Hydraulic Brakes for a Model A Ford

Do yourself a favor and get some of these for your Model A front brakes. They are far superior to 40 Ford front backing plates. 40 Ford rears are OK as not so much braking is done on the back. I thought they would bolt right on. Well, sort of. The instructions say to cut off the top of the king pins which the wheel cylinder interferes with. That did not appeal to me so I filed in new mounting holes with the backing plate tilted slightly to the rear. Uh, the grease cover would also not fit as it interfered with the wheel cylinder. So I had to grind/file the grease cover as well. Oh well, the story of my Model A life! These backing plates work great. I love em.

The usual disclaimer: This is how I did the conversion. This is only my opinion. You are on your own if you do it like I did!

Required parts:

Front/rear backing plates/shoes and drums/hubs from 40/48 Ford. These will be used parts.

40/48 rear wheel bearings

Front spacing rings and front bearing spacing rings available from Model A parts house

40/48 master cylinder/wheel cylinders

40/48 Grease seals for front/rear

Steel plugs to weld into front backing plate mounting bolt holes.

New emergency brake cable and part to attach to Model A brake shaft

Brake tubes. The first time I did this conversion I purchased pre-formed tubes for a lot of money from MT Products and was glad to. The second time I save a lot of money and bent standard length tubes myself. When the tubes were too long, I bent a jog in the tubing so I wouldn't have to cut and flare. Try it, you can do it too!

40/42 backing plates(46/48 also work) front on left (cleaned up and painted) and rear on right (before cleanup) Note the top cams for adjusting the brakes. Front backing plate with mounting bolt holes filled with steel plugs	Front spacer installed on front backing plate with new mounting bolt holes drilled There is also a bearing spacing ring required for the front hub
40/42 Style bottom brake adjustment pieces for bottom adjusters	New battery box with master cylinder on the side.
40/42 front brake drum, 46/48 work also	Front backing plate mounted using original Model A grease retainer ring and Model A wheel bearings
Model A brake drum showing raised area next to hub to support wheel	Model A wheel showing where the support ring is required. See the area between the lug holes and the center hole.
Support rings are available for 40/48 drums which don't have the raised area to support Model A wheels.	An area must be ground out on the rear backing plates for spring shackle clearance
Rear backing plate. The original mounting holes can be used if the plate is installed without rotating it like some suggest. Note that the lip on the rear plates have been ground down about 1/8inch. About 1/16inch was also ground off the shoes.	Rear drum. 3/16 inch must be ground off the drum as shown by the shiny cut ring below:
You have to grind off the bleeder screw for the rear wheel cylinders.	Right rear from behind. You also have to grind a little off of the shock absorber mounting bracket, but not much.
Left rear from behind	Right rear
Left rear	Left and right rear tee off to a hose Note: this piece that pulls on the brake rods has to be taken off for the hydraulic hoses to fit to the Wilton battery box master cylinder.
From tee to master cylinder	Master cylinder tees off to front
Right front	A collection of the brake pieces
Right Rear	Left Rear
Dave Wilson Battery Box	Front of Wishbone
Left Front	Right Front
Master Cylinder	Right Rear emergency brake
Left Rear emergency brake	I've just discovered another way to put hydraulics on a Model A, use Ford F100 53-56 11inch bendix backing plates and drums. Bummer, it works but you can't use 35 Ford wire wheels though. You could use some later wheels and put some nice moon hubcaps on them for a cool look. 40 Ford 12 inch backing plate on left and F100 11 inch backing plate, brakes, and drum on right. This conversion requires some cheap adaptors, bearing spacing ring and backing plate spacer for the front backing plates, same as required for 40 Ford backing plates, about $15 at model a parts houses.