1957 Brakes locked up

[Steele 1987]

Hey all, my name is Lewis from Arizona, I Inherited the 57 Canary yellow T-bird with wire wheels from my dad who inherited it from his dad back in Michigan, I am in AZ so no more rust worry. I backed it out recently to do some work in the garage and when I went to pull it back in the taillights were lit in neutral, drive, and park and I barely was able to get it in due to from what I can see are the drums locked up. I have never worked on these cars before and am an amateur at best with working with my hands, can anyone point me in the direction of a tutorial or brief synopsis of how to fix the drum brakes so I can get this thing going and get new tubes for the tires and take it out to enjoy it before the temps get past 110 degrees. Thank you in advance!

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[ICON 56]

Does the car have disc brakes or drums ? Is the emergency brake on ? It can also be the emergency brake cable is stuck.

 

[Steele 1987]

Does the car have disc brakes or drums ? Is the emergency brake on ? It can also be the emergency brake cable is stuck.

Drum brakes, I thought at first that I accidentally had the emergency brake on so I reached down to try to pull it to release it but it's not moving 1 oz in any direction.

 

[Ward 57]

Does the car have disc brakes or drums ? Is the emergency brake on ? It can also be the emergency brake cable is stuck.

That's a good start. I'd also suspect the booster assuming it has power brakes. It may be frozen in boost mode seeing as the brake lights are on and is tough to move. Try removing the vacuum hose from the booster and plugging it and see if that helps. If the brakes release you have found your problem. No problem driving it that way to get everything moving again. How long has it sat?
These cars love to be exercised and just bleeding the booster may help. look in the master cylinder reservoir and see what the fluid looks like. May need cleaning & flushing. Rust flakes may have gotten into the control valve.
Took me two summers to get mine road worthy again after being neglected as life got in the way. Fuel pump leaking, once rebuilt added pressure required a carb rebuild when the accelerator pump diaphragm gave out due to ethanol. Weeks for parts then time for my specialty shop to rebuild both oh, one at a time. Drive 5 miles wait 5 weeks to iron out the kinks of dormancy rinse & repeat. This is the year to DRIVE!

 

[Ward 57]

Drum brakes, I thought at first that I accidentally had the emergency brake on so I reached down to try to pull it to release it but it's not moving 1 oz in any direction.

Twist the handle to the right to release, then push. Cables could be sticking too.

 

[Critterpainer]

If it has been sitting for a good long while the first push of the brake pedal could have applied the brakes with the master cyl plunger sticking down. There is a good chance that your hydraulic system for the brakes may need to be rebuilt. I live in Goodyear if you want a second set of eyes. I will try to send you a direct message through this forum so look for it

 

[74 Harley]

Did the brake pedal stay down, or did it return all the way? The master cylinder could also be sticking...

 

[Ward 57]

Twist the handle to the right to release, then push. Cables could be sticking too.

I meant to say twist to the left.

 

[jack-in-sac]

I meant to say twist to the left.

Dear Ward, sometimes it is easier to say clockwise or counterclockwisw. You offer a lot of good content to this group, John

 

[cokefirst]

Did you add any fluid recently? If you over fill the master cylinder, it can cause the brakes to lock up. If you have power brakes, you can open the bleeder screw on the booster. if fluid comes out under pressure there is a good chance you have an issue with the plunger in the master cylinder being stuck under pressure. Good luck!

 

[dmsfrr]

Drum brakes, I thought at first that I accidentally had the emergency brake on so I reached down to try to pull it to release it but it's not moving 1 oz in any direction.

Twist the handle to the right to release, then push. Cables could be sticking too.

I bought a '57 a couple years ago and set the parking brake while on the trailer trip home. Fired it up to back it off the trailer and it wouldn't budge, the rear half of the E-brake cable was apparently stuck.
Jiggling the cables under the car got them loose enough to move the car. Giving them a real lubrication treatment is on the To-Do list.

 

[Ward 57]

I bought a '57 a couple years ago and set the parking brake while on the trailer trip home. Fired it up to back it off the trailer and it wouldn't budge, the rear half of the E-brake cable was apparently stuck.
Jiggling the cables under the car got them loose enough to move the car. Giving them a real lubrication treatment is on the To-Do list.

I'm having the same problem. First thing I did was shoot penetrating oil in the cable tube going to underneath. That did help. A few days ago I saw and article on lubing the cables heading to the rear drums. Forgot to mark it or print it. There is an enclosed cable turn just in front of the axle and I'm looking at that next and work back. I also think there is a return spring near the equalizer mechanism and will check that also. Part of the spring list as the other mechanicals are ready for the road.

 

[dmsfrr]

Jack up the car and see if the tires/wheels will rotate. If not the drums may have rusted to the brake shoes. Remove the wheels & tires from the car and whack the outer corner of the stuck brake drums a couple times with a large hammer, that may loosen them.

There is a front cable from the handle under the dash to a lever on the left side of center under the car, in the yellow circle in the first photo.
Connected between the rear brake backing plates is another cable, in a long-ish V shape with its center just behind the large X in the frame of the car, yellow arrow first photo.
Both the front & rear E-brake cables are inside an outer protective jacket and can easily need a light to medium application of penetrating oil, WD-40, etc.

At the front end of the parking brake rod under the dash there is a pulley the cable rides on, it may be stuck or damaged.

 

[Hilde]

Hey all, my name is Lewis from Arizona, I Inherited the 57 Canary yellow T-bird with wire wheels from my dad who inherited it from his dad back in Michigan, I am in AZ so no more rust worry. I backed it out recently to do some work in the garage and when I went to pull it back in the taillights were lit in neutral, drive, and park and I barely was able to get it in due to from what I can see are the drums locked up. I have never worked on these cars before and am an amateur at best with working with my hands, can anyone point me in the direction of a tutorial or brief synopsis of how to fix the drum brakes so I can get this thing going and get new tubes for the tires and take it out to enjoy it before the temps get past 110 degrees. Thank you in advance!

Hey Lewis. I had a similar problem on my '55. I found the master cylinder was stuck on (depressed), When I removed it, I found that instead of clean brake fluid, there was mud throughout the brake system. I had to rebuild the master cylinder, flush all the brake lines, replace all 4 wheel cylinders, and replace all of the rubber brake lines. I also had the drums turned, as they were a little out of round, and replaced the shoes, as they were about half worn. It was a lot of work, but the brakes work great now. I hope your problem isn't as bad. Good luck, Hilde

 

[doug7740]

I'm having the same problem. First thing I did was shoot penetrating oil in the cable tube going to underneath. That did help. A few days ago I saw and article on lubing the cables heading to the rear drums. Forgot to mark it or print it. There is an enclosed cable turn just in front of the axle and I'm looking at that next and work back. I also think there is a return spring near the equalizer mechanism and will check that also. Part of the spring list as the other mechanicals are ready for the road.

Since Steele said that his brakes were locked up and the brake lights were illuminated, his problem is hydraulic and not the mechanical parking brake. Since Ward and dmsfrr are having problems with the mechanical parking brake, here is an interesting article from the May/June 1994 Early Bird magazine.

doug7740
1955 Thunderbird Blue

 

[1rmisner]

Hey all, my name is Lewis from Arizona, I Inherited the 57 Canary yellow T-bird with wire wheels from my dad who inherited it from his dad back in Michigan, I am in AZ so no more rust worry. I backed it out recently to do some work in the garage and when I went to pull it back in the taillights were lit in neutral, drive, and park and I barely was able to get it in due to from what I can see are the drums locked up. I have never worked on these cars before and am an amateur at best with working with my hands, can anyone point me in the direction of a tutorial or brief synopsis of how to fix the drum brakes so I can get this thing going and get new tubes for the tires and take it out to enjoy it before the temps get past 110 degrees. Thank you in advance!

start by replacing the master Cly. and then replace all the wheel Cly. and then replace all brake frictions. new is good!