hard brakes

[tarps3]

this isn't technically squarebird related, but sorta...

I have a friend looking to buy a '68 Ford (Galaxie maybe?) and he test drove it this weekend.

He said it didn't have disc or power brakes.
When he applied the brakes, he said the pedal was extremely hard to depress. The brakes seemed very stout, but it took a lot of effort to get them to engage.

Does anyone have any idea what may cause this?
Does he have air in the lines or something?

Casey
60 TBird

[Alexander]

RE: hard brakes

Manual brake pedals are harder to depress than power brakes.

Alexander
1959 Hardtop
1960 Golde Top

[peeeot]

RE: hard brakes

My brother has a 1966 mustang I6 with non-power drum brakes all around. That car only weighs about 2500 pounds, but like you say, the pedal travels with no effort and then suddenly hits a wall, at which point you have to push rather firmly to get the car to stop. I would say it was normal, but I had a '56 Chevrolet 210 4-door sedan with non-power drum brakes all around, and the braking was much more sensitive and required less overall effort. That car, with a v8, supposedly weighed more like 3300 pounds. I still have no explanation for the significant difference in the way the two similarly-designed systems felt.

Oh, and on the Mustang, we replaced all the shoes and all the wheel cylinders and bled the brakes thoroughly and it didn't change the brake feel.