1946 Ford Deluxe Tudor sedan brake pedal staying on in cold weather

[Vintagecarguy]

My grandfather just bought a 1946 Ford Deluxe Tudor sedan and we went to move it after it was delivered and the brake pedal would not come back off. The previous owner installed a dual reservoir master cylinder. Are these known to stick in cold weather? It was 16 - 19 degrees today. I've been around old cars since I was young and I have never seen this before. Thanks in advance.

[19tom40]

The brake shoes could be stuck to the drum, this would make it hard to move, but the brake lights would be off. There may not be enough free play at the pedal, keeping pressure on the shoes and the brake light switch, this would make it hard to move and the brake lights would be on. The dual master cylinder may not be compatible with the brake system on the car, making some of the shoes putting pressure on the drum.

My suggestion is to jack up the car and check each wheel to see if it can be turned. If all of them are frozen or just the front or back frozen, try opening the bleeder screw on the right rear wheel to relieve the pressure on the rear brakes and the right front wheel to remove pressure on the front brakes. If this solves your problem, there probably is not enough pedal free play. If it does not solve the problem, you can try backing off the adjustment cams to see if the brakes are not correctly adjusted. You may have to pull a drum to see what is causing the problem.

If this doesn't help, please post specific information on what you are experiencing. Your original post was too vague to give you a specific course of action.

Edited February 25, 2015 by 19tom40 (see edit history)

[Larry W]

In addition to Tom's advice, but more likely, if the car still has it's original brake hoses, or if replacements have been on there awhile, the material within may have deteriorated to the point of collapseing or have swelled the line closed, preventing the release of the brake.

[Vintagecarguy]

Thank you to 19tom40 and Larry W. I think the brakes are new, but I am not sure. I'll have to check the brakes the next time I'm over at my grandfather's house. I think the car was just cold because even the clutch pedal got stuck to the floor! I'll check and post what I found. Thanks again. Vintagecarguy.

[19tom40]

If the clutch pedal was stuck all the way down, you may be missing a return spring. If it was stuck all the way up, you will have to investigate the type of grease used to lubricate the bushings and for contamination on the rubber bumpers on the pedals.

You may also have some water or moisture that turned to ice.

[Vintagecarguy]

So, I checked the car today and the brake pedal was working fine. And the clutch pedal was working fine, too. Thank you both for your help.

[19tom40]

You should still check out the cause of the problem. It would not be nice to have the brakes fail again when you are away from home and have to be towed home.

[Vintagecarguy]

I should clarify, there never really was a problem with the brakes. They work fine. The problem was just that the pedal would not return quickly. Thanks again to everyone for the help.