The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline brake adjust 101

I just rebuilt all my wheel cyl. and master cyl. and replaced the brake hoses,filled her up with brake fluid and bled the lines untill I had a good solid brake pedal,a small test of stop'n abilty at the shop then hit the road,HOLY @*%#!!!,.Run'n about 40 I hit the brakes to make a left into a side road to complete my test loop and got jerked right, really hard!I let off the brakes and shot back left across the road ,from over compensating I guess?Well,my question is;with drums and everything together should the brakes rub slightly on the drum when you spin the wheel by hand or should the wheel spin freely with no contact at all!I had some contact when i first put it back together and backed it off so there was none and got somthing I was not expecting!any help on the proper way to adjust would be appreciated

Yikes! Is this on the '49 sedan?

I think that those had huck style (like my truck) brakes. On those you adjust the shoes out with a brake spoon until they touch the drums and then back them off until they do not touch anymore. (Usually 1-2 clicks)

Make sure that both wheels on the front are done the same. One side grabbing before the other will make the truck pull like that.

If you spin the drum and you've got intermittent scraping, then your drum is out of round and it would cause pulling too. Take it to a machine shop and have it turned.

i believe the common practice is to adjust the shoes out untill you hear a slight drag against the drums - the pads will "wear in" but you may have to adjust again after "x" number of miles. it sounds like your problem could be that or there is still an air pocket in the lines. i would adjust the shoes and see if that helps first. i would think that if the right front jerked it would mean that it might be ok but the other front needs to be adusted out. the experts will be on here soon and they will fix you up.

i believe the common practice is to adjust the shoes out untill you hear a slight drag against the drums - the pads will "wear in" but you may have to adjust again after "x" number of miles. it sounds like your problem could be that or there is still an air pocket in the lines. i would adjust the shoes and see if that helps first. i would think that if the right front jerked it would mean that it might be ok but the other front needs to be adusted out. the experts will be on here soon and they will fix you up.

I think djed50 is right. I also like to tighten up the adjusters until the drum is locked tight, and then back them off until they just drag lightly. I would assume all greasy finger prints are wiped off the drum and pads with brake clean.

Also consider that you could have brake hose issues. If it pulls hard to 1 side, it could mean that the brake hose to the OTHER side is restricted, causing a pull to the side with the good hose. It could also be in the rear, even though there is one main hose , there could be a problem with the metal line being kind of smashed shut at one point after the tee fitting.

I learned to adjust and test brakes from my older brother. He alway adjusted tight and then backed off intil the pads just rubbed. He then would spin the wheel and count the rotation (usually 1/2 to 3/4 rotation) He repeated this for each wheel. (He was a little OCD).

After that was the fun part. We would take the truck out (a 65 chevy panel truck) to a wide road with no cars on it, get going about 25 mph, let go of the wheel and then lockem up.

If it stopped straight (and it always did) he considered it a sucessful test.

I use the modified version...I keep my hands on the wheel.

[goes out to fix the front wheel]

Thanxs for the info,I got every thing adjusted right?(left them barley drag'n) but did notice the two front drums hav'n less drag in some spots than others,guess I'll carry'em to the machine shop,Another thing I noticed was the brake shoe on the driver side is making contact with the backing plate,there for causing a hang up,they go out but have trouble coming in,???,I just shimed the top to get it away from the backing plate,drove it home and had pretty descent brakes,stops fairly straight and I've got good pedal.I just dont know about that brake shoe hanging up on the backing plate,I dont think its the backing plate itself bent or warped and the brake shoes are the same on both sides,any ideas what this could be,I try'd every thing I could think of today but I'm stumped on this one.Maybe the shoes bent,,Naaaa.Maybe I'm not much of a brake man,,probably