Gauge? What gauge?
The only thing useful for getting a good initial adjustment on the old center-plane brakes was a shoe archer and I don’t know where you’d find one of those anymore. But even not having one is surmountable albeit a pain. That was something I learned on the very first driveway brake job I did on my ’57 Belvedere. Got all done and adjusted them (being careful to turn the adjusters the correct direction) and, cautiously backing out and driving on side streets only to find a very soft pedal. Re adjusting them didn’t help and it was only after dad asked the mechanics (that’s what they were in 1962. Technicians were the guys that played with oscilloscopes, gauges and dials in electronic shops or hospitals) at Edwards Motor Cars. They told him that if hadn’t arced the shoes all I had to do was drive the car gently and re-adjust them a couple of times. I did and guess what? The mechanics were right. Two more adjustments with putting a few miles on and the pedal was nice and solid. And the shoes lasted as long as I had the car with normal adjustments after that.
I’ve seen a lot of crap written about how hard it was to get and keep those brakes in adjustment. To me they were the easiest brakes to adjust, certainly easier then screwing around with those star wheel adjusters on Bendix style brakes. Once the brake had worn in to exactly match the drum (necessary even with arched shoes) the center planes could be properly adjusted in minutes with nothing more than a socket on a breaker bar. The hardest part (as with all brake adjusting) was getting the wheels off the ground so they were free to rotate. If a frame type garage hoist was available, great. If not, doing them using jacks and jack stands was a pain.
The two important things was to be absolutely sure the slot the shoe sat in at the “anchor” (non-moving) end was clean so the shoe was free to slide as needed. The other was to turn the adjuster the correct direction. As I recall remembering that I haven’t done a set of center plane brakes since the black 1960 dodge Seneca 4 door sedan I did in 1970, both shoes on the front were turned clockwise. On the rears, the forward shoe was clockwise and the rear shoe was counter clockwise.
The only gauge I am aware of that helps with adjust any brakes is the calipers used to preset self-adjusting drum brakes. Those are totally un-necessary with manually adjusting brakes and quite possibly a detriment on center planes. A gauge that was attached to the spindle could be helpful in getting the anchor end preset but the adjusters would still have to be set the “lowest” position until the drums were on. But again I never used one. Doing the first test drive and a few brake applications would set the anchor ends so after readjusting after the test drive (Always a part of a brake job on non self-adjusting brakes) they were good to go.
John Hagen
From: Forward Look Mopar Discussion List [mailto:L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jesus Jimenez
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2012 12:11 AM
To: L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [FWDLK] '55 brakes
For a good number of years, I have been unable to find a suitable gauge to adjust the brakes on my '55 Ply. Sometime ago, I purchased one of those caliper types that measure drum/shoes diameter, but since these brakes have two pivots points, it's difficult to use this gauge. The manual shows a gauge that rotates on the spindle which is more practical and easier to use.
I find it hard to adjust the shoes without a gauge a pain since I don't know whether to adjust the top or bottom anchor to fit them snuggly as this might wear out one side more than the other one.
So, does anybody know of a suitable gauge to use on these brakes?
What about the type of gauge that rotates on the spindle, is this still somewhere available?
Jesus '55 Ply Belv 6 cyl/ auto/manual brakes
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