VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 Will E Brake Stop Your Car If Brakes Fail

Assuming my 38 Master Deluxe hand brake works, will it stop my car if my brakes fail. I notice some folks adding dual chamber master cylinders, upgrading to disc, etc...
Thanks,
Mike A
P.S. I want to keep it stock, but want her safe.

Your emergency brake will probably stop you in a situation but you need to be a bit careful when doing it. If you pull it to hard it will lock the rear brakes and can put you into a slide and make things real spooky, especially if its wet. When pulling it you should hold the release so you can work the brake, not just pull it on. When your out for a drive give it a try on a back road without any traffic around.

Despite common misconception dual master cylinder brakes can also fail. Yes there is a margin of safety with a slow leak in the system. A broken brake line or large leak can result in total unexpected loss of brakes even with a dual master cylinder. Periodically checking for corrosion, leaks or seeps or loss of fluid from master cylinder is the best safety process for any hydraulic system.

With a dual master cylinder you will have excessive pedal travel and will take much more pedal pressure to stop the car if there is a failure. By the time you figure out what is happening it can be too late.
I would recommend trying the parking brake to see how effective it is if needed.

Good idea...Don't forget to keep your finger on the "release trigger" and in the "release mode"...Apply slowly and see how it works...Try it a few times...You never know if someday you might need it...Hopefully you never will...

The emergency brake is not so designed to be used in lieu of regular brakes. It is a Parking Brake. By the time you fiddle with reaching for it, you will have plowed into whatever it was you were intending on missing or stopped in front of or will gone past the stopping point. Not good.

In an emergency, of course, the hand/parking brake may be used.

The hand (parking) brake will stop the car but stopping will take longer and is hazardous to use, in some occasions, instead of the four-wheel brakes.

From 1936 to 1950 the Huck brakes were used. They are simple and easy to take care of. The biggest issue is the pistons freezing up if not coated with that stuff that Gene recently mentioned and/or the brakes being infrequently used.

Charlie

Thank you all for the great advice. It confirms the brakes are fine if they are maintained and the E brake can be used in am emergency which is what I want it for.
Thanks,
Mike A

The "E" brake will only be half as effective as the foot brake as it only works on 2 wheels. It wont work if brake fluid or oil is on the brake linings.
Tony

Just a heads up.

It depends on the vehicle but the E-brake can be 1/10th as effective as the service brakes particularly if the E-brake pad is much smaller. Those vehicles that activate the service brake shoes on the rear wheels might have 30-40% of the efficiency as more of the braking on vehicles is the front brakes than rear.

Very good advice here. I notice a lot of similar dual reservoir master cylinder swaps by friends in the hobby for "safety" reasons, but there is a lot of engineering that went into the OE brake systems and when you add modern stuff into it, things don't work as you'd imagine...just like Chipper said. Pressure mis-matches, dragging brakes, etc. A good working OEM system and a functional e-brake are the key to a safe car.

Anecdote: About 25 years ago I recall the brakes in Dad's '48 Fleetline went out as we were approaching a busy intersection coming home from a VCCA club car show. I was just a kid, and our entire family was in the car. Dad had replaced the parking brake handle a few months earlier since the original one had stripped teeth and wouldn't stay on when it was applied. He adjusted the brakes at that time.

So during the brake failure, Dad downshifted, pulled the parking brake slowly and we coasted to a stop just fine. He didn't even panic! It turned out that the line over the rear axle had rusted under one of the clips and sprung a leak. We got it home, and redid the brake line and installed new hoses & checked the rest of the system.

From then on, most of our old Chevies get brake work done first and most of all, we make sure that parking / e-brake works like it should for that very reason.

My car is a 38 Master Deluxe Town Sedan.
My biggest concern is safety.
I just want her to stop when needed.
Thanks
Mike A

Mike, if you really want that '38 to stop in an excellent manner, install a hydrovac booster in the line coming out of the master cylinder. Then, be prepared for teeth on the steering wheel if you hit 'em hard. (Doesn't effect the E brake.) No, I don't have one on the '41 (yet) but they will really "reach and get you"!