The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts How do I adjust the brakes?

I know that I need to buy a shop manual, but maybe you guys could tell me how to adjust the brakes on my 63 C60. I've done it on smaller vehicles but I want to know how to do it correctly on this truck so I don't screw it up.

I can't tell you how because I don't have a manual for a C60 but I can offer you an idea I think is worth considering.
Pull the drums off an check the brakes out,just to make sure that the system is capable of giving you the brake performance your looking to achieve and stop that big thing.
I say this because of the surprise I got when I pulled the drums on my 2ton.
Now of course if you already know the condition of everything inside of the drums it won't be an issue, but you didn't say if you already had done that.

I haven't had to pull the drums yet. Not to say I won't this weekend. I just don't think they're all adjusted right so I was curious. Thanks

Hy Adam Ogle, jack up and block whichever axle you want to adjust, on the rear there should be two adjusting tool slots on each backing plate, after you get the rubber plugs out of the slots, insert your brake adjusting tool and fish around until you find the adjusting wheel, moving the outer end of the tool towards the axle housing will expand the shoe, expand until you feel a drag on the drum while rotating the wheel, now back off the adjustment three notches or clicks. Now perform the same operation at the other slot on that backing plate. Now move to the other rear wheel and repeat. You front axle could have a couple of different brake setups on it, so check it out and let us know if it has one adjusting slot, or two, or two hex headed adjuters sticking through the backing plate top and bottom just slightly off of the vertical, hope that helps.

Thanks for the help, I'll get the rears adjusted as soon as the wind dies down. I don't feel like filling my lungs with dirt today. I'll definately let you know on the front as soon as I can. Thanks

Ok, I finally got around to trying to adust the front brakes again. It does have the two hex head adjusters. How do I adjust these?

I assume your talking about the Huck style wheel cyl. which has a cap at each end with what would look like gear teeth around it.
The cap has a threaded screw in the center which goes in or out depending on which way its turned.
Turning the cap CW should cause the screw to come further out of the cap and push the shoe out to the drum, thus tightening the brakes.
When you feel a good amount of drag stop and back it off till theres very little or no drag, trying to get this even with both shoes.
If your lucky, and I wasn't with mine, the caps won't be frozen to the wheel cyl. If they are you will not be able to turn the gear looking thing you see looking through the slot in the backing plate.
Now I'm going from memory, so if they don't tighten just turn the cap the other way. Its just like a nut and bolt, the cap being the nut.
Dan

That is not the style of brakes I have on the front. This has what looks just like a bolt head sticking out on top and bottom. There are no slots on the backing plate like there are on the rear brakes. I think I may just jack it up and turn them one way or the other to see if I can tell which direction makes the shoes tighter.