how low is your pedal

[p24-1953]

when your brake pedal is pressed how close to the floor does it go?

originaly mine started 8" from the floor and traveled to 3/4" high before the car stoped.

after replacing the all cylinder, hoses and installing a rebuilt master cylinder. the pedal started at 8" adn stoped at 1.5"

today after doing my best to use a homemade brake guage and then doing a minor adjustment i now have a pedal that stops at 4" on the first press 4.5" on the second press. i know i have a little air in the lines, but i think im doing better.

When i did the minor adjustment i would tighten the cam untill the wheel would not spin and then back it off untill i could barely hear any contact, but the wheel would still spin freely. does this all sound correct?

[Don Coatney]

Fix the air in the system before you go any further. Then beg borrow or steal the correct adjustment tool or you will never be able to correctly adjust your brakes.

[p24-1953]

is that about the correct pedel amount? i know that the pads are the same distance heel an toe all the way around, is not what the brake guage does? i know i how to get a guage, but does it hurt to start like this?

[Don Coatney]

With air in the system the pedal travel will not be consistant.

[desoto1939]

P24:

How do you know that the distance betwwen the drum and the toe and also heel are the same distance?

Yes the Ammco tool or the MT19 miller gage will set up the shoes at the proper distance at the toe and heel.

The two tools insure that the shoes ar inteh proper postion to the arc of the shoe and also drum.

I have both tools and I do rent out the Ammco tool since it is a lot cheaper to mail because of the weight of the miller tool which weights in around 30-40 lbs.

Contact me regarding the ammco tool. Also go to the tech Archives and look at the two powere point presentation That I did for the AACA convention here in Phila.

Get the air out of the system first that is very important. Then we can start with the brake adjustment.

rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com

[p24-1953]

i built something sorta like this

http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/showthread.php?t=7468&highlight=brake+tool

once again thanks for the offer. it seems fair , but i thought i would first try this route. i will bleed them again, but felt like i was getting some where. just wondering if i was close.

[Plymouthy Adams]

while you are close and the pedal height is very good now when at stopped position...the hit and miss of the drag adjustment approach will yield the better pedal and maybe even good straight stopping but be sure the shoes are not going to indicate even wear later on at teardown..any uneven shoe contact on the drum also is a limit in the actual stopping power the car is capable of producing. This design is good when adjusted correctly but a pain in the butt to work with...

[greg g]

My brake job was done by a professional Old timer at a commercial vehicle brake shop.

Don't know if he used the gauge, but the car still stops straight, and the pedal travel is only about an inch or two. I hve toped up the MC once in the 8 years since they were done.

Only thing I have encountered as far as any concerns may be that deiving in the mountains, I do get some fade and accompaning longer pedal travel, But after they cool down the pedal comes back up. So they are a pretty good system, but if it gets time to do them again, I will probably switch over to front discs.

[Norm's Coupe]

when your brake pedal is pressed how close to the floor does it go?

originaly mine started 8" from the floor and traveled to 3/4" high before the car stoped.

after replacing the all cylinder, hoses and installing a rebuilt master cylinder. the pedal started at 8" adn stoped at 1.5"

today after doing my best to use a homemade brake guage and then doing a minor adjustment i now have a pedal that stops at 4" on the first press 4.5" on the second press. i know i have a little air in the lines, but i think im doing better.

When i did the minor adjustment i would tighten the cam untill the wheel would not spin and then back it off untill i could barely hear any contact, but the wheel would still spin freely. does this all sound correct?

Sounds like you are using the right method to adjust the brakes without the tool. But.........as mentioned, if the pedal doesn't stay the same all the time, you still have air in the system that you should bleed out. Then the pedal should stay the same height every time you use it. If the car is not pulling to either side when stopping, the heel and toe adjustment is also correct. I did mine that way years ago. When I removed the front brakes to go to disc brakes, the shoes were wearing nice and even.

[Dodgeb4ya]

Shouldn't the shoe radius (arc) match the drum radius before even attempting to use the guage sets.? What happens if you install a set of new shoes on a oversize drum and use the brake tools to set the toe and heel? Won't the center portion of the shoe touch the drum surface before the toe and heel touch which also can couse a soft pedal from shoe web flexing? You cannot really get the toe and heel adjusted close to the .006" adjustments because of shoe rocking at the center of the lining. I think the shoes really should be arched to the drum before using the 1750 or the MT-19 IMO. This will assure 100% surface contact with correct anchor adjustments after shoe arching.

Bob

[Norm's Coupe]

Just a little note about manufacturers service manuals that state you need a special tool to do this or that. Those same statements are in the new car books too. But...........there are ways of doing things without the special tools they mention.

Example: The service manual for the 95 Chevy Lumina APV states you need the special tool to read the computer codes when trouble shooting. Said plug in the special tool and then read the code that flashes on the engine light in the dash. Well, guess what. I use to read mine with a paper clip bent to insert in the sockets for reading the codes. That was a "special tool" I guess since it gave me the codes. Same applies to the "special tools" in the old mopar books.

[Dodgeb4ya]

Just a little note about manufacturers service manuals that state you need a special tool to do this or that. Those same statements are in the new car books too. But...........there are ways of doing things without the special tools they mention.

Example: The service manual for the 95 Chevy Lumina APV states you need the special tool to read the computer codes when trouble shooting. Said plug in the special tool and then read the code that flashes on the engine light in the dash. Well' date=' guess what. I use to read mine with a paper clip bent to insert in the sockets for reading the codes. That was a "special tool" I guess since it gave me the codes. Same applies to the "special tools" in the old mopar books.[/quote']

Once again I agree that you do not need to use all these tools that are not easy to come by to adjust these old MoPar brakes up. In my previous post I was trying to show we can go on and on and on with these Lockheed brakes. For years and years all I did was leave the anchors at stock settings and put shoes on-adjust em up drive em and adjust em up again as the pedal and firmness came up it turned to a rock hard pedal. As long as they are bled out 100% and a few early minor adjustments on the new shoes they will conform to the drum and the clearance adjustment will make a rock hard 1-2" max pedal travel and you will be able to lock em up in a straight line!

Bob