brake travel question

[ed cummins]

Hello All,
Tractor: 1963 Ford 4000 Industrial with 134cu in engine.

So I replaced all 4 brake pads and reassembled everything correctly and adjusted the brakes. My question relates to the brake pedal travel.

I noticed that the cam that makes contact with brake shoes had a little space and you had to push the pedal about 3/4 to 1 inch before the cams made contact with the brake shoes. For having new brakes there is very little pedal travel hence...not a lot of braking force. I can see that if I adjust the pedal it self I can get more braking force but I would have to grind the tab down in order to do this.

Any suggestions in order to get more braking force without cutting the tabs?

Thanks Ed

 

[Texasmark1]

I'd adjust in the normal manner and see if you can stand what you get. If not, you could undo the linkage and suck it up some (move up the threads shortening the distance) such that you had the shoe expander closer to contacting the shoes when at rest.

I just redid mine (expander perpendicular to the shoe) and after I got them adjusted to my satisfaction, the amount of free play on the pedal was about 1" and by 2" of travel had tractor jerking (to that side) brakes....good and solid.

HTH,

Mark

 

[Sean in PA]

A 1963 4000 should have a 172 ci engine, not a 134, but who knows what kind of swapping might have been done over the years.