Brake Shoe Orientation

[alchemy]

Chaplin, you’d need to switch the backing plates to the proper year as the shoes.

[glennpm]

Hi Chaplin,

The bottom adjusters are not that difficult to adjust and only required when you replace the shoes. Regarding arcing, You can do it yourself by chalking the shoes, sanding with an electric sander and then checking again. The nuisance is mounting and un-mounting a few times. I wouldn't do this sanding/grinding with the old asbestos linings!

Brake adjustment shown on the pdf attached. Edits are mine.


Glenn

[acchaplin]

Originally Posted by glennpm

Hi Chaplin,

The bottom adjusters are not that difficult to adjust and only required when you replace the shoes. Regarding arcing, You can do it yourself by chalking the shoes, sanding with an electric sander and then checking again. The nuisance is mounting and un-mounting a few times. I wouldn't do this sanding/grinding with the old asbestos linings!

Brake adjustment shown on the pdf attached. Edits are mine.


Glenn

THANK YOU for the clarification and (step-by-step) instructions on the procedure for adjusting, and fitting the shoes to the drums!

Now, one question. Do I adjust the top adjusters first? Then the bottom anchor (got it spelled right this time) adjusters 2nd? Or, do the bottoms first then the tops?

Thanks again.

[glennpm]

Glad to help you!


You adjust the bottom anchors first. You only need to adjust the bottoms when the shoes are replaced. Subsequent adjustments are made only to the top.


Glenn

[acchaplin]

I forgot to ask. This 'thing' (pedal jack) 25-35 #'s of pressure on the brake pedal.

I have no ideal what one of those things even looks like. I doubt seriously I can even find one. So what can I use to make something that will work?

[glennpm]

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I made one from a 2X4 and scraps plus an old sock or two to protect the seat, patent pending :-)


I also use it at times after I've bled my brakes, leaving it in place overnight so most errant air bubbles work their way back to my master cylinder. I do the same on my motorcycles by wrapping the brake lever to the grip.

[glennpm]

I also made a tool from an oval slot in a discarded shoe, to make the tool shown for holding the tab when the nut is tightened. Vice grips on an adjustable wrench could be used too.

[Lincolnville]

delete.

[acchaplin]

You're going to have to show me what the original tool looks like, and how does it supply 25 pounds of fource on the brake pedal!

I can't picture how a old sock, a 2x4, a cresent wrench, and a pair of vice grips can exert exactly 25 pounds of pressure on the brake pedal?

[glennpm]

The 25 LB is subjective. You need a force on the brake pedal to make sure the shoes are tight against the brake drums that's all.


The wrenches have nothing to do with the the brake pedal force, they're for moving and holding the bottom adjustment pins.

[acchaplin]

Thank you again. It would have been way less confusing if the 'factory' would have just said just that, instead of stating " 25 pounds of applied force to the brake pedal with a special tool"!

Ol Henry had designed his motorized creation (meahanical contraption) simple. Simple to build (cheaper), simple to repair (cheaper), and mechanical in operation (less likely to break).

However, his first (mass produced) hydraulic brake design (finally in '39?) was far from simple!

I'm sending you a PM question.