Brake Job Frustration

leadpot

leadpot

Senior Member
Doing a complete brake job on my 29 tudor. New cast iron drums, everything replaced on the backing plates, new roller tracks etc. Arched the shoes.
Have read, reread all the posts, printed out all the good tips etc I could find, wanted to make sure all was done correctly. Front brakes fine, centered, has a very slight drag with the drums installed & adjuster all the way back.

Rear brakes, the OD of the brake shoes measure 11 3/16". The ID of the drums are 10 15/16. Didn't want sand down the shoes because they would almost be down to the rivets in order to fit. So I started grinding down the adjusting shafts (one of the tips i read) being careful to maintain proper angle & keeping the pair the same length. Kept doing this until the drum slipped onto the shoes. Then I discovered they were not even touching the adjustment wedge & didn't engage until it popped off the cap.
Now have a new set of adjusters & am back where I started. Do I sand the shoes a little & grind the adjusting shaft a little to reach a happy medium? Could I safely have the drums turned down a 1/4" +?
 
To start, I was under the impression that the stock ID measurement of the drums should be 11"?

Then check to roller guides and wedges for proper operation and measurement.

I'm sure others will have more and/or better info for you.
 
Last edited:
The proceedure we use when installing new brake drums is:
1. Use 1/2" cutter/hole saw to remove the swedge area on the old drum.
2. Press out the old lug bolts.
3. chuck the hub in the lathe and do a skim cut on the drum mating surface of the hub to clean up any burrs, etc.
4. swedge the new drum on the hub.
5. chuck the hub and drum in the lathe and true up the drum to the hub to make sure the drum is perfectly round.
6. Cut the inside diameter of the dum to 11 inches.
If the shoes and related parts on the backing plates are installed correctly the drum should slip in place with no problems.
 
new drums come thicker so they can turned and trued to 11
also
make sure your e brake shoes are on the right way... there is an in and outside
 
Had sent my hubs out to one of the A vendors, they installed the drums & trued them. They are 11', my mistake in measuring. Have the backing plate with shoes installed on the bench, no emergency brake installed yet. The adjusting shafts are tight against the adj wedge & the rollers are tight against the cam with the cam at the full closed position. Hopefully I'm overlooking something simple but the shoes won't even begin to go into the drum.
 
Make sure the adjusting shafts are in the low part (slots) of the adjusting wedge,
it may gain you a few thousands.

Bob
 
Agree with Bob's thinking. Something is wrong in the adjusting shaft area. They could be installed 180 out. Make sure the aangle on the adjusting shaft is parallel to the angle of the wedge.
Also, in my earlier post, I failed to mention the diameter of the E-brake area should be approximately 9 5/8" Some of the new cast iron drums are considerably smaller in this area making it difficult to install the drums with the E-brake lining assembled.
 
Did you install new adjusting shafts in the backing plates ?

One of the local men had replaced just one of the original adjusting shafts on one of his front drums, he could not back the adjuster off enough to install the new cast iron drum.

The new adjusting shaft was much thicker at the end than a original; I replaced the shaft with a good original, backed it off and the drum went right on, then we made a normal adjustment of the shoes and everything worked just fine.

Apparently there are new adjusting shafts out there that have not been made to spec ?

Ron
 
Ron in Quincy said:

Apparently there are new adjusting shafts out there that have not been made to spec ?
Ron
Click to expand...


That very well could be the case. I've received some parts recently that I never dreamed of having fitment problems with. And it doesn't seem to matter which vendor you buy from... sad.
 
If the wedges weren't touching the adjuster, then it seems to me the problem is in that area. When I did my cast drums many years ago, I wasn't smart enough to have the emergency part turned, so I ground the shoes to fit. It works, because they don't wear, but it would have been a better job done the right way.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top