1939 desoto s6

[Jorge s6]

Do anyone have any recommendations on upgrade kit for my 1939 brakes? 

[knuckleharley]

14 minutes ago, Jorge s6 said:

Do anyone have any recommendations on upgrade kit for my 1939 brakes? 

Why do you need to upgrade your brakes? What's wrong with them?

[1949 Wraith]

7 hours ago, knuckleharley said:

Why do you need to upgrade your brakes? What's wrong with them?

+1 when they are set up right they are fairly decent.

Very nice car by the way.

Edited July 14, 2018 by 1949 Wraith

[desoto1939]

Joge:  i have the same car This is rich Hartung, What is the issue with your brakes.  You need to remember that these lockheed brakes do not have automatic adjuster to compensate for brake shoe wear.  They need to be manually adjusted approx every 6 months or depending on the amount of driving that you have been doing.

 

Is the brake pedal soft and has a lot of travel. Then i would first check to see if the brakes need adjustment. Make sure there is no leaking in the brake system. Start with a fron wheel and use the upper cam to bring the shoes out more.  Do you know how to adjust these brakes? There are two upper cams adjust one at a time. Pul the cam so the shoes move outward and lock or stop the tire rotation while the tire is off the ground then backoff until you hear a little amount of drag then do the same with the other adjuster cam on the same whel. Then push the brake pedal down to set the adjustement.  Then do the other fron wheel inthe same manner.  Then jack up the rear so that both rear wheels are off the ground and do the same procedure that you did on the front.  This is called a minor adjustement procedure to compensate for brake shoe wear.  The Major adjustment is more complecated but try this first.

 

call me at my home or cellphone    H 610-630-9188  cell 484-431-8157    desoto1939@aol.com

 

Rich Hartung

[Adam H P15 D30]

He didn’t ask for opinions about upgrading. Besides

Who wants to go through the “set up?”  It’s a royal PITA and that’s if you can find the proper tool, let alone pay for it. 

Then there’s the periodic readjustment and they are still never as good as disc brakes. 

By the time you buy everything to rebuild the stock brakes, you could’ve bought discs and be better off. Especially in today’s traffic and drivers. 

 

OP. Try rustyhope, he’s a member of this forum. Also Scarebird or ECI might have what you need. 

 

Adam

[greg g]

Are your current brakes up to spec?  Are they installed and adjusted and working properly, are the shoes wearing evenly and contacting squarly?  I had mine done professionally by a competent shop and haven't touched them in 35000 miles, and they work very well, long downhill runs with lots of urves nduce some fade but being aware of the situation and driving accordingly manages this. There is an article on the web about drilling drums like they did for Carrarra Pan Americana road race in the day.

 

There are several ways to put disc brakes on, there is an adaption using ford explorer parts, there are three or four commercial kits.  Some require machine work, some, are bolt ons, some require you to use non stock wheels.  Search disc brakes and you should find enough material to make a decision. You can also add a dual reservoir master cylinder to your present system.  What were you thinking of?

[desoto1939]

22 minutes ago, Adam H P15 D30 said:

He didn’t ask for opinions about upgrading. Besides

Who wants to go through the “set up?”  It’s a royal PITA and that’s if you can find the proper tool, let alone pay for it. 

Then there’s the periodic readjustment and they are still never as good as disc brakes. 

By the time you buy everything to rebuild the stock brakes, you could’ve bought discs and be better off. Especially in today’s traffic and drivers. 

 

OP. Try rustyhope, he’s a member of this forum. Also Scarebird or ECI might have what you need. 

 

Adam

adam:  Joge and i had communicated via email about some missing parts onhis 39 Desoto since i also own the same car.  He stated that he wanted to keep the car original so that is why i explained the procedure to adjust the brakes because of my prior conversation. Now he is talking about upgrading his brakes. The forst thing to do is make sure that the brake system is working properly and then he can determine if he wants to or needs to upgrade to disk brakes.  I still have the original lockheed brake systemonmy car and have a very or great brake pedal and stop very well so I stil lthink it is an adjustment issue.  So let him figure out and then he can ask for more information. Also ihave the brake tools so it is not a hard job. i have the Miller MT19 brake gage and also the Ammco gage.

 

Rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol.com

[Adam H P15 D30]

Thanks for filling in the blanks Rich. All I saw was an ask for recommendations for a brake upgrade, not a “should I or should I not” question. Sounds like you both have a plan. 

Having driven many cars from this era I agree the Lockheed brakes are the best as far as drums go, just a PITA, especially if you don’t have the special tools which I never had. Mine were always close but never just right and I think that’s the best someone can ask for without the special  tools. 

 

Adam

[DJ194950]

I can attest to adjusting new brake shoes on a 50 Ply. and also perfectly sized (as new measurement I bought off EBAY  about 7 years ago now) with the Proper tool it took me several tries to get the initial setup very close and the minor adjustments. Experience using the tool is most likely the best way.

I found out the both front back side shoes where not parallel to the drum surface. When I found the info in the repair manual to fix the situation, things finally went smoothly!

Still needed to have the minor adjusters redone however.

 

 

Just one opinion,

 

DJ

[greg g]

Drilling drums for better brake performance

 

http://www.chtopping.com/CustomRod4/