Drum Brake Experts in here please!

[09Frank65]

OK - this is almost Mustang related!

The original drum brakes on the 62 Falcon were not self adjusting. Plus the hardware was hard to find, especially the springs and clips that attach the shoes to the backing plate. So I changed the mounting to the pin style, a la 65 Mustang. Shoes, springs, everything else was identical, except for the wheel cylinders which I kept as 1962 Falcon.

It all worked out wonderfully, except for one thing. The location of the adjusting star wheel on the left side of the car does not line up with the slot in the backing plate. You can see what I'm talking about in this picture.

Turns out that on the Falcon, both adjusting stars were towards the front of the car as seen in the picture in this auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NICE-PR-ORIGINAL-FRONT-BRAKE-ASSYS-1960-62-FORD-FALCON-/220732274964?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3364ab3914

As is, I can either remove all the self adjusting hardware and just set it up for manual adjustment or just hope that I never have to manually adjust the left side.

But looking at it, I'm wondering if I couldn't just buy another set of right side adjusting hardware and put it on the left side. I can't see any reason it wouldn't work as well from the front shoe as it does from the back shoe.

Any thoughts?

 

[RyanG85]

Dont think that will work, It would loosen instead of tighten as it adjusts. What about making a new adjuster hole or picking up a mustang backing plate?

 

[09Frank65]

I don't think so, as long as I use RH lever and RH adjuster.

They don't know what side of the car they are on!

My only question I guess is whether the front shoe moves as much as the rear show when backing up as that's when the adjuster is supposed to operate (I think?).

 

[DAVER]

Elongate the hole in the backing plate with a Dremel or die grinder till you can get your adjusting spoon to the wheel. Or inspect the backing plate carefully to see of there is a die cut stamping in the plate and punch it out with a chisel if the factory built a common backing plate to be used left or right... (may not have such a stamping but worth a look).

 

[09Frank65]

They definitely used a common backing plate left to right.

I guess another alternative would be to get a set of 65 Mustang 6 cylinder backing plates.

I have ordered a pair of RH adjuster kits from NPD. I figure for $20 I can't really go wrong. The worst that can happen is that the adjusters won't work on the left side, but at least I'll still be able to adjust them manually.

The best thing that can happen is they'll be fine!

Thanks guys.

 

[AzPete]

You would be best served by making the backing plate slot longer as mentioned. Cheap, easy, and works.

 

[09Frank65]

Hey Pete.

I decided to disassemble front and back left side and mill new slots in the backing plates. I can actually mill a new one, same size as the old one and just put two plugs in.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

 

[AzPete]

Good deal.....

 

[70_Fastback]

Hey Pete.

I decided to disassemble front and back left side and mill new slots in the backing plates. I can actually mill a new one, same size as the old one and just put two plugs in.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

That's what I was going to say Frank. And get some recent pics of the Falcon up here - I'm sure everyone would love to see them.

 

[daveSanborn]

I don't think so, as long as I use RH lever and RH adjuster.

They don't know what side of the car they are on!

Cutting a new inspection port into the backing plate was the best "fix" for this situation.

Using RH hardware on the LH side, as previously mentioned would cause the drums to loosen, not tighten during operation. Remember that the adjusters are threaded differently between the two sides for this specific reason.