Had an odd problem with my 1950 3600 the other day. I noticed that the brake pedal engaged at the very top somewhat unexpectedly - very much what the pedal would feel like if the parking brake was engaged. When I got home, I smelled a hot brake which was the right rear and I checked the parking brake and found it had no spring return to it. Ah ha I thought, a busted parking brake spring! Crawling under the truck, I found the springs to be good. Then I pulled the drum and found that the leading piston of the wheel cylinder had moved far out enough so that the inside edge of the end cap/adjuster on the cylinder was caught by the leaf spring and just a drop or two of brake fluid had collected at the bottom of the adjuster. I lifted the spring with a screwdriver and the adjuster popped back into to place. To me, it seemed that the piston on the leading side was out about twice as far as the trailing piston so I evened them up somewhat and then adjusted until the drum would not go on and then backed them off a bit so I could replace the drum. It makes me wonder if my drum is worn past a usable condition. I have no idea how thick the drum should be but my guess is that it feels thick enough. There must be a spec for wall thickness somewhere.
What do folks think about this?
Last edited by Gazz; 09/11/2019 5:42 PM.
