Front Drum Rebuild

C

Collin

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Just assembled the K frame and put the front brakes together. Pain in the ass packing those wheel bearings... Anyways, bought a new spring kit from NAPA for the front drums. Everything was exactly the same except for the adjusting spring. Slightly different and made it difficult to figure out just how it was supposed to go. Figured I would enclose some pictures to show you what I mean. Dont know if this will help anyone else down the road...
 
Collin said:
Just assembled the K frame and put the front brakes together. Pain in the ass packing those wheel bearings... Anyways, bought a new spring kit from NAPA for the front drums. Everything was exactly the same except for the adjusting spring. Slightly different and made it difficult to figure out just how it was supposed to go. Figured I would enclose some pictures to show you what I mean. Dont know if this will help anyone else down the road...
Click to expand...

I think the blue spring is on backwards. The adjusters always go on the back so the last picture you posted has the adjuster on wrong. The long shoe goes on the back with the adjuster. The shorter shoe always is on the front.
 
followed the mopar assembly guide/shop manual for installation and proper set up. Top shoes are set up with adjuster and long shoe in the back. Hopefully we did them both correct...not sure...ill re check!
 
does the adjuster you are using have rounded over teeth or sharper teeth? rounded for maually adjusted and sharper for auto adjusting. :cents:
 
mac said:
does the adjuster you are using have rounded over teeth or sharper teeth? rounded for maually adjusted and sharper for auto adjusting. :cents:
Click to expand...
I believe you got it Mac, my 11" manual had rounded adjusters, I never even gave a thought about the sharp ones
 
That lower spring is different for manual adjusting brakes. Most of the kits I've seen use the spring for the automatic adjuster which is what I believe is in the pic.

Two options, reuse the original spring or convert the brakes to automatic adjusters. You can clean and repaint the spring, IIRC, its black. IMHO, the upper springs do most of the work, so reusing the lower spring isn't a big deal.

Converting to automatic adjusters isn't a bad idea either. You'll have to change the adjuster as the star wheel is a much finer pitch (more notches) compared to the manual adjuster. All of the hardware for the conversion is available at your local NAPA.
 
Big John said:
That lower spring is different for manual adjusting brakes. Most of the kits I've seen use the spring for the automatic adjuster which is what I believe is in the pic....
Click to expand...


You are correct.
 
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