I Hate February . . . . . .

[grey beard]

I hate February!

You must understand why I’ve come to feel this way – long dark evenings, shop too cold to do meaningful body work, little sunlight in the daytime, and more like that. For this miserable old man who has insomnia and numb hands anyhow, the nights get long and I find my mind turning loops on itself, just thinking about all the work I should be out there doing but am not. Maybe it’s a self image problem . . . . . .

Anyhow, I’ve been thinking about Pilothouse brakes a lot lately. Most of us know that Walter P, in his wisdom, chose to use single wheel cylinders on car rear axles and double ones on the fronts. Then, since the double type are double acting – and a little bit self-centering – he decided to swap this arrangement around for half ton pickups. Drums and shoes are the same for cars and trucks, but the wheel cylinder arrangement is reversed – car compared to truck. That bothers me.

My good friend has a beautiful Pilothouse restoration he is finishing up. Crawled underneath and discovered his rear is a 3:73. Wow! What a nice gift to find one of the very few Pilothouse units with such a great low axle ratio . . . . . . OR did somebody slip a car rear axle into that truck somewhere to get that nice low, coveted ratio? Imagine his surprise when he popped his rear drums and found not two wheel cylinders but one inside each drum! Now I’m pretty positive someone switched axle assemblies here and didn’t bother to take the time to swap out the backing plates and brake assemblies – just left the whole enchilada there.

And why not? Methinks this is sort of a pretty good idea.

Those of us who have wrestled with MoPar brakes know they’re a bugger to do just right. There’s lots of parts and lots of room for error and mistakes, especially for novices. AND they’re not the easiest things in the world to adjust, and so on. Now I don’t have a full shelf of parts books like I know a few of you certainly must have, but I look in my truck parts book, and I look in my Bernbaum and Roberts catalogs and here’s what I think I found for late forties/early fifties applications:

1. Car front and half ton truck rear wheel cylinders are the same part number in these catalogs.

2. Half ton truck front and car rear wheel cylinders are also the same.

2. Brake shoes and linings are the same for all – front and rear.

When I got my new rear upper rear wheel cylinders from Andy B, they lacked a male flare seat against which the steel brake supply line must seat. He really couldn’t just blow me off, since I had just spent more than $600 on new brake parts with him. Over the course of several phone conversations with his man, I discovered these were in truth made for car fronts – and did not need a flare seat since they were fed by flex hoses and not steel lines. He finally admitted the wheel cylinder was the same part for both car and truck applications and to his credit, came up with the two elusive fittings I needed to get flare seats on my two top rear wheel cylinders. Hummmmmmmm . . . . . .

I just wonder if I might have a better brake system on my pickup if I DID use a car rear – with brakes intact, like my friend has – in there, instead of all those extra parts I now have.

Of course, then on the other hand, if Hitler’s daddy had used a . . . . . . well, you get the idea. Maybe I can sleep now that I’ve got all this off my chest.

I hate February!

[PatS....]

I agree!!!!

[Merle Coggins]

This is my theory about why they did this...

The twin cylinder brakes used on the front of the cars and rear of the trucks must have more stopping power. For this reason it is logical to have them up front on a car because there is more traction on the front during braking due to weight transfer. However, on the trucks, if they are loaded down (doint "Job Rated" work) you would want more braking force at the rear because that's where your traction is. On the other hand, when empty there's now a better chance of locking up the rears because of reduced traction.

One other thought on this. 1/2 ton trucks use 11" brakes at the rear and 10" brakes up front. 3/4 ton trucks use 11" brakes at both ends. Dave, if you do a car brake swap, be sure you use the correct size brakes.

Merle

[Young Ed]

Dave I'd bet you guys that using the single WC brakes would work just fine. That is the arrangement I have in my 46. Apparently the dual system was new for the pilot house trucks. I also have a car diff in my truck housing. My brakes are 10" all around. So basically all your friend did and all you'd be doing is going back to the 39-47 style.

[MBF]

I think replacing the rear with one from a late model unit has several advantages. 1) You get self energizing brakes, not the concentric mounted OEM type. 2) Higher gear ratios and part availability are greatly improved, 3) With some modification you get a true emergency brake setup at each wheel, not the driveshaft mount differential dependant type that came as OEM. The thing with these old trucks you have to be careful with is that you can easily run out of braking and steering capacity if you're running in speeds in excess of that they were designed for. Just my 2 cents. Greybeard I'm with ya on hating February, but there are 6 robins in my front yard as I type this (NY state)! Spring is only a few weeks away. Mike

[Merle Coggins]

Greybeard I'm with ya on hating February, but there are 6 robins in my front yard as I type this (NY state)! Spring is only a few weeks away. Mike

Yea, and our Groundhog, Winnie, didn't see her shadow on the 2nd, so spring is just around the corner. I heard that Punxsutawney Phil did see his shadow, so it looks like Pennsylvania will have a longer winter. Sorry Dave.

Good thing February is the shortest month, although it's got an extra day this year.

[greg g]

Hey Gray beard, sent you a PM.

While I don't particularly hate February, I believe it is our drabbest month with about 85 percent overcast days (blame lake Ontario) but it is difficult to get past the AM inertia when its cold and gray and there is a good book on the table. Actually half way through my third one for this week. ( The railway Detective, Edward Martson, The Sigma Protocol, Robert Ludlum, and the Shapeshifter, Tony Hillerman) Just finished a couple Clive Cussler books also.

That said, just spent some time on the Stude bed. Doing some block sanding and just spread some icing on. Hopefully will be on the last sanding before primer.

[Guest Dave Claussen]

Yea, and our Groundhog, Winnie, didn't see her shadow on the 2nd, so spring is just around the corner. I heard that Punxsutawney Phil did see his shadow, so it looks like Pennsylvania will have a longer winter. Sorry Dave.

Good thing February is the shortest month, although it's got an extra day this year.

And the 29th day gives it 5 Fridays! Unusual for February!

[anthonyb]

Better than five Mondays.

[Guest Dave Claussen]

Actually, when I looked it up the five Fridays in Feb. only happens every 28 years!! Even more rare than a blue moon! (which is 2 full moons in any calender month for those who don't know that one) Dave

[wallytoo]

Actually, when I looked it up the five Fridays in Feb. only happens every 28 years!! Even more rare than a blue moon! (which is 2 full moons in any calender month for those who don't know that one) Dave

but nowhere near as rare as a blue moon in february.

[Charles Furman]

Yeah, I hate February too. It barely made it up to 60 degrees today.

Charles

Oceanside, CA

Sorry, I just had to do that.