Fresh Brakes

[55 Fargo]

Her you go redone my rear brakes, machine drums=$20.00, Shoes=$30.00, Hardware and brake adjuster kits=$50.00.

Old shoes you can see were worn very poorly, had no auto adjuster parts, bought all new, wheel cyls in good shape. Drums machined well within the 10.090 limit...

Front brakes, shoes re-lined, machine drums total= $90.00

Total brake job, $190, so far

[Mark D]

Curious where you sourced the parts...? I have this on my list of to-do's this year.

[55 Fargo]

Mark, look at the brakes, they are 1988 Dodge Diplomat 10 inch rear drum brakes. Self energizing Bendix type brakes.Parts available anywhere.

This is on my 1955 Fargo truck, fronts are stock.....

[pflaming]

Rough estimate: I paid $225 for front discs,and $200 for a Wrangler axle with good brakes. So around $450. This is not to say I make the better choice it is only a comparison on costs. (The $225 does NOT include new king pins and bushings.

Nice looking brakes, lots of work involved I'm sure. None of the above includes what labor would add $$$$$

[Mark D]

Mark, look at the brakes, they are 1988 Dodge Diplomat 10 inch rear drum brakes. Self energizing Bendix type brakes.Parts available anywhere.

This is on my 1955 Fargo truck, fronts are stock.....

Yep, your right...

note to self pay attention to the pictures.

[Plymouthy Adams]

glad this was not the "other" forum, what you think Greg...lol

[55 Fargo]

Did the front brakes last night.

Had some problems, each side had on major adjuster anchor sezied, and last night with no oxycetelene torch at my disposal, could not unstick the 2.

Wheel cyls looked good, no leaking behind the boots, 1 pisotn was outa bit, once I removed the brake shoe, seamed hard to push back in, but all was clean, piston in wheel cyl steel shiny red paint on it.

I got the shoes installed, adjustment, not quite there.

Brakes are pretty good, will all lock up, pedal hieghtnot bad, a little spongy, gonna bleed brakes again.

I had a slight pulsation on first few test rides, drove around a bit, pulsation disappearing, same as my coupe.

My coupe with stock brakes got a whole lot better with some wear, and additional minor adjustments, wear on shoes pretty even.

I do want to go with disc brake conversion for the front, at some future point, for faster better braking.

But to be honest, my 47 coupe, brakes are super, and are darn near as good as my 2005 Caravan with power front dsic brakes and drums in the back.

I am going to pull out the brake tool, and do some tweaking after a few miles, I hope the wheel cyls are okay, meaning nothing seized on any of them...

[55 Fargo]

Re adjusted brakes, last night, pedal higher, and better braking.

I will put some miles on her now, and keep adjusting.

I really do see how this type of brake, needs to wear in a bit. Those old radial brake shoe grinders, would do this instantly, but if this tool was not available, some wear-in, makesa big difference..... PS gotta really thank Bob H, aka Dodgeb4ya, He really knows his stuff, and followed his guidance on the Lockheed braking systems.

It is amazing how this brake design is similar to todays semi-truck air brake shoe design...

[55 Fargo]

Hey all, did this brake a job earlier this summer,but discovered recently front left stock brake dragging hard.

I tried to back off the minor adjusters, infact backed them right off.

Placed drum back onto hub,they are seperated,not sure how this happened, they have modern studs, but the shop that did the machining,may have seperated them. I figured out where the drum to hub should be placed,made marks for reference.

I placed the wheel back on, and the wheel would barely turn, pissmeoff.

So I go to work on the 1 major anchor adjuster, and get it to turn, to back shoe away from drum contact, this worked.

I put the hub back on lossely, attached drum, and installed wheel, tightened wheel first,then tightened hub nut to applicable torque,re-installed cotterpin.

I then did a slight minor brake adjustment,this worked out finally,adjusted both front brakes, brakes are getting better,high pedal too.

The back brakes are 80s modern type,no issue with them, they are all new.

Have any of you ever experienced tis type of problem.

My truck was running a bit hotter,and you could feel a drag from the 1 left front brake.....

[Rusty O'Toole]

I have thought about the problem of arcing shoes to fit the drums without a machine. Why couldn't you do the job with a sanding block? Lay the shoe in the drum, if it does not fit tight all along the shoe, sand it down a bit at the high spot, try it, sand a little more etc until you get a tight fit. Then put the brakes together and do a major adjustment.

By the way I talked to a truck mechanic the other day and he says his shop has a device for truing truck brake shoes that goes right on the spindle and does them on the truck. Haven't seen it yet but this may be the answer for arcing brake shoes.

[Dodgeb4ya]

I used to use a brake shoe arching tool called the "Barret brake Doktor" that you had to set up and adjust to the drum size then mount it to the axle or spindle and then rotate it around the mounted shoes. It had a motor with a 4" sanding wheel that spun and ground down the shoe lining to the proper radius. One of my friends still has it. That machine probably shortened my life a bit. Did a good job though.

Bob

Edited July 17, 2012 by Dodgeb4ya

[55 Fargo]

Thanx Guys, will do the 'wear in" method, this worked extremely well in the 47 Chrysler, those brakes are stock, and quite good........