Lou Earle Posted May 12, 2007 Report Posted May 12, 2007 On my 47 2 door sedan - I drove it on a dirt road to check the brakes out after I had rebuilt the front cyls. The problem: when you first start to drive it after sitting a couple of days when you hit the brakes it pulls hard to right. It did this before the brake cyl rebuild and still doing it after. On dirt road when you hit brakes pulls hard to right and you can see where right tire skids inthe dirt. However drive it about 200 yards with foot on brake and brakes applied moderately and then they work fine- holding brake on while running a bit cures the problem - What is the problem ? got me stumped Lou Quote
Plymouthy Adams Posted May 12, 2007 Report Posted May 12, 2007 Lou..book says...contaminated shoe lining can cause paremature locking of the brake...second they suggest inspection of the anchor pins for slight loose fitting..these must be tight..usually if one sideis working very well..the other side is not working or not working as equally well..what are the conditions of yur brake hoses..is left one balooning on you.. Quote
Norm's Coupe Posted May 12, 2007 Report Posted May 12, 2007 Lou, Before switching to disc brakes I use to have the same thing happen. In addition, everyone I've talked to around here seemed to have the same problem you have. Not sure, but I think it has something to do with the fact that the cars sit so long during the winter months without driving. This allows moisture and rust to build up inside the drums. Once the car is driven on a regular basis the problem usually went away. It was just at the beginning of the season that people around here said they had the problem. Most people like myself did have new wheel cylinders, hoses and shoes, so that wasn't the problem. Even as a kid before old enough to drive in the 50's, I can remember my parents always riding the brake a little after going through deep water on the streets. If they didn't do that the brakes would grab when they wanted to stop. I use to do the same when I started driving, for the same reason. Quote
JIPJOBXX Posted May 12, 2007 Report Posted May 12, 2007 Well this may not be be your problem but here's my two cents worth. I had the same problem as your have been having and after so many taking the brakes drums oft and on I noticed that one flat washer was not in place. By this I mean the flat washer that fits on the primary adjusting bolt that is on the bottom. When I got the car the person who owned it took that washer and put in on the outside of the backing plate. It fit really good there but it was in the wrong place. As soon as I put that flat washer in the proper position my brakes started to work just fine. And someone just mentioned here that you should adjust your brakes really tight and then back oft just a smig well this works me also. Now I have no brake grabbing and my brake pedal stops about haft way down to the floor. PS. That flat washer is right under the brake shoe between the backing plate and the shoe. Quote
JIPJOBXX Posted May 12, 2007 Report Posted May 12, 2007 You might check those washers with the felt in them and put a little oil on them also. Quote
FMSPEED49 Posted May 14, 2007 Report Posted May 14, 2007 Mine does ithe same thing, bad when you forget to ride em, and slide sidways to the stop light, but then all is fine, and only happens after it sits for more than a week Quote
bob westphal Posted May 14, 2007 Report Posted May 14, 2007 The shoe anchors are extremely essential to proper braking. That's why MoPar designed the shoe alignment tool. The problem is mal-adjusted shoe anchors. When you first hit the brake the shoes are out of alignment. After you drag the brake momentarily, the shoe adjusts itself by the wheel cylinder taking up the slack and stay that way for the period of your drive because you are using the brake periodically. When you park the car and let it sit the wheel cylinder will return to it's original position, which is a mal-adjustment. The cycle repeats itself every time you drive the car. With a lot of experience you can get a proper adjustment without the tool but it's hard and time consuming. The procedure is outlined in the MoPar repair manual. Quote
JIPJOBXX Posted May 14, 2007 Report Posted May 14, 2007 You can make a tool to check to see if your shoes are close to being with in specs. By this I mean that the shoes are concentric with axle. The front end is easy. I just used a three way peice of PVC piping and from that I attached another peice of plastic pipe and an elbow with another short peice of pipe. The pcv three way peice fit fairly tight on the axle and with this jig you can make a sweep of the shoes and you should get them pretty close to being in the right position. Of course you will haft to fit the hub on to the axle and check by feel or by using chalk to make sure shoes are hitting the hub from one end to the other or close to that. Cheap and fairly accurate! Beats paying 300 dollars for that special tool some people have in there collection of stuff. Quote
Brad Lustig Posted May 14, 2007 Report Posted May 14, 2007 Do you have a picture of your setup with the PVC? Quote
JIPJOBXX Posted May 14, 2007 Report Posted May 14, 2007 Here it is and as you can see it fairly easy to make up! That end peice is adjustable so you can get a finer fit. Good luck and all these peices can be bought at your local hardware store. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y4/1942dodge/DSC01987.jpg http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y4/1942dodge/DSC01987.jpg Quote
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