I am tearing my hair out getting my brakes to work correctly. I have changed everything (pistons, shoes...) and my brakes squeal heavily (metallic noise) when applying a light foot on pedal. They shudder a lot too. I have to push the pedal in and brake hard to stop the noise. only issue is that I'm braking way too hard !! I dismantled everything and someone told me to reverse the anchor pin to better center the shoes. Results are worse !! I also tried to set the anchor pin correctly. Followed the manual but I am not sure the pin centers itself very easily. Plus there is not a lot of play. Any had experience with this ? Which way does the anchor pin go (see picture) ? Why do pads shudder ? (they seem to grab and release... I assume the pads are not correctly set ? I followed the manual though..). I will take anyone's advice !!!
Are you missing the adjustment lever? Looks like your adjustment screw doesn't have anything to push down on it for adjustment, unless it is hidden in the picture. Don't know if that would cause a squeak or not. Is your drum out of round?
Yes, you might try turning the drums. I would put the anchor pin whichever way centers the shoes best to the spindle.
Dr Roger, I do not have that part. It does not seem to be in the service manual though for 1960. I will do my best to center the shoes with the anchor pin. Someone mentioned I should have someone step on the brake to best set the anchor pin. I will also try that.
The ‘pins’ coming out of the wheel cylinders appear to be severely angled... I will see if I have time to pull one front wheel off my ‘59 today.
FYI The missing lever and other items are for self adjusting brakes. They were not available until later. What you have are correct manual adjust brakes. You should be putting some lithium grease - a very thin coating on the rub points fore and aft on the backing plates. That should help with the squealing. Then when everything is assembled including the drum you need to go in thru the hole in the backing plate and adjust the star wheel. Turning the drums should help with the shuddering.
My project B-59's front drums are empty. Now, I have some questions. Is that a B-60 backing plate, and what is that hub on there? BP is totally different than '59, and I thought they were interchangeable. B-59 has a round center 'hat' but your pic shows a squared hat. Chilton's sez '54-60 are Bendix w/ sliding anchors. B-61-62 is fixed anchor, yet you have an eccentric anchor. I have the B-59 shop manual procedure on adjusting the anchor pin, and there too it mentions the 'slotted hole' consistent with the sliding anchor type brakes. And I still say those wheel cylinder pushrods should NOT be coming out sharply angled like pictured. I suspect mis-matched components...
The anchor pin appears to be all the way up . That is why the wheel cylinder pins are angled up . Anchor pin should allow the brake shoes to be centered to the spindle . A " JIG " that could be attached or centered on the spindle could easily be made to " CENTER " the shoes to the spindle . Drums should also be cut .
I have not been able to get to the car yet... End of year workload is killing all my free time... More news to come !
