A common problem with older drum brakes is a worn out backing plate. The backing plate has six pads built into them for the shoes to slide on. When these pads get worn over many years of service, (especially if the car was driven with either bad shoes or out-of-round drums) it can cause the shoes to jam into place while braking and jerking the car to a stop. This can also cause some unwanted noise from the pad not hitting the drum perpendicularly. You will know if this is the problem by removing the shoes and inspecting the backing plate for excessive wear. To fix it, either replace the backing plate with a good one (good luck) or weld the pads and machine the welds back down flat. It is possible to grind the welds flat with a grinder, but it is pretty hard to get them flat that way, and it may end up not much better. Afterwards, apply a small amount of anti-seize on the backing plate pads to prevent further wear - don't get it on the shoe face though. Hope this helps. Nathan Nuttall -----Original Message----- From: Forward Look Mopar Discussion List [mailto:L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Philippe Courant Sent: Monday, April 07, 2003 1:25 AM To: L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [FWDLK] rough brakes on '57 Hi, Yesterday the weather was fine so i drove my '57 as usual. And as usual i noted a very rough braking especially at low speed when i must stop at crossroads, red lights etc.. I must depress very carefully the pedal to stop the car ! If not i throw the front passengers in the windshield !! Sure that Imperial brakes well (far superior to my '58 Buick..) but rather too hard. Seems that ther's no progressivity. The braking is on a fraction of the pedal travel. At normal speed the braking is less rough but i 've always in mind this problem in case of emergency braking. -- Philippe COURANT (Pau, France)- Webmaster des sites ACCF et C-I-F Imperial 1957 Crown convertible Buick 1996 Roadmaster wagon - American Car Club de France (ACCF) : http://www.accf.com - Chrysler Imperial France (C-I-F) : http://www.ifrance.com/c-i-f - Cadillac " Standard of Excellence " : http://www.ifrance.com/accf-cad - SportsCars : http://www.ifrance.com/accf-sprtcar -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2003 Calendar voting results and ordering information is online! Please visit: http://www.forwardlook.net/calendar2003 for more information. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2003 Calendar voting results and ordering information is online! Please visit: http://www.forwardlook.net/calendar2003 for more information.
|