Hi Everyone,

Getting ready to try and put the '27 jitterbug in gear for the first time, but I want to make sure I have brakes first. As this is a jitterbug, it only has rear brakes. The brake band guide pin is completely missing on the passenger side. Additionally, the one on the driver's side appears to be sheared partly off, as it is not long enough to stick out of the brake band saddle. The lack of these pins means the brake band will not stay evenly around the drum. I have not been able to find anything along the lines of replacement pins or other remedies. Any suggestions?

Since your Jitterbug is a '27, it would have had only rear brakes. The four-wheel brakes were introduced in 1928.

On Lurch's brakes (he is also a '27 one ton truck), some of the pins have been replaced with cut off bolts, with a hole drilled at the end for a cotter pin. If I recall correctly, these were 3/8" diameter bolts.

Here's a link to a project involving Lurch's brakes that has some photos that might help you: Bending brake bands to make them rounder

Cheers, Dean

Thanks Dean, that was very informative.

It does bring up an interesting question though. When I got this car I was told it was a '27 or '28. It has a badge on the front firewall that gives the model as "Capitol." The car number is severely faded, and I can only read the last four digits, "3068." It is my understanding that Capitols were only made during 1927. Additionally, the rear brake assemblies are definitely identical to those on Lurch. But my truck does have front brakes, as they appear in the 1928 repair manual for Capitol AA and National AB vehicles. All the linkage to these brakes is gone, but they work if you pull on them by hand. This seems to indicate to me that the truck is indeed a '27, but must have made front brakes added at one point in its life. What do you think?

The 1927 and also the 1928 1 Ton trucks were Capital trade named vehicles. Those were also identified as LM, LO and LP models. FYI the LP trucks assembled the last month+ of 1928 model year production had front brakes.

The plot thickens.

So, based on Chipper's info, your Jitterbug is either an LM (1927), an LO (first half of 1928 without front brakes) and had a '28 LP front axle added OR (most likely), it is actually an LP (last half of '28) and and is mistakenly thought of as a '27 truck.

The two characters in front of the 3068 on the car number will be LM, LO, or LP. It's a shame that they cannot be read.

Maybe there are clues on the chassis, like evidence of the brackets for the four-wheel brake equalizer bars, that would actuate the front brakes. If this evidence is on the Jitterbug, then we can surmise it is actually a '28 LP.

Another clue would be the engine casting number. Look for a three-character string near the distributor. The first character indicates the month that the block was cast. For example, A=Jan, B=Feb, etc..

In the middle of the string will be a number, from 1-31, that indicates the day of the month for the casting.

The last digit will be a 7 or 8, for 1927 or 1928.

Cheers, Dean

Have you reached out to Gary Wallace? He had the pins with the slide you are possibly looking for, at least he has them for the cars maybe not trucks. It is worth a try.

The LP is a different truck... frame, Wheels, front axle, steering wheel to name a few. A picture of the front frame horns would help determine the model/year

Mystery solved! After very very carefully cleaning the plate, it can now be fully read. "12LP 3068" so she is a 1928!

Yay!!

Good sleuthing! Dean

BTW, the 12 in the car number means that the truck was built at the Buffalo NY plant. Here's a link to a web page that contains a chart which contains the assembly plant numbers: https://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/VIN.html

And, the 3068 means that it was the 2067th vehicle off the assembly line in 1928. The first vehicle off the line would've been number 1001.

Cheers, Dean