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Re: TC Brakes - part 3

To: "Tim Newton" <timnewton@menziesgroup.com.au>
Subject: Re: TC Brakes - part 3
From: Bill Putnam <bputnam@powercom.net>
Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2004 09:56:53 -0500
At Saturday, 31 July 2004, you wrote:
..
>I am disappointed with the braking, and you need to apply a great 
deal of foot
>pressure to slow/stop.  The hand brake is only just reasonable.
>Is this normal?
>Having never relined brake shoes, I wonder if the shoes will rapidly 
wear into
>the drums (although the new shoes were fitted to the drums when 
re-lined), and
>the effectiveness of the braking increase as they wear-in?
>PS.  The shoes were re-lined with a woven pad, which appears to 
have fine
>copper thread "woven" into the pad - the shop said these would be 
far more
>effective in 9 inch drums, although quite dearer!
>Any advice would be appreciated, particularly if it comforts me 
that all that
>is needed is 100 miles of driving!
>
>Tim Newton
>TC '49

Dear Tim,

Did you check that the entire length of the shoes contact the drums? 
If the drum has been turned (not a good idea) and is oversize, the 
radius of the shoe will be smaller than the drum and only a small 
portion of the shoe may contact the drum.

When I rebuilt the brakes on my TB I had all the shoes fitted to 
the drums so that the entire length of each shoe contacted the drum.
Note that this should be done with the shoes on the car as the 
location of the pivot on the back plate will determine where the 
shoes sit and the axis they rotate about.

I found that by doing this, and making sure that the rear brakes 
were not lubricated via the differential, the brakes work well.  
Well in this case means that I could lock the brakes on dry pavement 
at 40 mph.  Pedal effort is high with these cars compared to a modern 
car.  

I used to be on a crew team (rowing) and along with that came weight 
lifting and leg presses.  I also commute by bicycle every day so 
I have good leg strength.  If your legs are weak you might consider 
some weight lifting, or failing that you could put in a vacuum assist 
brake booster (non-original but done carefully it could be a bolt 
on installation) or find a master cylinder with a smaller bore, though 
there you trade off pedal travel for pedal effort.

What is your position in the car?  I can see that a person with long 
legs might not have good leverage on the brake pedal if they're legs 
are still quite bent when applying the brakes, I've known some people 
to remove some of the seat stuffing so that the could sit further 
back in the car.

Bill Putnam
'33 J2
ex TB 0597 owner

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