Decided to adjust my 1957 3100's parking brake cables. That was the plan anyway...

Along the way, I fought my right rear drum adjustment and discovered (after four hours of frustration) that I had put the wrong pads on the rear. The rear brakes were the 2s and the fronts were 1 7/8s. Oops. I know who the idiot is to blame for that one! Swapped them out and everything started going easier.

But not easy...

I still could not get the top end of the pads to close up enough. After rooting through every possible cause, I figured out that the cables themselves were not releasing in the assembly. Imagine that...65 year old cables that were as frozen by rust as the rest of this wonderful heap. Fortunately, I had the ones from the 5-lug axle someone put on. Swapped those in, jury-rigged a couple of clips, and voila! The brakes were now in adjustment and the cables retracted as they should.

That allowed me to then start the adjustment job I had begun in the morning. About 1.5 hours later, I had a parking brake that was adjusted as per the specs in the manual (locked at less than 9 clicks out).

Took a test drive around the yard (still no doors, fenders, seat belts, or lights of any kind). Momma rode with me because she was feeling brave.

Learned a lot along the way. Now know every adjustment that can be made to this subsystem.

What a wonderful day.

Jim

1957 Chevrolet 3100 Stepside
235, 3-speed w/OD
In the Stovebolt Gallery