Honest opinion ? O.K. here goes :
I have a '49 with Hucks , I use this truck for _work_ as well as hobbying , I tow cars with it and haul scrap steel , old cast iron engines , trannies etc. and I like to tour in it , up & down steep mountains on narrow curvy roads .
I like to drive fast too .
It stops O.K. . not great but good enough , I can lock up all four wheels when needs be .
I do plan my stops when I'm loaded up .
DO NOT have the brake drums turned or " Trued Up " ! they were _barely_ thick enough when the truck was new and turning them makes them unable to dissapate heat buildup , this leads to rapid brake fade , evidenced by the brake pedal going slowly to the floor as you're frantically standing on it .
New Huck drums are not currently avaiable , I just found a shed with some nice looking ones removed and stored some 30 years ago , gotta look into them .
Wagner still makes ALL the hydraulic parts , master & wheel cylinders , hoses etc. so you should replace all of them now rather than rebuilding , this way you'll be able to rebuild them again as needed in the future .
When having the brake shoes relined , have the reliner use " F F " grade friction materiel and see if they'll re-line the full length of the shoes , they like to twll you it doesn't matter but in truth , it makes a HUGE diferance in total swept area .
I use bonded brake shoes but riveted ones will have far better stopping power and last longer too .
You may find the need to do several adjustments as the new shoes bed in , I had to re-adjust them once a week for three _months_ as the DPO ahd assembled it all wrong and never re-adjusted so the new shoes were worn all wonky .
If you're building a hobby truck, Huck brakes are fine , once set up correctly .
I hope this helps...
-Nate