VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 Huck Brakes

The brake peddle on the gray 41 was almost all the way to the top of travel and was acting like it would not possibly go but in inch or so. Today I decided to jack for an inspection. This is what I found"

a. Wheels would barely turn.

b. No scrubbing sound indicating the drums were against the drums.

c. Outter bearing had hardly any grease on it.

d. Innder bearings looked okay but the grease looked rather thin.

e. Had my son press the brake peddle. Only one piston moved on the passenger side. (I didn't even look at the left for I knew what had to be done.

Tomorrow I will replace the wheel cylinders with two new ones I found at Hershey. (Wagners but who cares. I will replace or rebuild the GM ones later.)

I think the car was shuttled around some but not often enough to prevent the old Huck pistions from sticking. As they are prone to do.

I will clean the bearings and put some wheel bearing grease to them.

This is merely to remind those who have those old Hucks to exercise them sufficiently over time.

I will look at the rear ones as soon as I get through with the fronts. It's always something.

Best,

Charlie

I excercised my Hucks in the winter and they froze up anyway. When new was common to sieze up after 10 yyears of daily driving.
Air is drawn around the pistons and the fliud picks up the moisture in the air an rusts the cylinders.

Good reason to replace the brake fluid every two - three years. It removes the water and extends brake cylinder life significantly. Yes that's master as well as wheels. A lot easier to change fluid than the master cylinder as an example.

If you need some rear wheel cylinders contact me - I believe that I have some NOS Delcos.

Thanks, Gene,

If needed I will sure do that.

Best,

Charlie

I finished up on the wheel cylinders on the grey 41 tonight. Real pain in the arse.

Turned out that the rear ones were Delco and in good shape. I went ahead and cleaned them up and reinstalled. The hitch was getting the cylinder side brass washer in place to fasten it to the cylinder. I finally got a pair of needle nose pliers and got in that way. I hate to resort to a took when my fingers should be good enough.

Got to bleed them tomorrow. Please keep your fingers crossed that the master cylinder is okay. If it is not then I'm going to drag the whole dang thing to the side of the road with a "free" sign on it. I doubt there will be any takers.

Had to go with the missus this morning to get flu shots. Usually I feel the needle but this morning I didn't feel a thing. I think the nurse and the missus are in cahoots and may be plotting my demise. Let's hope so.

Took all morning. Got started late on the read wheels. Does doctors appointments interfere with any of you as much as it does me. Seems that every time I have something planed in working on one of the old cars the missus spoils everything by reminding me of a stinkin doctors appointment. Mercy!

Best,

Charlie

Sucks getting old. Now I understand the old adage, "Youth is wasted on the young."

Good luck with your doctor's appointments (rarely go myself) and your brakes. I have a good scar on my left hand from when I rebuilt mine a few months ago - dang pliers slipped off the spring and smashed my hand against the side of the brake.

Update on redoing the brakes:

a. When I started out the brake peddle was almost all the way to the top with minimum stopping power at the wheels.

b. I have cleaned the wheel cylinders and replaced them.

c. I have adjusted the brake shoes to tight and then backed off about 4-5 notches to where I can barely turn the drums by hand.

d. I filled the Master Cylinder with fluid and have bleed each wheel cylinder twice. The fluid appears to have no captured air and ” he fluid does not spit out but only oozes out.

e. The brake peddle is right about an inch from the floor board.

Question one: I know that the two holes in the bottom of the MC fluid chamber must be open. Both the large one and the small one. I don't know if either or both are open or whether it would make the instant condition realized or not. Anyone with any advice?

Question two: I have a NOS Delco MC but really do dread having to install it. Do any of you have a missus luv2:you could lend out to do the job for me? I will be her tool hander at no deduction from the amount I am willing to pay. If any of you do have a missus for the job then post me how much you want for doing the job and how much the plane ticket will cost. I don't care what she looks like but one from the aerosedan club missuses would be nice. Oh, my! Toto.

I need help here. I can hardly get up and down anymore. Any experience you may want to share will be valuable to me.

Thanks,

Charlie

Both holes in the bottom of the fluid chamber are controlled by the rubbers on the piston. As the piston moves it closes the small hole then the large. If they get blocked the brakes wont work properly. If the rubbers swell the small hole in particular will get closed at the wrong time and can cause the brakes to not release and drag.
Tony

Good information there Tony.

Thanks,

Charlie

You can poke wire into the openings with the master cylinder in the car. Need to remove the cover on top of the M/cyl, remove fluid and use thin tag wire on the small rear hole. See cut-away picture of the master cylinder in the shop manual.
I doubt if that is your problem. The present unit should be rebuilt or replaced. If NOS is used a new kit should be installed in it also.
I know it is a pain in th Axx but the brakes are the most important part of the car and I wouldn't want to seethat beautiful car damaged.

I should add the cover can be removed with the master cylinder in the car.

Found one of my NOS MCs. The one I took out had a broken piston in it. Never seen that before. I must have broken it driving the innards out. I was going to use the NOSs parts to rebuild the old one owing to the old one had the brake light switch threads on the cast part. Not going to do that.

I will go and order a new kit for the old one in the morning. If ordered early enough it will be in by 2 PM same day. Not going to use NAPA on account they will charge a minimum of ten bucks if not in store stock. I'll try AutoZone, Advance and O'Riely's early in the morning.

I'll probably have to rob the old one for the piston if it's not included in the kit.

This was a hard job mainly it's not something I do very often. Was hung up for over two ours trying to get the brake pin out of the housing. Took a break and when I went back I noticed right away I had forgotten the adjustment pin at the end of the MC plunger. Mercy!

Thanks for all your welcome advice.

Best,

Charlie

BTW: As to the ad about getting some missus to help on changing out the MC, I did get one call from a missus that wanted the job. She said that the deal would have to be secret, that she was mechanically inclined having to work on tractors all the time. She said that I would have to feed her whenever she wanted to eat. She said that she was from Iowa and that her husband raised corn. If she looked a good as she sounded then that would have been wonderful deal. She purred like a movie star. I told her everything sounded about right except the feeding her part. We couldn't come to terms so there was no deal. Ever tried to feed a farm girl from Iowa? Now I've been told that they can really eat!