The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts NOS front drum brake pads, keep needing adjusting??

Hi All,
New brake pads on; new wheel cylinders. Tilton balance bar set up (just allows driver to adjust rear or front brake ratio preference).. I kept it at 50/50 front and back.. Willwood reservoirs one for front, one for back brakes.. no booster needed no leaks. Drove the truck 2 miles and pedal went way down for front brakes.. Got a little scary, readjusted fronts, then drove 5 miles, pedal went down again, not quite as far but seems like a good bit.. How many times is this acceptable to keep adjusting it and pedal going down... Can old new brake pads be a bad idea? Should I have had the shoes redone with more modern material?

As long as you can adjust the shoes to take up the slack they may be wearing in and shaping themselves to the drums. If you are raising each wheel off the ground and adjusting them until they drag a little then driving I would keep at it until no more pedal loss. Are you sure the master cylinder is not bypassing fluid?

Refresh our memories, is your truck brake system all stock except for the Tilton Balance Bar with Master Cylinders?

What bore size MC's did you get from Tilton?

Mike B

Sure, front is all stock, rear is dana 60 axle with drums off a dump truck. 3/4" bore. Rear are new and havent needed any adjusting.

Did Tilton engineer the system for you? Is the system designed for Drum brakes? Seems like the MC bore is very small for your mostly stock system. Are you sure you have enough brake fluid volume from those MC's to fill the wheel cylinders? This could be part of the problem...a very small change in shoe wear makes the MC run out of travel.

Mike B

No one from tilton is personally engineering brakes for anyone (edit - that I am aware of). They just sell brake systems. The rear in this case has nothing to do with the front being on two separate MC's, so we can rule that out. Back to the front - so to speak, yes specifically designed for drum brakes only. That being said, I dont see much difference in the setup. The front brakes are connected to MC just like the old. No brake fluid is leaking. My concern is how much the pads will continue need adjusting before settling. Are we saying the original MC was a larger bore? [ edit =yes ] This one is dedicated to the front specifically, one for back one for front.. The fluid is easily as much as original. I clearly dont have a clue and neither did the tech guys when explaining any of this... Its as if they just said, here buy this. I think this is a separate subj from pad wear but I dont like the amount of press I need to stop this truck with these brakes.

It's going to take someone smarter than me to determine if the Tilton Master Cylinder (3/4 bore x 1" stroke) is big enough to handle the 1-1/4" stock wheel cylinders...your original MC had a 1-1/4" bore with a 1.225" stroke. Lack of MC volume will make shoe adjustment very critical...you'll have very little safety factor before the MC bottoms out with the shoes not touching the drums.

You can always pulled the front drums and look at the shoes to see if they are making full contact with the drums.

Mike B

You could be stopping via one axle only if the other axle MC is bottomed out and not helping...

Mike B

Thanks for the input Mike. Whew I am going to have to get a LARGER MC then I think. Whats even WORSE is that balance bar.. if one of the MCs goes to the floor you LOSE the rear brakes entirely too... eyeyyeee.. its not work the 'adjustment' ability to lose your brakes.. I am thinking find the same size MC in a willwood(thats whats on the tilton) .. Thank you thank you thank you all for any suggestions (not holding anyone to it) . Safety should be 1st.

Assuming you are working on your 1 1/2 ton?

Have you tried adjusting so you are at about 70% rear and 30% front? I would bias toward the rear and move it around a bit and see if that makes it better. smaller trucks and cars are biased toward the front but, I believe the big trucks are biased to the rear.

Thanks for the input guys. I can try that balancing when I get it back from the shop looking at it. The bore is actually 7/8 - a little better than 3/4 I learned. The guys at the shop seem to think the setup is just fine and will just need the brakes adjusted as they dial in. I will play this by ear.

Okay guys, just following up so all can learn from my experience too. The brakes work well now. I drove the truck 50 miles and they are good. It drives 55mph no problem but forget stopping fast.. better give plenty of room. I am going to attempt to move my tilton balance bar adjustment to favor the rear slightly..