janan5243 Posted July 3, 2015 Report Share Posted July 3, 2015 I had an interesting & educational experience with the brakes on my Desoto. While returning to my hardware store from getting the New York vehicle inspection ( car passed) I had to slow down for traffic ( small town traffic 30 mph). When I applied brakes, left front wheel grabbed, almost pulling wheel from hands. It then braked normally. Kept doing that intermittently. Pulled wheel & drum expecting to find a leaking cylinder. Bottom cylinder was seeping very slightly. No fluid on brakes. On inspection decided to rebuild cylinders. Got kits from NAPA. Could not get cylinders apart. After inspecting again decided to put new cylinders on. Pulled passenger side, lower cylinder leaking slightly, upper leaking enough to get fluid on shoe. Apparently front brakes were not working & the left one decided to work causing original problem. Got cylinders from NAPA. Chinese junk. Shoes were still in good shape. Decided to see how car braked with four wheels working before spending $130. plus shipping for new shoes. Have also been considering front discs. Got everything back together. cylinders would not bleed using vacuum bleeding tool. Finally had my better half pump brakes for bleeding. On to adjustment. AS seen on this forum, cut slots in end of adjusting bolts. Next time, if there is one, will weld nut on, again from this forum. Could not get a decent pedal. would get better when pumped indicating adjustment not right.when spinning tire to test adjustment, it would spin free then start to tighten up & then get very hard to turn. after the 5th or sixth time, jacking up, adjusting, test ride, noticed rub marks on inside of tires. They were rubbing on tie rod ends. That's why I couldn't get them adjusted. Couldn't figure out how that could happen. Didn't take front end apart. After much head scratching, ( saw dust leaking all over ) realised I hadn't checked tire pressure this season. Fronts 6 or 7 lbs low. After inflating to proper pressure, 32 lbs, 3/4" space between tire & tie rod end. Much easier to get proper adjustment. They're not perfect but I have a decent pedal now. I'm going to adjust rears next. I have several projects going on at other business. When they're done, I will pull rears. When I purchased car last year, PO told me he rebuilt brake system previous year. If you met him & saw the rest of his collection you would believe him. Lesson learned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgeb4ya Posted July 4, 2015 Report Share Posted July 4, 2015 If you did not remove the front wheel cylinders or lose the shoe anchor pin adjustment do not mess with trying to adjust the shoe anchor eccentric bolts. Your old shoes are already worn in and fitted to the drums. Assuming enough wear in mileage. If I am reusing old shoes and replacing just the W/cylinders I prick punch mark the shoe anchor pins so I can install them exactly like they were so I don't have to re adjust the anchors. Saves a ton of time. Just do the quick minor brake adjustment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janan5243 Posted July 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 I did replace the front cylinders but that's a good idea with the pin punch. I believe the cylinders were frozen & the shoes were not expanding, giving me a false pedal. The car stops straight but the pedal could be higher. I'm going to work on it this week. tks for the reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Hartman Posted July 10, 2015 Report Share Posted July 10, 2015 Replaced wheel cylinders on drivers side set anchors at same position (I think) using same shoes, can't hardly get brake drum back on. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgeb4ya Posted July 10, 2015 Report Share Posted July 10, 2015 (edited) The new wheel cylinders have a different piston and pin dimension than your old cylinders. Did you back off the minor cam adjustor a bit? If so and the drums still won't go on... you will have to move the anchor pins. I'll blame it on the todays inaccurate off shore machining practices! PS... Make sure you are using the short push rods. Edited July 10, 2015 by Dodgeb4ya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dale Posted July 10, 2015 Report Share Posted July 10, 2015 Once the shoe has brake fluid on it you might as well throw it away. It will grab. I suggest new cylinders shoes and master cyl. and check out those lines. Brake failure can be fatal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Hartman Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 New wheel cylinders, new master cylinder, old brake shoes,clean and dry.I wondered about push rods , have to check that. Did back off miner adjusters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Hartman Posted July 18, 2015 Report Share Posted July 18, 2015 Thanks for info about wheel cylinder push rods swapped old ones back in they are about 3/8 shorter than new ones brake drums back on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertKB Posted July 18, 2015 Report Share Posted July 18, 2015 I have used Brakekleen on shoes that have had brake fluid on them and the shoes did not grab afterward. They squealed a bit at first but that has gone away and the car brakes well without pulling. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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