[ariff]

Well after replacing all hardware, all 4 shoes, front wheel cylinders, All soft lines, All 4 drums turned, Bleeding, replacing porp valve, check all lines for kinks, Adjusting. My car still pulls to the right when braking. However it seems to be better than before. Also seems to pull harder as the drums get hot.. I.E. longer I drive the car. I am about to go crazy... Is this just normal behavior for old drum brakes or Is there something I should still check. When braking hard I have to fight the steering wheel to turn the opposite direction to keep her straight.. I can not wait till I have enough $$ for front disk brake conversion.. Can the emergency brake be causing any problems? That is about the only thing I have not checked into. Thanks for any help.. I am game to try any suggestions..

 

[kketell]

Pulling is not usually the back brakes, so the e-brake is not likely to be the culprit.

How did you adjust the brakes? Is your front end tight and properly aligned?

For final adjustment you can find a nice deserted parking lot and then while backing up hit the brakes fairly hard repeatedly. This will cause the self-adjusters to do their job and should leave you with properly adjusted brakes. You may want to actually loosen the adjusters a bit before doing this so that there is something for them to do.

 

[ariff]

That is kinda what I figured on the ebrake. I mannually adjusted them to just rub a bit then took her out and did the old reverse brake trick.. I have a perfect parking lot next to my house for that. However people driving by kinda look at ya like you are a bit crazy. It does seem if I self-adjust them by reversing it helps for a bit, but then it is back to pulling. As for the front end I just had it aligned and I rebuilt the front end last year.

 

[CS_GT_red]

Assuming that there is no brake fluid or grease on the linings or drums (and there shouldn't be based on whatr you say) then the only thing left is adjustment or overturned drum. double check the adjustment first.

The emergency brake shouldn't be a concern as it should equally affect both back brakes. Check it though to make sure that one side is not tight (cable going to the brake after the "split) and the other completly broken.

Turning drums is inexact in todays environment of poorly trained "technicians" which is very loosly applied here. You might check arouns and spring for some new drums at least for the front which is where the stopping power really comes from anyway. If you do, get a decent quality drum.

These are my thoughts, maybe someone else can give you some other insight.

Good luck.

 

[sidewinder]

I'd like to start with you know that there is a primary shoe and a secondary shoe correct? assuming they are right, so did you clean and I mean clean or replace the adjuster? The backing plate where the shoes ride on, there should be three pads for each shoe these must be clean and not chewed up. I personally use a speical drum brake lube for these area. You may have a bleading problem ( I mean the brake system on the car). A comon mistake is to put primary and secondary shoes allmost anywhere. The primary (has less lining goes to the front of the car regardless of side. It may also be you have the brakes on certain wheels just adjusted in too far and there not working.

 

[ariff]

Ha. Ha. that is funny you ask about the primary and secondary shoes.. I learned about this the hard way and found out later I had them on backwards.. Thanks to some mis-infromation from the parts guy. So yes I did the second time around get that right, small on front larger shoe on back. As for the adjusters all have been replaced and greased. The pads on the backing plate were cleaned with a wire brush and I applied brake grease there as well as the post where the shoes meet. I have also had her in the shop a few times and they were not able to get it right. So I figured I'd DIY... It has been a good learning experience for me. Hell i can take apart a drum brake with my eyes closed now...

 

[Art]

Bad strut rod bushings will cause a braking pull... A stuck Ebrake cable will give you fits also!

 

[daveoxide]

I chased my brake pull for months, and I forget what eventually got rid of it!

I remember on my mustang, when I swapped drums from side to side, it would pull the other way. I thought then it was a problem with the drums. But, it turns out that the shoes had microscopic (that you could see with your eyes) cracks all along the shoe surface. I had changed shoes 3 times, and each time the shoes were cracking. I finally got a different quality brand of brake shoes and it has been fine ever since. Good luck, I know exactly what you are feeling.

 

[sloan]

I had the same dilemmna in my 65 coupe. It pulled to the right, i got pretty good with the steering wheel compensation.

I threw in the towel and did the granada disc brake thing. It cost about $300 ($50 for junkyard parts, another $250 for all the little stuff).

But i can jam the brakes now, and it stops straight.

The granada thing takes some time. I was down for like 3 months. But i was doing a complete suspension rebuild while I was taking everything apart.

But it was worth it to me. I dont' feel like I'm gonna die when I hit the brakes.

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