The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Bendix versus Huck brakes

Why, specifically, are the 1951 and newer bendix brakes superior to the older style huck brakes ?
What is required to change the emergency/parking brake cable from huck to bendix on a pre-41 1/2 ton ?

Rusty46,

The Bendix is a self-energizing brake and is much simpler mechanically than the Huck.

On my '49 half-ton, the stock brake cables fit both the '56 passenger car and '69 passenger car rear ends that I had under it.

OlBlue,
could you fill me in on the "self energizing" description. As I recall, I think that refers to the fact that the friction of the leading shoe, contributes to the applied moment, and thus enhances the braking force. Why does this not occur with the Huck configuration? Is it the articulated arrangement that comes into play?

Truckernix, good description.The Huck design pivots at one end, the other end is expanded by the wheel cylinder, unlike the Bendix that floats at one end.Huck brakes are not inferior, just takes more brake pressure to stop the same as a Bendix design in normal driving.In fact, all racing drum brakes of the past, including cycles, use a Huck like design, the Bendix type is much more fade prone when used to the limit. Large truck air brakes are anchored similar to Huck brakes.Of course brake fade usually isn't an issue in normal driving and Bendix brake parts are easier to find.

I wonder if the Huck style is less prone to lock-up?

Opps,I may have made a small mistake as many racing drum brakes were a Huck like design but used twin leading shoes, two wheel cylinders or mechanical activation. One end of each shoe was anchored, one top one bottom so both shoes lead into drum rotation.However, if you search the web you will find info about the complaints from old car racers dealing with the fade prone and lock up prone Bendix brakes as compared to the previous Huck brakes.Maybe it takes so much pedal pressure, the Huck's have built in anti lock, lol.

Good explanations, thank you

I didn't know what "Huck" meant 'til I saw the post about motorcycle-style brakes. Those I know. 8-)

Most bikes used to have two shoes in each brake, activating on a single cam, which in turn was pulled by the cable. One shoe was 'leading' and tended to self-energize, the other was trailing and didn't. They wren't terribly grabby, or terribly powerful either.

Better bike brakes had two cams, so that both shoes were leading/self-energizing. But the self-energizing is speed-sensitive, so they tend to be grabby and very non-linear.

For either kind, really careful setup and maintenance can give you lots better brakes than average work. I'd bet cars are the same.

Change out Huck for Bendix? I dunno. My old '51 stopped OK. If I was gonna go to that much work, I'd at least opt for self-adjusting Bendix. But those didn't appear until the late 50s, I beleive. Or (gasp) go disk. ;-)

Cheers!
George
53 3600