure to retrieve the chock. Scot is correct. shorten the rods 1/2 turn at a time until you can lock the brake. If shorten them too much you won't have a free neutral and if they are too long, you will have a problem with the brake and it will also pull the lever too far back and you will have trouble with low gear because it will automaticly pull into neutral. After you adjust, take a test drive and go about 5 mph and pull on the hand brake. If it pulls to one side you will either shorten the opposite rod or lengthen the one on the side that pulls. It might take a few trials to get everything to work the way you want to.
Norm

Page 25 of the service manual has the Ford procedure for adjusting the length of the hand brake rods.

Be careful not to adjust the brake rods too short or they will prevent the brake lever from going forward enough to allow full spring pressure on the high gear clutch pack, possibly causing clutch slippage in high.

This older thread shows the hand brake rod adjustment method I chose to use to ensure full clutch engagement in high gear:

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/50 ... 1420743911

If the handbrake components are in good condition the handbrake will work well. Unfortunately the factory design is poor.The handbrake turns the brake cam spreading the shoes so space needs they to be away from the drums. Wear between the cam and shoe ends over the years means the cam ends up moving so far around it runs out of lift to push the shoes to the drums.

I live in an area that is similar to being in San Francisco and both cast iron drums and lined drums can hold the Model T on them with out chocks or rocks, At some stage one could find themselves in a position where they don't have a passenger to help chock a wheel and they have to keep the car from rolling so the handbrake has to work as it is supposed to. Good cams or slack removed between the cam and shoe ends need to be in place for the handbrake to work as it is meant to. This is what I did 50 years ago when I had cast iron shoes.




I put in lined shoes a few years ago along with new cams.






The 3 photo's should show
high gear , neutral and handbrake on


One other more effective handbrake fix is to fit the shoes to have minimum clearance between the shoes and drum so that the lever when pulled back immediately spreads the shoes. This means the lever of the cam is in the most rearward and effective position, if a slotted clevis yoke is used the rods can be adjusted so the handbrake lever pulls immediately after neutral position but the clevis pin slides back along the slot as the handbrake is moved forward.

Sorry !! Somehow the photo's are in reverse order
I would have thought as I loaded each one as I continued going down the paragraph they would have appeared in correct order???

Peter, as you add photo files they stack up with the first on the bottom and the last on top. Note the numbers here: To post them in order start with the bottom one.

Steve, Too late now !!
Everyone will have to just check them out in reverse.
Maybe should have mentioned the ones showing the 3 positions of the cam in relation to the shoes and drum shows a cut away drum I use to check out the clearances.
As the cam raises it looses mechanical advantage if it can go too far towards vertical. lots of wear and lots of clearance between to drum and shoes results in little force between the shoes and drum, add oil and grease on the drum and shoes and you have little or no handbrake.
As the system was not altered much in the life of the Model T the system did work as intended, until let go by owners without proper adjustment or maintainance.
Unfortunately there has always existed a mind set by some owners that being worn out was the way a Model T was so they don't bother fixing it properly.

Carson , If your Handbrake don't work , you can always use this .

Toon

ABoer wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 25, 2020 12:50 pm

Carson , If your Handbrake don't work , you can always use this .

ToonIMGP0302.JPG

the original brake shoe !

I would pull the hand brake back and take a look at the little levers on the brake backing plates that the rods attach to. With the brake fully engaged, the little levers should be vertical or maybe a little leaning towards the rear of the car. If they are leaning towards the front of the car, that's an indication that your brake shoes, drum, or cams are worn out. More than likely it's a combination of all three. If everything appears to be ok, you can tighten the adjustment by adjusting the clevises on the brake rods. Loosen the lock nuts on each rod and turn the clevises clockwise equal amounts on both sides until the lever stops firmly a couple inches away from the seat. The brake should lock both wheels firmly when all the way back and not drag when in the neutral position.

Stephen