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The worst driving I've ever seen was in Dallas at 7:30 am, and again at 5pm. You need an Abrams to drive in that mess!

Joe Douglas writes:
"There is something wrong with the TreadleVac that can not be fixed by any rebuilder and that is that even new when it failed you have lost all brakes..."

Yes, that's true. BUT WHY?????

Because ANY single line master cylinder is inherently unsafe. A dual line master cylinder is so much better and safer than a single line master any day of the week. The sooner people understand this the sooner we can move past trying to save a dead horse that is the BTV.

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i don't know exactly whats the problem that and you are more than welcome to check mine out or take it away to your lab to investigate -- i will post what happens when i take it out or apart but thats not gonna be soon, i've spent my budget that was planned for it and will have to save up the scratch to do it right ---

Funny thing is that my father purchased a '56 Exec brand-new and racked up nearly 75,000 miles, up and down the hills and mountains of Western Pennsylvania, on that car in nearly 7 years without one single problem with the TreadleVac. It was the lack of parts and competent service for the Ultramatic transmission in 1963 that led him to abandon the car in favor of a new BelAir, with a single-chamber master cylinder, that he drove for the next 7 years, without catastrophic failure. For years, he also towed charter buses with a '73 Chevy C60 wrecker equipped with nothing but a single-chamber master cylinder - even eight hours out to NJ for collision repair.

With proper service and maintenance, unexpected failures of ANY single chambered master cylinder are rare. Problems arise, however, when people start cutting corners or don't heed warning signs or look deep enough into a problem. Because of its unique design, I wouldn't trust the rebuild of a TreadleVac to just any brake shop, but I've overhauled more than one of these units myself with no trouble. Of course, I'm also willing to, when needed, search for and either make or have made those few parts that are not generally available. The compensator port spring just happens to be rearing its head more frequently these days - after over fifty years of service. I don't think any automaker or engineer expected any technology to last that long.

Yet Packard wasn't the only car to use the TreadleVac back in the day. You'll even find 'em in 55-56-57 Chebbies! <gasp> Gee, how did people ever make it out of the '50s alive?

Joe, the problems you are running into aren't exclusive to the TreadleVac or Packards, and you won't find parts for even more proprietary technologies like the Ultramatic transmission and Torsion-Level suspension at your local parts stores. Any vehicle that old is going to have issues, and they won't always be easy fixes. I know, I've gone through this with several vehicles from a variety of decades. The point I was trying to make was that you could probably have the TreadleVac properly rebuilt and get reliable service from it in a lot less time and with a lot less money than any conversion.

Yet, the bottom line is that, as long as it's your name on the title, you are entitled to do whatever you please with you car, but that doesn't mean everyone is gonna agree with what you do.

With that, I wish you best of luck in whatever course you choose.

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Not true, I spent less than $30 on my conversion, and that was including the brake fluid. Dollar for dollar and pound for pound, ditching the Death-Vac and replacing it with a modern setup isn't just the smart thing to do, it's the logical thing to do.

The fact IS, it's a 50+ year old piece of technology that IS PROVEN to be prone to failure.

The fact IS, they went away from the single line master cylinder to the dual line master cylinder because unless you're driving a Hudson, you have NO backup to get you to stop safely by using the brake pedal.

The fact IS, no matter how lucky you may seem to be, eventually that loaded chamber is going to come your way and the game of Russian Roulette will be over.

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funny thing is that my dad was a drunk and he drove all over the place for 40+ years drunk as a skunk more times than not and died in a car crash stone sober at 54 because someone wasn't watching the road and ran into him -- just because it didn't happen to you doesn't mean it won't happen to me -- i just don't think its worth the risk when i'll have other people in the car and would happily spend a thousand bucks on the brakes if that what it takes for it to be super reliable and safe and
the fact is, it is my car that i bought and as a matter of fact this is my build blog where i am updating stuff that i am going to do with MY car,

so kick rocks BH

This is what a 352 sounds like with glasspacks, for those that were interested

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Sounds nasty! I like it!

Craig

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Thanks Craig

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I wanted everybody to know that I have just spoke with Fred Rupert at MP Brakes (1-888-351-8785 Ext.211) and I explained the situation with the brakes and he said that if I send them my TreadleVac that they will make a bolt in replacement with the same valving and travel, pedal ratio, etc.. it will be a dual resevoir with remote fill and bolt right in -- will cost $495 but I'm sure that price will come down as more people buy the kit -- so, maybe this is a alternative or a "fix", I can't do it right now but I will in the near future but I wanted to let yall know that I have a possibility for those of us who want to change out the TreadleVac