no brakes on 54 Hollywood

[Deleted User]

I'm no expert for sure but anyway. The 54 Hudson I recently acquired had decent brakes when I bought and loaded it on the trailer. I drove it off the trailer and into the storage unit with still decent brakes. About a week later I went to back it out and brake pedal to the floor. I added a little fluid but didn't need much. Where should I start on this problem?

RL Chilton

Where to start? Look for leaks running down the middle of your wheel on the side facing the middle of the car.

#1 reason for hydraulic failure: Air in System If there's air in your lines, you won't have any brakes. A system that became low on fluid will naturally get air in the lines and just filling up your MC won't help . . . much. Got to bleed the air out of the lines. If there's bad components elsewhere, then you can move on to the more rigorous enjoyments of doing a brake job. First things first: Look for leaks, if none, bleed the brakes. If that doesn't work, let us know.

Browniepetersen

I looked for all those things then said--What the He## and tore the whole system down, rebuilt the wheel cylinders, the master and replaced all the brake lines. Now, I feel much better... After I ripped it all out I found solid clogs in two of the lines. I had brakes, but only one on the front and one on the back. I am good now, and I know what I have.

faustmb

Wheel cylinders seize up on these cars if they've been sitting, and are likely to leak. If you don't know the condition of the system, it'll be worth your while to go through it as Brownie suggests. You're likely to find lots of issues, clogged lines, leaky lines, stuck cylinders etc. it's not expensive , just takes time.

RL Chilton

In all fairness guys, that's the first thing I do on my own cars. Just didn't want to scare anybody off.

One of my most-often used sayings when it comes to cars is, "If you don't have good brakes and good tires, you've got one good ride coming."

J Spencer

I would suspect a bad master cylinder, instead of pushing the fluid forward it is bypassing
internally. Seized wheel cylinders will normally create a hard pedal with no braking effort as the piston are not moving and applying the brakes. Note, fluid not being low points to a bad master.

Jim Spencer
Western New York Chapter

PAULARGETYPE

YOU SAY IT'S A 54 DOES IT HAVE POWER BRAKES ??? IF SO TREDAL VALVE MASTER CLY COULD BE THE TROUBLE AS OTHERS HAVE SAID YOU MUST HAVE GOOD BRAKES IT'S WHAT I DO BEFORE MAKING IT RUN GOOD ( MAKE SURE IT STOPS ) STEEL BRAKE LINES, WHEEL CYL'S ,MASTER CYL, RUBBER HOSES TO THE FRONT 2 WHEEL CYL'S AND 1 TO THE REAR END THERE ALL A MUST !!!!

dougson

If the car has been sitting a long time, rebuild the brakes completely, pull the drums (that'll be fun) , clean or replace everything, replace brake lines, new cylinders, master cylinder, etc. Only way to be sure to have reliable brakes.