Drum Brake Assembly Questions

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70DusterBob

70DusterBob

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I had someone work on my rear drum brakes. I believe just about all the Chrysler products in the late 60's and 70's had the same basic assembly design. My question is, I think the guy put the shoes backwards, like the front shoe in back and the back shoe in front.

Would this cause them to grab? The long shoe goes in the front right?

Thanks
 
Small shoe facing front and big shoe facing rear. When you understand how Bendix brakes work, you can see that reversing that can lead to grabby/sensitive braking.
 
Murray said:
Small shoe facing front and big shoe facing rear. When you understand how Bendix brakes work, you can see that reversing that can lead to grabby/sensitive braking.
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He had the emergency brake cable too tight. It is supposed to have just a bit of slack in it when it's not engaged, right? I guess he got the shoes on right, but I drove 40 miles and the shoe pads are half gone with the surface a bit shiny. The driver's side was adjusted way out, like 3 complete spins on the adjuster wheel. The passenger side was maybe 1/4 turn from 0. It supposedly had brand new shoes 40 miles ago, now they are just a hair over 3/16ths.
 
70DusterBob said:
He had the emergency brake cable too tight. It is supposed to have just a bit of slack in it when it's not engaged, right? I guess he got the shoes on right, but I drove 40 miles and the shoe pads are half gone with the surface a bit shiny. The driver's side was adjusted way out, like 3 complete spins on the adjuster wheel. The passenger side was maybe 1/4 turn from 0. It supposedly had brand new shoes 40 miles ago, now they are just a hair over 3/16ths.
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Maybe that's the reason the wheels turned so hard regarding your first post.
 
I thought of that, so after I put some slack in the ER cable, I tried it again and it was the same difficulty. But you did get me on the track to think of disconnecting the drive shaft to see if it's the transmission or a faulty diff assembly. Thanks.

When I depress the brake even going 10mph the shoes make a grinding or scraping noise they are so worn. I am fairly sure the shoes got cooked, will replace them. Oh and the drums were not that hard to get off as if they were stuck, but that was after I released the ER cable as well.
 
If the original shoes / backing plates were 9” and the new brakes 10” you will get drag from the cables.
The 10” require a different cable length.
I’m not sure if that’s your issue. Just spit balling.
 
Exactly the issue. I had 9's when to 10's for the 8-3/4. I had to back off the cable 2 full turns to loosen it. Plus the shoes are already worn down.
 
Nothing wrong with 3/16" of lining. that would last me over 100,000 miles........long as I did't forget and leave the E-brake on! :lol:
 
I like all of the slack out of my brake cables. Not tight mind you, just no slack.
 
cudamark said:
Nothing wrong with 3/16" of lining. that would last me over 100,000 miles........long as I did't forget and leave the E-brake on! :lol:
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Oh man... you are too funny. They "were" brand new shoes 40 miles ago. That's what I mean, should have lasted 30k miles.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I like all of the slack out of my brake cables. Not tight mind you, just no slack.
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Yeah, it was tight. Wore brand new shoes down to 3/16th inch in 40 miles. They are black on the surface and shiny, reflect light. Cooked you could even say.
 
Usually if they're adjusted too tight, you'll smell them cooking. Sometimes when they heat up like that they'll lock up and make the car come to a stop. I'd look at those drums real good too. If they've turned purple, I'd get new ones. When they get that hot, they will bell mouth, go out of round, and/or sometimes fracture due to the temper of the metal being changed.
 
cudamark said:
Usually if they're adjusted too tight, you'll smell them cooking. Sometimes when they heat up like that they'll lock up and make the car come to a stop. I'd look at those drums real good too. If they've turned purple, I'd get new ones. When they get that hot, they will bell mouth, go out of round, and/or sometimes fracture due to the temper of the metal being changed.
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The drums are shiny and smooth too, the place doing the turning hopefully will let me know if they are cooked too. I think they are okay, not blued or anything, no cracks as far as I looked, may be though, they got super hot.
 
If they didn't change color, they're probably ok. Most brake shops won't turn a drum that is blue or has hot spots in them. It tears up the cutting bit.
 
They had a fresh cut on them 40 miles ago. Now they only barely half a dull finish, somewhat shiny, and although they may have survived, I will get them cut, if they will cut them. They could be out of round.
 
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