How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

On my 76 camaro stocker want to make sure no drag.
Thank You

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

First make sure the drums are perfectly round, make sure your return springs are not stretched or bent, and make sure your shoes have even thickness from top to bottom. Use a heavy grit sandpaper to round off the edges of the shoes. Lastly install the drums where the slide on and off with little or no resistance.

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

What Mark said...... Also disable/remove self adjusters....

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

Once all that is done, tighten the adjuster through the slot until the drum can not be turned. Then back it off until no drag. Put on a couple of lug nuts to make sure the drum stays on tight.

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

Lonnie,

I suggest removing the self adjusting hardware. You can do that by using a long return spring in each top position. To prevent the adjuster from moving flip that spring end to end. The "flipped" adjuster spring will prevent movement

To adjust, use a screwdriver to raise the spring off the adjuster star wheel.

Also, the above post contains good suggestions. The drum should slide off easily.

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

Thank You I will take your great advice.

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

I would like to add 1 more suggestion. On the backs of the brake shoes there are tabs that rest on the backing plate of the rear end. Place a dab of brake grease on it so the shoe moves smoothly and does not cut into the backing plate.
Auto parts stores have a nice synthetic brake grease in a white and black tub I highly recommend.
Toyota dealers have small packets of it too. It is the best.
Chris

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

On older cars that were made before self adjusters were used, the adjusters had much larger peaks on the star wheels used for adjusting the brakes. The larger space between the points allowed the lower shoe retaining springs to grab the star wheel tighter. You may still be able to buy the early style adjusters new, maybe ask for adjusters for something like a 57 Chevy , and see if they are the same length.
On my Mustangs rear drum brakes, I when I got rid of the self adjusting stuff, I cut down the female end of the adjustors enough to allow a jam nut to fit. Yes, you do have to remove the drums to adjust the brakes, but as long as the jam nut is tight, the brakes will never mysteriously adjust themselves too tight.

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

Good job Rory! I like the jam nut idea. And you are correct about the pre-self adjusting star wheels. With most GM products self adjusters began in 1963.

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

Mostly all covered already...

My opinion is that the aluminum 9.5 x 2 GM drums are worth a few hundredths anyway

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

Mark do i need to go to the dealer to purchase them. Thank You

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

You can try the wreckers, late 70's early 80's malibu, cutlass, etc. There getting hard to find nowadays. Discontinued at the dealer for years. All the jobber ones are cast.

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

and about the aluminum drums. Be careful about drums that have been machined several times and are way over the safe spec limit. They have been known to break away from the flange.

Because of the rarity they have become pricey and finding a pair within spec is a problem.

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

All true..
Use at your own risk. I've never had any trouble with good ones. I've got one pair left that I don't think I want to use...Maybe on a U/SA car ;-)

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

Personally, I wouldn't use aluminum drums. I put a pair on the rear of my car about 10-12 years ago. A close friend that worked in a brake shop told me to watch them close because they were noted for cracking the inner steel liner. Sure enough, within a couple of months there were cracks evident, so I tossed them. There's been a couple of stockers that I know of personally that went into the sand trap after breaking an aluminum drum.

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

Over my years as a techman I have been sent to the far end a few times to check on cars with brake failure. I have seen my share of broken aluminum brake drums that caused the problem. While they may be worth a couple hundredths, stopping safely run after run seems more worthwhile.

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

That's enough for me no aluminum drums !

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

Don't for get to readjust the rears after three or four runs or you may see your car wanting to creep through the lights. If you two step it will creep worse, also check yearly to see if the backing plate bolt holes have stretched. When you change rear tires from side to side pull the drums off and dump the break dust. We could hold the Cuda at 3200rpm with 1.75" X10" drums.

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

I am currently converting my footbrake car into a stocker... It has 4 wheel drum brakes (never had a problem out of them..).. is it worth the money to go to 4 wheel disc brakes?

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

How much weight do you want to lose vs cost? If you are stopping fine now with drum brakes, save your money. If you need to go on a weight saving spree, spend the big money on aftermarket lightweight disc brakes.

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

When people are building a stocker , I think the most popular question is " is it worth it". So my answer is this. It al depends on what you are trying to do. Run a few under the index or be the fastest car in the class. And more importantly, how much do you want to spend. Anytime you can make more power or lighten up rotating weight you can make the car quicker. Just how big is your wallet. If you are on a budget, get the basics right before you start looking for every hundredth. But don't forget 10 hundredths make a tenth. Good luck to all building cars. Gary

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

Gary, ( X2 )

Great advice Lonnie , you need to listen to those Parker boys !!!!

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

The aluminum GM rear drums save about 5 pounds each vs. cast iron. I have seen iron with stamped steel around the perimeter as well as the center, and some that were all cast around the outside, so the weight saving will vary. I have even used the aluminum ones on the front of an A body with X body (Nova, etc.) hubs that had removable drums. The 2.5" wide shoe hangs out a little. I'm glad I scored some aluminum drums when the pic-a-part yards had them.

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

The light weight disc brakes is the only way to go. Huge weight savings and the stopping power is much better. I could not believe the difference when I made the upgrade.

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

I agree. I can't imagine messing with drum brakes now.

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

Totally agree with Mike and Ed. I ran aluminum drums on the rear of my car until the end of the season then switched to mark Williams single caliper rears. I cannot believe how much better the holding and stopping power is. I even had the soft shoes that held way better than the stock ones.

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

One thing I did was swap the adjusters side for side (Fords have a right and left hand), then put a spacer in the middle of each one to the correct adjustment.

When the adjuster tries to adjust the brakes, it only succeeds in tightening the adjuster against the spacers.

If I do need to adjust the brakes tighter I just have to hand file the spacers the appropriate amount.

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

First I use two long shoes per wheel, meaning when doing the brakes it takes 2 sets of shoes to do the job.

I also assemble the brakes on the bench, measure the top where they meet and find a socket that is that OD to hold the shoes apart as if they were on the car. Then using 80 grit sand paper, scuff high spots of the shoes until you have 100% lining to drum contact, then adjust until they just scuff the drums, install on car, tighten lugs by hand with spacer to hold drum on, lightly seat drum with hammer and re-adjust on the car just until they hit the drum (There is a tool for it too)

I do this for the front and rear. All backing plates have three spots per shoe where they rub, you should sand this down, and then go to 400 sanded with WD40, then 1000, then 1500 then polish it with metal polish. Do the same with the shoes, and then coat it with Sta Lube synthetic brake grease,,, and your ready to rock!

Re: How to adjust the rear drum brakes
 

^^^^^ What Trmnator said. The 2 long(secondary)shoes provide more holding power when footbraking. You can also use a larger diameter wheel cylinder from a station wagon or whatever crosses over to provide more power to the shoes. More surface area of the wheel cyl provides more lbs per sq. in of pressure. Conversely less surface area of the master cyl piston provides more pressure. A larger MC piston provides more fluid flow with less pressure. If you switch to dic you most likely will need a larger bore MC. Also check pedal ratio 6:1 is what you want. 12" long pedal you want the MC to attach 2" down from the pivot point.