Brake system

[milehighbear]

Ok, changed the wheel cylinder on Lil Blue and I now have brakes. Had trouble getting drum back on and after about 15 mins of fighting with it I remembered someone else having that trouble and someone made mention about releasing little brake adjustment and got to looking and found it, took shoes back off, released the adjustment down and put shoes back on and wallah, the drum went back on. Wife came out and pumped brakes and I bleed them and now have good brakes. Need to work on hand brake thou cause cable is sticking a little but I consider that minor. Also, I ran it at high idle for about 10 minutes and almost quit smoking. I think once I flush it out, put in new oil and then run it around some it will be good. Still have to put new valve cover gasket on but at least now I can drive it from back yard to put inside garage to work on it. Now, does the adjuster readjust itself back to where it was before. I didn't see an adjustment slot on back to adjust them again. The wheel does have some brake drag on it already. TY.

[ryanprins13]

You drive foreward and reverse stwpping on the brake and pulling the handbrake and it adjusts itself.
There is a specific way to do it that i can never remember so i just do that..
With the sticking cable- its probably the adjuster pivots. Just make sure to manually pull the cables back after you use the handbrake so they dont drag

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[william]

^ haha I used to have to push in on the e brake pivot arm to stop them from dragging. I've gotten some strange looks reaching my arms around each rear tire like I'm giving them a hug lol.

[milehighbear]

I remembered something else I wanted to know. Is the adjuster inside the brake shoes for the emergency brake or for petal brake system??

[Dragonhealer]

That adjusts the shoes, but affects both. Don't adjust the E-brake cables unless the shoes are bedded in and adjusted correctly.

[FestYboy]

The adjuster is for both, and to answer the first question: the adjuster takes a set as soon as you apply the hydraulic brakes, it's automatic. Though I find that even with a properly working system, the adjust never gets tight enough. To address that, I manually move the adjustment cam to the tolerance I want after the shoes have bedded to the drums. If you still use lug bolts, you can do the adjustment through one of the bolt holes, which eliminates the need to pull the drum/bearings.

Oh and the actuator arm for the e-brake cable should be SLOPPY loose.

[TorqueEffect]

Yeah, these brake adjusters, both Festiva and Aspire freeze up big time in the salty states.

I still need to dig into mine and rebuild them. Someone made a writeup somewhere here on the forums where he drilled and cut out the old pivots and replaced them with stainless nuts, bolts and washers. Because no matter how many times you spray penetrating oil in them and free them up until they are loose, they WILL freeze back up.

[lessersivad]

Yeah, these brake adjusters, both Festiva and Aspire freeze up big time in the salty states.

I still need to dig into mine and rebuild them. Someone made a writeup somewhere here on the forums where he drilled and cut out the old pivots and replaced them with stainless nuts, bolts and washers. Because no matter how many times you spray penetrating oil in them and free them up until they are loose, they WILL freeze back up.

I didn't write the article referred to but I did follow the advice and did it to my daily driver and it's been working great. One of the best things to do for the rear brakes.

[TominMO]

Perhaps you guys are referring to this one?

[firebush357]

I ordered some shoes off of Rock Auto and they were too big even with the adjuster all the way out so I actually had to grind about 3-5mm off of each side of the bottom mounting surface to make them fit properly.

[m715]

You gotta love it. Be sure and check your hard lines around the rear beam pivot on the drivers side to make ABSOLUTELY sure they are not corroded in the least. One of the big problems with our brakes are that although the lines are split (4 lines to 4 wheels/2 lines M/C to proportioning valve), the reservoir in the master cylinder will drain itself if there is a leak in the system and you will loose you brakes like the old single master cylinder systems before 1966. Don't find this out the hard way like I did long ago when lines rusted out where they make a sharp bend in front of the rear wheel, and there is a line connector to the right rear cylinder. PITA to change, but those and the left front line where it passes through the plastic grommet to the flex line go without warning first in my experience.

[milehighbear]

TY guys for the feedback. I will check all the lines and make sure they are good. You all have a great day now.

[m715]

Colorado doesn't fare badly with rust like West Virginia thank goodness. It was a good thing I was going slow when I lost a rear line once and the parking brake held. Happened to my Wife once too! The front lefts struck three times after the cars had set for an extended period, so that was always bringing one back from the dead while it was still at the house, or getting a car home after buying it . Between that and frozen calipers and rear adjusters, we could be great with English Girling brake systems. BTW, always loved the truck conversions. Always reminded me of the 66 half cab Bronco from long ago. Wish I still had him, but he rusted down to nothing.