Crosley unbraked

This Crosley had not been serviced since 1960, the brake system was in poor condition. The brake fluid had converted into an acidic sap like substance. Most of it seemed to have evaporated or seeped out by 2018. The rubber dust boots were crumbly and dry, The pistons were jammed, the drums rusted, and the lines were clogged.

Old crusty brakes

Necessity is the mother of invention

 All the drums were removed with great effort, the adjusters were loosened first and then hammering removed the front drums. The rear drums required more effort because the axle was frozen in the drums. That was solved by soaking with solvent and oil for a few days, making a puller out of a length of heavy scrap 1/4 thick angle iron, drilling two holes and a couple of longer bolts that matched the lug bolts. The castle nut was used to help support the threads on the end of the axle.

Effective braking surface much less than possible

Rust ring on axle

My 1950 has 9 inch hydraulic brakes similar to those in a Willys Jeep, only the brake shoes are about half the width of Jeep, making the drums twice as wide as necessary. I wonder if those wider Jeep shoes would work on the Crosley baking plate. The unused braking surface is mostly toward the lugs, which becomes a rough ledge to overcome when removing the drums where the original shoes have not retracted. The adjusters and hydraulic cylinders are almost identical to Jeep. The emergency brake does not seem to be a vintage Jeep like part.

Cutting out the broken cap on master cylinder

The front and rear pistons were different sizes. We ordered the 106 and 107 Napa parts kits and reconditioned all the other hard parts. We used brake cleaner and braided steel cable to clean out the lines, which contained copper in the alloy, based on their color after cleaning. The top of the master cylinder broke off and metal top had to be cut up to remove from the casting. The kit from Nevada did not include a seal for the top cap, so a o-ring from Ace was used.

Tar sand holding the emergency brake line to frame cross member

The lines use 3 hoses, one for each front wheel and one for the line down the drive shaft tube. There was a threaded T fitting at the differential and two solid lines from there to the rear brakes. The hoses were petrified and came apart upon removal. The front frame clips were difficult because of the constricted space inside the u-channel frame member and between the suspension and the 45 degree angle corner brace. Removing the bumper helped. The driver's side also had the rigid fuel line in the mix. Threaded frame end fittings would have been nice.