The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Question re: brakes on a '56 car rear

Hello!

I'm in the process of putting a rear end back together for the open driveline/T5 swap for my '53 3100. I'm using the rear end out of a '56 Chevy wagon. An old-timer at a local machine shop confirmed the year as '55 or '56 based on the configuration of the axle bearings and hold down plates.

Anyway, I just had the drums turned. The machined surface measures between 2 1/8 and 2 1/4" inches wide. The old brake shoes that came with the rear are 2" in width. However, the guys at NAPA say that the catalog shows that the rear brake shoes are supposed to be 1.75” in width, although ’58 – ’70 used 2” shoes in the rear.

Is it normal for the inside surface of a drum to be slightly wider than the surface of the shoe? In this case it’s 1/8” per side or less.

Could someone have replaced the original 1.75 drums with 2” drums, and if so, would that present any problems?

Lastly, I want to retrofit the rear brakes with self-adjusting hardware. Will doing so with the original style brake shoes present any problems?

Thanks…

Chris

yes the shoes should be 1.75, on the rear, the car had 2" on the front, someone got confused - the 2" might work OK but the fronts do more of the work .... for self adjusters with the earlier brake configuration yer on yer own

Bill

55-57 cars and trucks used the same shoes front & rear. 2" in front and 1.75" rear. The later cars and trucks used a wider shoe in the rear but the backing plate was different to accomodate it. The front & rear drums were the same width on 55-58 cars and 55-59 trucks. The only difference being 5 lug vs 6 lug. Forget the self adjusters.
Fred

Any GM self adjusters for 11" drum brakes should work. I used ones from the back of a 71 chevy 1/2 ton on the front of 51 chevy 1/2 ton.

You will need later model shoes to use the self adjusters. I wouldn't use self adjusters either. It s no big deal getting under it & adjusting them once or twice a year bwhen you service it. The brakes with manual adjusters Have a better feel to them.