Hudson with Bendix Treadlvac power brake

Unknown
Unknown
edited November -1 in HUDSON
The Bendix TreadleVac (herein refered to as BTV) has been an ongoing and controversial topic among post war Packard owners. Especialy those with 55-56 Packards.



I am curious as to wheather or not the BTV application to Hudsons has also been controversial too.



OR to put it another way, what has been the Hudson owners experiences with BTV????

Comments

  • PAULARGETYPE
    PAULARGETYPE Senior Contributor
    Hi i've always just rebuilt the old treadlevac they work of i've owned my black 57 and have only rebuilt 3 times in 40 years i don't think thats to bad i do always use ( dot 5 ) brake fluid i have seen the post about going to another master cyl. Type but mine works good i see no reason to change i've had over 10 56/7s over the years
  • SuperDave
    SuperDave Senior Contributor
    It's a coincidence that i just had one off my friends 54 today. He said it wasn't working. I took his word for it and removed and bench checked it. A waste of time. It works fine and was rebuilt about 4 years ago. His problem is frozen or stuck wheel cylinders. As far as the BTV system? Seems to be a reliable system to me. I can't help but wonder if a dual master cylinder couldn't be adapted to add some additional safety...Thinking outa the box again..:eek:
  • Nevada Hudson
    Nevada Hudson Senior Contributor
    Never had a problem at all with mine on 56,57 Hudsons for about the same amount of years as Paul. But I do maintain them. Work just as good as my late model cars.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Does the Hudson BTV mount very low on the toe board about even with the frame rail or is it high on the firewall????



    Does the Hudson BTV have a 5/8 (0.655) diameter ram in the master cylinder????



    What i have asked above is exactly what the 55 and 56 Packards have.



    I'm trying to determine why the 55-56 Packards have so much BTV trouble when other makes of cars do not seem to have trouble.
  • PAULARGETYPE
    PAULARGETYPE Senior Contributor
    the Hudson cars 55,56,57 all fit under the car under the drivers feet 5/8 is what we have also
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Ok. Thanks for the replies.



    Let us consider for the moment "proper mainentance" of a BTV system.



    The Packard world seems to have several people who think proper maintenance is to rebuild the BTV every 3 to 5 years and to drain and flush and refill the entire brake system with new fluid every one to three years. I find such claim to be a rather unusualy and nearly unacceptable short maintenance interval.
  • onerare39
    onerare39 Expert Adviser, Member
    SuperDave wrote:
    It's a coincidence that i just had one off my friends 54 today. He said it wasn't working. I took his word for it and removed and bench checked it. A waste of time. It works fine and was rebuilt about 4 years ago. His problem is frozen or stuck wheel cylinders. As far as the BTV system? Seems to be a reliable system to me. I can't help but wonder if a dual master cylinder couldn't be adapted to add some additional safety...Thinking outa the box again..:eek:



    I had the exact same problem with my 54 Tredle-Vac! My symptoms were that you had to stand on the hard pedal, then all of a sudden the brakes would lock up! It turned out to be the rubber brake line that runs from the power brake unit to the distribution block on the frame. The rubber had deteriorated inside the hose at the metal fittings and expanded and therefore would not allow brake fluid to pass freely. I took a drill and drilled the rotten rubber out. It solved the problem. THIS IS NOT A PERMANENT FIX. I had a new hose made with the correct fittings at Tompkins Industries in Olathe, Kansas (it took them 10 min.). Google search (Tompkins Industries Hydraulic Adapters and Fittings). Tompkins has other locations around the country.



    John
  • SuperDave
    SuperDave Senior Contributor
    onerare39 wrote:
    I had the exact same problem with my 54 Tredle-Vac! My symptoms were that you had to stand on the hard pedal, then all of a sudden the brakes would lock up! It turned out to be the rubber brake line that runs from the power brake unit to the distribution block on the frame. The rubber had deteriorated inside the hose at the metal fittings and expanded and therefore would not allow brake fluid to pass freely. I took a drill and drilled the rotten rubber out. It solved the problem. THIS IS NOT A PERMANENT FIX. I had a new hose made with the correct fittings at Tompkins Industries in Olathe, Kansas (it took them 10 min.). Google search (Tompkins Industries Hydraulic Adapters and Fittings). Tompkins has other locations around the country.



    John

    Thanks John..

    A very good observation. I will certainly replace that thing.. it's only56 years old! I have replaced many flex hoses on GM trucks. Seems like they only lasted a few years before they swelled up and caused calipers to drag..It just never occured to me that these are the same construction. The wheel cylinder hoses were replaced a few years ago, so they should be OK.

    Dave
  • J Spencer
    J Spencer Expert Adviser
    onerare39 wrote:
    I had the exact same problem with my 54 Tredle-Vac! My symptoms were that you had to stand on the hard pedal, then all of a sudden the brakes would lock up! It turned out to be the rubber brake line that runs from the power brake unit to the distribution block on the frame. The rubber had deteriorated inside the hose at the metal fittings and expanded and therefore would not allow brake fluid to pass freely. I took a drill and drilled the rotten rubber out. It solved the problem. THIS IS NOT A PERMANENT FIX. I had a new hose made with the correct fittings at Tompkins Industries in Olathe, Kansas (it took them 10 min.). Google search (Tompkins Industries Hydraulic Adapters and Fittings). Tompkins has other locations around the country.



    John



    Thanks for that info, one of my Hudson friends also owns a 55 Olds with the HydroVac unit and has just spent a hefty sum to have the unit rebuilt plus new wheel cylinders (leaking). Still is not right, hard pedal. I thought of deteriorated vacuum hose to booster (low vacuum), but did not think of hoses and did not know about hose from unit to frame.

    I will relay info to him Wed night when we have supper together.



    Thanks!

    Jim Spencer
  • SuperDave
    SuperDave Senior Contributor
    Well I asked myself.. "Why did Hudson use a flex line?" The only reason I could think of was that they were worried about some motion between the frame and body.. Well I can't imagine there would be much. Also modern cars with firewall mounted master cylinders use rigid lines with a loop to absorb any flexing.. So that's what I did. I bought a rigid line, wrapped it around a quart paint can to provide loop strain relief and used it.. problem solved for another 56 years.
  • onerare39
    onerare39 Expert Adviser, Member
    Super Dave,

    That's what I considered doing also but went with a new flex line since it was available.

    You had said in your earlier post that you thought the wheel cylinders were frozen or stuck, I am going to assume that was not the case and that it was the rubber flex hose that was completely constricted. I don't know what you found when you removed the rubber flex hose, but I couldn't even run a small wire or blow compressed air through my old one.



    Glad that worked out for you



    John
  • SuperDave
    SuperDave Senior Contributor
    onerare39 wrote:
    Super Dave,

    That's what I considered doing also but went with a new flex line since it was available.

    You had said in your earlier post that you thought the wheel cylinders were frozen or stuck, I am going to assume that was not the case and that it was the rubber flex hose that was completely constricted. I don't know what you found when you removed the rubber flex hose, but I couldn't even run a small wire or blow compressed air through my old one.



    Glad that worked out for you



    John



    Well... using my "calibrated blow" test.

    I determined that the line was somewhat restricted, but not enough to cause the problem. The wheel cylinders are certainly sticking. But I have peace of mind that the old hose is outa there!
This discussion has been closed.

Categories

In this Discussion