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Repairing and Installing Hydraulic Brakes on Horse Carriages and Buggies
Horse-drawn buggy and carriage hydraulic brakes are like automotive hydraulic brakes but have unique differences when troubleshooting or installing on buggy and carriage axles and spoked wheels. We have complete hydraulic drum brake kits available to retrofit a horse drawn vehicle or shoes and cylinder parts to rebuild existing worn brake parts.
The following pages covering the troubleshooting and installing hydraulic brakes are courtesy of our Amish carriage shop, Weaver Town Coach located in Bird-n-Hand PA. They have been in business since 1970 building and restoring buggies and carriages.
Unlike automobiles, horse-drawn vehicles use the horse(s) as the main brake. Brakes help take the load off the horse(s) on downhill slopes and from rolling forward at road crossings. Four-wheel brakes are rarely installed unless travel is routine on hilly roads.
If mounting on a wheel with steel tires, the standard is to mount on the front axle. If mounting on rubber tire wheels, then the standard is to mount the brakes on the rear wheels.
The brake kits and parts are primarily made for the Pennsylvania, Indiana-Ohio Amish-manufactured buggies and carriages. Although many of these use the same replacement parts used on antique horse-drawn vehicles over the years. If the part numbers we show still match, then they should work. If not, they basically are made to fit either a 1” or a 1-1/18” square axle.
The brake kits fit most Amish-made wood, fiberglass, or steel carriage and buggy wheels made in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana that use a bolt-in hub roller bearing hub. Brake installation should not be attempted on old-fashioned Sarven-style or wooden hubs, or hubs and spokes forged with rivets.
The hubs bolt onto the same bolt pattern as the roller-bearing hub flanges use. Standard spacing across the Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania Amish carriage builders utilize an 8-bolt pattern with a 2-7/8” center hole and 7/16” diameter bolt holes spaced 1-9/16” center to center.
Normally the hubs will fit using the same bolts holding the roller bearing hubs. Occasionally, new longer bolts will need to be installed. Steel wheels have machine hubs you will need to purchase the bolts locally to install the brake drums in threaded holes made into the hubs. The bolt pattern will still be the same on both the aluminum and steel wheels.
All steel wheels are rather new to the Amish communities. These are not the old-fashioned steel-spoke wheels, rather, they incorporate a machined steel hub, welded steel spokes, and a steel tire that is then powder-coated and equipped with either a steel or rubber tire.
We do have plain brake drums for old-style PA wheels. The drum has no mounting holes and requires the #3063 drum installation ring to align and drill matching holes to run bolts between the spokes using the #3063 ring on the front side of the wheel to anchor the bolts and nuts. Click Here for these parts.
