THE CRASH GEAR BOX

**JDNSW** · 12th December 2012, 11:33 AM

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

Not just on "T's". When I was a teenager I had a 1934 Ford ute made from a tourer. A day's hard use (or a night's street racing) meant adjusting the brakes again. Not that the brakes were much good even when properly adjusted. Ford didn't go to hydraulic brakes until 1938 or 1939.

A friend has several T's restored and has dabbled in them for about thirty years. He says he can't imagine using one in heavy traffic. He reckons the driver would be very busy. His current project is restoring a Frontenac twin cam T racer from the 1930's which has a flywheel, clutch, and three speed box from a 1932 Ford A. Brakes are two wheel mechanical operating on the rear wheels by a choice of pedal or hand lever. So, essentially little or no brakes.

A friend of mine had a 34 Ford saloon when I was at university. On one occasion I borrowed it to go into Sydney and back from Parramatta. Driving through peak hour was interesting to put it mildly. Compared to contemporary cars such as the Holden, it went like a rocket but stopping was 'interesting'. But it was a big improvement on his previous car, a 35 Vauxhall - it had cable operated brakes that rarely worked on more than one wheel, and never performed the same on two successive applications!

It is a bit surprising about the Ford V8 brakes, as the Model A, Ford's first with four wheel brakes, was generally praised for its good braking - but it was a lot lighter than the V8s.

It should be noted that on the Ford T, the service brake is the transmission brake.

John

**Bigbjorn** · 12th December 2012, 11:42 AM

Originally Posted by wrinklearthur

Ref', "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_brake"]Hydraulic brake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fred Duesenberg originated hydraulic brakes on his 1914 racing cars. This braking system could have earned him a fortune if he had patented it. In 1918 Malcolm Lougheed (who later changed the spelling of his name to Lockheed) developed a hydraulic brake system.

The Dodge Brothers had hydraulic brakes about 1928, it was about the mid 1930's that GM started using Bendix hydraulic brakes.
Ford became the last major US manufacturer to use hydraulic brakes, in 1939 with the Lockheed system.

Citroen was another early one with innovations in braking, etc
Ref', Andre Citroen
" André Citroën is a man of remarkable intuition. On a trip to Poland at the age of 22, he stumbles on a gear-cutting process based on a chevron design, which will later become the logo of his company. Realizing that the process could open new possibilities if used with steel, he buys the patent. Thus starts one of the greatest industrial adventures of modern times. "

Deusenberg had their hydraulic brakes on their production cars in 1923. They didn't use seals of any kind. The cylinders and pistons were machined to a 0.0001 fit. Brake fluid as such did not exist so a mixture of glycerine and alcohol was the first "brake fluid".

Dodge Bros. went to hydraulic brakes on the 1929 DA models. The last few of the Victory Six and Senior Six produced in 1928 had hydraulic brakes. As far as I am aware no Standard Six were produced with hydraulic brakes, only with the Midland Steeldraulic self-energising mechanical brakes. These were probably among the best of mechanical braking systems when correctly adjusted by the book. One has to remember that they do not work when reversing as the self-energising action winds the brake band off in reverse motion, not on as normally. You use the transmission handbrake when reversing.

**Bushie** · 13th December 2012, 07:08 PM

Originally Posted by 101 Ron

All I know if you stuff up a gear change and want the whole world to know about it , do it on a Two speed diff.

Many a time

Martyn

Thread: THE CRASH GEAR BOX

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