MTFCA Forum

My car came with aux brakes installed they are "hetzel bros" and look similar to the old rocky mountains.

They are installed on large drums, but at some point someone gutted the parking/ emergency brake out of this car. I'm hoping to reinstall the missing brake hardware and get a functional emergency brake again.

The parking brake lever applys both the aux brakes firmly. Honestly the car holds very well with the aux brake, probably at least as good or better than the small drums. Either way I chock it anytime I park on even small slopes for peace of mind.

When I bought the car they had the service brake backed way off, and were just relying on the aux brake. I have sense adjusted it how I'd adjust rockies, where you adjust the ford brake as normal, then adjust the aux brake to come on half and inch of pedal travel or so before the ford brake. I had a car with the reproduction rockies on it and wouldn't trust them at all. Basically I viewed them as just a way to extend the service brake band life.

It would probably possible to install a small drum "nested" with the aux brake drum.
My concern is with the way they have the linkage setup it's going to be a big headache trying to balence out three brake systems.

Am I stupid for thinking of waiting for winter to get this sorted out? I'm planning on doing some decent touring in the meantime, but want the car to be safe. I have a feeling that adding the emergency brake back will be a bit of a "can of worms" project requiring a good deal of time in the thinking chair. and don't want too much downtime in the summer.

Also, what is everyone's thoughts on sure stop brakes on a brass era car? I'm thinking about going that route. Better braking and it would solve the balancing out of the braking systems headache.

Your drum looks to be machined to take an original small drum. However, your most likely issue, & probably the reason there is no original parking brake drum, Is the extra thickness added which usually requires longer axles to clear. (or an axle stretch job on both sides) If the external band brakes work well especially in conjunction with your transmission brake, you should be ok. Those brakes with the center rear anchor should work very well in both forward & reverse application. I would personally put the lined parking brakes in. More braking systems the better. It will be a PITA.

No way I ever install disk brakes on a T. Release the arrows!

speedytinc wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 09, 2024 8:10 am

Your drum looks to be machined to take an original small drum. However, your most likely issue, & probably the reason there is no original parking brake drum, Is the extra thickness added which usually requires longer axles to clear. (or an axle stretch job on both sides) If the external band brakes work well especially in conjunction with your transmission brake, you should be ok. Those brakes with the center rear anchor should work very well in both forward & reverse application. I would personally put the lined parking brakes in. More braking systems the better. It will be a PITA.

No way I ever install disk brakes on a T. Release the arrows!

I think you hit the nail on the head with why the small drum was removed, measuring the parts stackup I will definitely need longer axles.

As I said I had a car with reproduction rockies on it and these are way better, center mount like the original rockies. I don't know why they didn't bring back a center mount design, that can engage in both directions. I'm probably the 1000th person to ask that though.

And no arrows from me I can't argue with the performance, but the looks of discs on wood wheels is rather jarring.


Sounds like a good winter project.

I have zero experience with auxilliary brakes.

Instead of longer axle shafts, why not machine down the lip of the the stock brake drum so it doesn't interfere with the axle housing backing plate? Likewise, machine down the stock brake shoe and brake cam so the width is narrower.

Just thinking out loud.

Since Eric is thinking out loud, has anyone done what he suggested & have anything to contribute to that idea?
Craig.

Sometimes a 1/16" longer axle isnt even enough. Hubs have a wide swing in the amount of wear.
I do an "axle stretch" on original axles as a mater of coarse to +.090"
1) The drum does not need to be trimmed. It will hang past the backing plate,
unless the axle & sleeve have severe wear, causing an off center situation.
2) The brake shoes can be narrowed. The lined shoes need a lot of trimming to fit up to 1/8" R/M brakes or not.
3) I dont recall the cam ever being a problem, but it could be trimmed if needed.
4) The brake shoe pivot bolt's narrow head can be ground shorter as needed & the iron seat on the shoe lowered also.
5) The biggest interference problem comes from the 6 hub bolt ends & nuts with the perch. The nuts are already a narrow jam nut.
I wouldnt & dont ground them shorter. The ends of the bolts can be ground a bit lower to just above flush with the nuts after peening.
A little green locktite also adds a bit of safety.
The end of the perch can be trimmed down to just above the cotter pin hole.
It is common to find this area already ground down from past rubbing.
I believe one could add a spacer washer outside the backing plate to the spring perch & take a corresponding amount
off the big perch nut base. Have not done this yet.
6) Let us not forget there must be clearance for the outer axle seal can to not rub/lock up the hub.
So far setting them as far as possible with a BFH has worked for me.
Machining extra clearance in the hub for the can is not practical for most, but possible.
@ this point changing the hub out for a better one might be an answer.
You can see why I try to prevent all this interference fixing by stretching the axles whenever possible.
You can also understand why many people add a thick shim(s) which can cause other problems down the road to make stuff fit in the now.

Thanks John,
Now that I have a lathe with a large enough spindle hole I do stretch axles when they are out. I'm hoping that will not be needed as I'm just
adding the brakes back in when I install a set of wheels I re-spoked.
Craig.