Chet Zerlin
Jedi Trainee
Offline
Hi all,
Once again I need to reach out to the many knowledgeable people on this forum for help with a frustrating issue.
Whenever I use my brakes on my 1959 100-6 BN6 I always have to do a quick pump on the brake pedal first to firm up the pedal. If I don't it goes almost to the floor before the brakes are fully engaged. My brakes have been completely rebuilt, there is no air in the lines and the shoes are properly arced to the brake drums. The shoes are properly adjusted. All work was done by a mechanic who has an excellent reputation and is very knowledgable. I have even tried the "lock pedal down with a stick and leave overnight" solution with no result.
I've been told that the initial soft pedal I am experiencing is because the front drum brakes on my BN6 each have two wheel cylinders (one on each end of the brake shoes) whereas I'm told that most drum brakes have only one wheel cylinder and a spacer/adjuster that is fixed and does not move. I've also been told that because of those two cylinders, whenever I release the brake pedal both cylinders retract resulting in greater "play" then in a brake system with only one wheel cylinder. The suggestion is that taking up this increased distance before both cylinders push the brake shoes to fully engage the drums is what I am experiencing when I first push on the brake pedal. The quick pump thus taking up the play in the system and resulting in no play for the second pump. Adding credence to this explanation is that the quick pump does work and I have to do that each time I use the brakes.
Before I decide to just live with it or bite the bullet and spend $$ on changing to front discs I would like to hear from others who have stock 100-6 brakes to know if they have the same brake configuration as I do (two vs. one wheel cylinder) and if they do are they experiencing the same issue (and if so how did they "fix" it)?
Thanks!
Chet
Once again I need to reach out to the many knowledgeable people on this forum for help with a frustrating issue.
Whenever I use my brakes on my 1959 100-6 BN6 I always have to do a quick pump on the brake pedal first to firm up the pedal. If I don't it goes almost to the floor before the brakes are fully engaged. My brakes have been completely rebuilt, there is no air in the lines and the shoes are properly arced to the brake drums. The shoes are properly adjusted. All work was done by a mechanic who has an excellent reputation and is very knowledgable. I have even tried the "lock pedal down with a stick and leave overnight" solution with no result.
I've been told that the initial soft pedal I am experiencing is because the front drum brakes on my BN6 each have two wheel cylinders (one on each end of the brake shoes) whereas I'm told that most drum brakes have only one wheel cylinder and a spacer/adjuster that is fixed and does not move. I've also been told that because of those two cylinders, whenever I release the brake pedal both cylinders retract resulting in greater "play" then in a brake system with only one wheel cylinder. The suggestion is that taking up this increased distance before both cylinders push the brake shoes to fully engage the drums is what I am experiencing when I first push on the brake pedal. The quick pump thus taking up the play in the system and resulting in no play for the second pump. Adding credence to this explanation is that the quick pump does work and I have to do that each time I use the brakes.
Before I decide to just live with it or bite the bullet and spend $$ on changing to front discs I would like to hear from others who have stock 100-6 brakes to know if they have the same brake configuration as I do (two vs. one wheel cylinder) and if they do are they experiencing the same issue (and if so how did they "fix" it)?
Thanks!
Chet