The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Emergency Brake 1940

I have a 1940 truck and I need advice on how to adjust the emergency brake...right now when I pull the emergency brake it has very little drag, basically if you pull it, it does not make a noticeable difference in stopping, although when I adjust my brakes the shoes have a pretty decent hold on the drum, I know where all the adjustments are but I'm having trouble perfecting the adjustments to work properly

Have you done the parking brake adjustment inside the drums? That seems to be fairly important.

hmmm...could you explain how to do that

To adjust the parking brake cable, the brake shoes must be adjusted first. Do that with the cable disconnected the first time. I tried looking for a picture but had no luck. Some one have a picture? The cable attaches to the backing plate and the inner part will go through to an arm on the brake shoe. It acts like a lever and pulls the shoe into contact with the drum. So the shoe must be adjusted first, Then the cable is pulled tight to the actuating arm like the book says. When it is released the wheel must turn free.

Here is the adjustment that I mentioned. Toggle Adjustment