Guys is there anyway I can just have frount brakes on my 48 f1 ? Has anyone ever done this ??.. Reason im askin is because the bleeder screw on the back hub are rusted in and ive tryed every thing to remove... Any ideals would be great..
Cody

 

Someone that knows more about the F1 original equipment will chime in, but for a short answer....NO ! you gotta have brakes all around. Don't think that way! Thats gonna get you or someone else injured or worse.
the best thing would be new wheel cylinders and I know its a budget project, but they shouldn't be too expensive. NEVER THINK THAT WAY AGAIN! thats my 10 cents!

 

Jeff, I was just asking I havnt done anything yett.. The reason for asking is because the guy who is helping me said just having them on frount would be ok as he done it b4 on old cars...

 

Im not trying to jab on ya Cody, only concerned about safety for ya. Can it be done? yeah. Should it be done? no
Never be afraid to ask questions! You hang in there buddy!

 

I don't know if you saw my thread about the '50 F1 that i drove recently?
It was the first drive I have had in one. It had the original brakes, original as far as drum/manual brakes, no power brakes. I will tell ya that it was quite a chore to slow it down! I would not like that brake setup for long...

 

Cody, a lot of people have done a lot of bad things over the years, and like to tell others it's ok. This is one of them. While this person helping you may have got away with doing this, that doesn't make it right or safe, and really dodged a huge bullet, imho. The brakes are the most critical system in your truck, or any vehicle for that matter. It doesn't matter if you can go, if you can't stop. And if you're not worried about yourself, how about someone else's child you couldn't stop for. You don't want to live with that for the rest of your life.

The brake systems on these old vehicles are very simple. Too simple. They are all one circuit, so if any part of the system fails, you have zero brakes. In the mid-sixties, the government said that had to change, and we have dual circuit brakes on all new cars built since 1967, where if something fails in the front, for instance, the rears won't be affected and you will still have some braking capability in an emergency. You don't have that luxury. I would strongly suggest you do whatever you need to do to have all of your brakes working properly before ever driving your truck again.

 

Put a propane torch on the bleeder screws, heat soak it good. (not red hot or anything, say 250 - 300 deg.) Take away the torch and rub the side of the bleeder with candle wax. It will melt and suck into the threads. Then wrench the bleeder. You've got nothing to lose, wheel cylinders are about $12.

Chances are if the bleeder is that rusty, the cylinder is shot anyway.

 

IF YOU DO GO THAT WAY DON'T COME NEAR ERIE, PA - I DON'T FEEL LIKE GETTING KILLED BY A F1

 

I always tell people that it's more important to stop that to go. After getting an old engine to start the very next thing to do is a total brake rebuild. I strongly agree with the others, brakes are a BIG #1. You can drive around with doors tied shut and bad wiring (which I don't recommend either) but you absolutely need to stop.

 

Take that wheel cylinder off and pull the rubber caps off each side. I will guarantee you it looks like the sahara desert inside. Like mentioned above, wheel cylinders are about $12 each at the local parts house. Life is too short to fight with one of those wretched things when chances are that it's shot anyway. I tried to bleed my brakes one day when I first got my truck. It wouldn't bleed, so I pulled off one of the cylinders. Pure sand and dirt poured out of it. It was hilarious. Take the 2 bolts out of the back and the whole thing will come out. You won't have to fool with the bleeder screw.

And, I will definitely agree, the guy who told you that the front drum brakes were all you need on an F1 is smoking crack.

 

The 4-wheel drums are not that bad...they stop my truck fairly well in fact. I like the manual drum brake system feel alot better than the modern power brakes.

I would never recomend anyone to plug a section of brakes unless it was an emergency and they needed to get home, and no parts were available to fix it. As mentioned, just because it was/is done does not make it a good idea.

As a general rule of thumb, anything I buy be it new or used gets the brakes gone through completely. I had a Ranger with 37 miles (not 37000, 37) split a pad up front. You never know...it's best to take a look see. On old vehicles I replace everything no matter what. I dont care how new it looks, it gets replaced. New hardware, shoes, wheel cyls, hoses, lines, master cyl, stoplight switch. After all, brake lines blow from the inside out, very seldom do they "rust through" as many people claim, so just cause it looks good does not mean it isn't weak. With a single res. master, if you blow one line you have no brakes....better to be safe and take the time to replace it all than wish you did. Brakes are not a system to take lightly.

 

Back in the early 60s I drove a '27 T-bucket with rear brakes only. It stopped pretty well but it only weighed somewhere between 1500-1800 pounds. I was always careful not to get myself into a situation requiring a panic stop and never drove it in the rain. Your truck weighs about twice that. I would not drive it without rear brakes...

 

'Old cars' were once only available with rear brakes. AFAIK, no old car had front brakes only. If the guy helping you claims only front brakes are necessary, he's FOS.

8M-2261-A .. Right Rear Wheel Cylinder-1" // 8M-2262-A .. Left Rear Wheel Cylinder-1"

Applications: 1948/52 F1; 1953/54 F100; 1949/51 Ford/Mercury Passenger Cars.

 

I've driven vehicles with front brakes only before (I didn't know the backs were out!) and let's just say, I very easily could have killed myself.

The very first project on my pickup was brakes, hard lines, wheel cylinders, master cylinder, everything. When friends buy a new-to-them car the first thing they do is bring it to me for brake work. The oldest of their cars is from 1991! And I've seen some pretty ugly stuff on those cars, something from 1948 is only going to be worse! A few years ago a good friend gave me some advice: "you can goof around with anything else on your car, but not the tires and not the brakes."

Hang in there! I don't want to seem to be mean to you about it, you did the right thing asking about it.

And one last thing, I would recommend taking your helper's advice with a grain of salt from now on.

Sam

 

One exception, maybe, is if you're only going to move it around the yard or back and forth out of your garage. Some very slow, short, off street movement. Then I would be OK with it. It's better than having no brakes at all. I've moved around cars with no brakes, it can get kind of hairy even at 2 mph.

Cody, I reread your original posts and you didn't say what you planned on doing with the truck if you were going to only use the front brakes. If you're just going to move it back and forth you could bleed the front front brakes and see if you could get a higher brake pedal. Maybe this is the type of use your friend was referring to.