MTFCA Forum

I have an early style brake lever on my 1910 T; it has a pin holding it in place as well as a key. I am trying to remove the brake lever from the assembly in order to have it brass plated but I cannot seem to get it off. I've fully removed the pin and drilled it out, I've heated it up and tried using a puller on it but nothing seems to work - it just won't budge! Does anyone have any suggestions??? I really want to brass plate the lever, as my T was built 2/4/10 and they were still plating them at that time. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello Bill,
What are you using for heat?
I am restoring an early 10 as well. In fact I think it was built on the same day as yours.
The emergency brake lever still had remnants of the original brass plating under the handle. I separated the handle from the shaft for plating as well.
Separating the lever and shaft was a real job. They will usually separate with minimal heat, (propane torch) But I had to heat this one with an acetylene torch. We heated it the whole way around, let it cool, then just heated the one side of it cherry red. I had the cross shaft loosely in a vice facing down and the lever straight out. I took a piece of steel slightly smaller in diameter than the cross shaft to hammer it out with. Still didn’t want to move. It was still a bear to get off.

Larry, thanks for the advice; I was using just a MAPP hand held torch but it still didn't budge. My son is going to take it to his shop this week and see if he can get it off. I'd be really interested in hearing more about your project, especially since they were produced the same day! Please send me a PM and a contact number and lets talk off line!

Is there a reason why the lever has to be removed to be plated? Why not just immerse the lever in the plating bath, suspended from the cross shaft? r is brass plating different from other types of plating?

Allan from down under.

I watched a YouTube video on brass plating with a wire brush wheel. Very interesting, if you heat to a few hundred degrees, then use a powered brass wire wheel it transfers a brass coating to the steel.
Since the original brass plating on the early Ford's was very thin, this might be a great solution to an authentic looking job without having to take it apart.

I've never tried it myself yet, but it seemed to work great in the video.
Michael Paul