Re: Front brakes

Posted by bill on August 11, 1998 at 09:52:46

In Reply to: Front brakes
posted by Ken McGuire on August 11, 1998 at 09:18:51

: Rebuilding the brakes on my late 30 coupe. Two questions
: 1)Local brake specialists told me that they could turn out the drums and still have adequate material to be safe. The turning left a little ridge at the hub side edge of the braking surface.Do the shoes go all of the way out to the edge? If not, how far away from the inside edge of the drum can the ledge be, without hitting the lining?
: 2) Brattons advertizes front brake operating pin shims. With the pins and operating wedges installed, and manually moving the operating arm to the fully applied position, the wedge is also just at the fully extended position. Is this adequate, or do I need to use the shims?
That is not how you set it up.Put the drums on, and adjust the brakes so they just drag slightly, after being adjusted tight to stop the drum.Now pull the lever back in the direction of actuation, and see how far it goes until the slack is gone.It should not go too far, and needs to be forward of the 12 o'clock position, so that when fully actuated, it is still before 12 o'clock.The reason for this is that you have a greater mechanical advantage when pulling a lever, when it is before top dead center (12 o'clock).After tdc, it looses power.If when you check this way, your lever is too close to tdc, then add a shim and try again.
As a side note, if you really want brakes that stop, install brake floaters in place of the wedge.The additional braking power of having both shoes in contact with the drum at the same time is very noticeable.Also, while your brakes are still apart, consider a set of the cast iron rings that press over your drums.The steel drums get hot quickly, and can cause brake fade, and they also can be stretched under hard braking.I have a set of cast iron drums on my 29, but originals are hard to find,and replacements are costly.
bill's place in the country

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Re: Front brakes Marco August 11, 1998 at 12:39:27(0)

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