[37ford4dr]

any body have a refererence site or documentaion on converting a 37 ford to later ford hydraulic drum brakes? thks bob

 

[pasadenahotrod]

This swap is one of the oldest and easiest modifications ever!
Gather up a set of backing plates from any 39-41 Ford Passenger car or pickup. Buy new cylinders, relined shoes, and new hardware, a pair of front hoses for 39-48 Fords, a rear hose for a 39-48 Ford.
If you just want the better brakes and want to retain the big bolt pattern original wheels that's great. If the drums are good, you can use them.
Bolt the backing plates up to the spindles and rear axle housings and reinstall your original drums and hubs.
You can build a bracket for the master cylinder behind your original pedal bracket and make up a pushrod for it. Use a late model dual cylinder for safety's sake.

If you want to retain the emergency/parking brake you can buy cables and equalizer from any antique Ford parts store and hook them up to your original parking nbrake cable from the handle inside. Just make sure you get the emergency pieces when you buy your backing plates.

The "bolt-in" master cylinder bracket and pedal assembly is from a 1939 Ford car or pickup ONLY. These are almost impossible to find so I did not mention it 'til last figuring you did want to drive your 37 not just look for rare parts.

Bleed 'em and adjust 'em and drive!!

 

[37ford4dr]

This swap is one of the oldest and easiest modifications ever!....The "bolt-in" master cylinder bracket and pedal assembly is from a 1939 Ford car or pickup ONLY. These are almost impossible to find so I did not mention it 'til last figuring you did want to drive your 37 not just look for rare parts.

Bleed 'em and adjust 'em and drive!!

thanks this is great info and just what i was hoping for, yes i do want to reuse those big wheels they are cool looking... fortunately i have two sets of everything, backing plates, whl cylinders,drums etc, including the 39 pedal assembly with the mstr cyl attached, this is courtesy of a friend who had a 36 and never got around to installing the parts so i bought his left over parts.....out of curiosity what would be a fair price to ask for selling the 39 pedal assembly/MSTR cyl, 4 whl cyls and the 4 extra backing plates?

let me ask you a couple more questions....

1.) also in looking at the rear backing plates it seems that i have two slightly different sets ....one set has the two brake shoe anchor pins that look they can adjust the brakes , but the other pair have riveted nipples in lieu of this, where the lower brake shoes attach?
why is there a difference?

2.) it looks to me that the set i will be using has adjusting points at the bottom with the anchor pins and then again with a concentric on each side that turns against the brake shoes? is this correct

3.) also the parts i bought came with another e-brake assembly...do i just reuse my existing e-brake handle and need to use different cables from the 39'? am i correct in stating that the 37 e-brake cables are not compatible with the 39 hydraulic brakes?

4.) do you know of a bolt up dual mstr cylinder that i can use with the 39 clutch/brake pedal assembly?


5.) do i need to pull the rear axle to put on the rear backing plates?

thanks for your help i appreciate it, Bob

 

[37ford4dr]

heres half the parts

 

[37ford4dr]

heres some of the extras, i pressure washed them to clean them up some....