1970 Brake assembly procedure, spring locations? (2 Viewers)

[Scota4570]

As I inspect and adjust my brakes I see a discrepancy. Do the shoe return springs go both under or one under and one over the shoe? My manual possibly indicates the rear spring is under and the front is over.
A youtube video shows one over one under.

The last guy put both of the springs under. Since the last guy did a lots of crappy work I do not trust anything he did. Both under holds the shoes against the backing plate OK. My brakes have no retaining clips.

What is right for the early brake systems?

 

[peesalot]

IIRC , with clips/retainers springs same side, without clips, 1 front, 1 behind.

 

[charliemeyer007]

There is a pic of the placement for each location around here somewhere. On my 72 one is in front and the other is behind. I don't think brakes are a good item to experiment with, make it OEM and be confident it will work correctly,

 

[charliemeyer007]

https://www.sor.com/sorimages/product/brakeCyl.gif

 

[middlecalf]

IIRC , with clips/retainers springs same side, without clips, 1 front, 1 behind.

Other way around. @charliemeyer007 shows clipped version with one spring in front, one in back. Earlier unclippped shoes have both on back side to keep floating shoes toward backing plate as you noted @Scota4570.

 

[Scota4570]

Mine are different. There is no provision for spring clips to hold the shoes against the backing plate.

 

[middlecalf]

Both springs backside then.

 

[Scota4570]

Another observation...........IT is impossible to adjust the front cylinder on the driver's side, from the outside. The brake line is in the way.

Pretty crappy design, IMHO. This is the kind of issue that had me thinking of blowing it all out and having a disk conversion installed.

Hey, the little phillips screws that hold the drums on when the wheels are off?? DO they do anything? Several are missing. One rusted in the hole. They are peanut butter soft and the heads strip easily. Is there any reason not to delete the ones that remain?

 

[middlecalf]

Another observation...........IT is impossible to adjust the front cylinder on the driver's side, from the outside. The brake line is in the way.

If OEM and everything is where it’s suppose to be this isn’t possible. I suspect you’ve had something mod’d and/or replaced that’s not OEM or to OEM specs.

 

[Scota4570]

Not sure how it could be any other way. The banjo fitting routes the hard line right over the slot. There is insufficient space to move the tool.

 

[middlecalf]

Was the brake line replaced? That banjo fitting can rotate, it’s position is set by the brake line, it shouldn’t be over the adjustment slot.

 

[Scota4570]

I do not know the history on the banjo fitting. I inherited it from my Dad. We used it for hunting for 30 years. Back then it was mostly about keeping it running as cheap as possible. I spent a lot of time on it during the deer seasons fixing smaller problems. When something big came up he found "some guy" to do the work. Lots of the times the guy was a hack. That is how it now has a Chevy 230 engine rather than the original. Over the years many nonessential systems were deleted and and parts thrown away.

For the last 3-years I have been working in it with the goal to restore everything practical to work as designed. This month I am sorting the brakes. The last guy did not do a good job. The pedal was pulsing and only one wheel locked when braking hard.

The electrical system was a train wreck, I went through that and it is all good now. Wipers, windshield washer, horn, back up light, all of the body rubber and weather stripping and such were made right. The speedometer did not work and the temp gage had been deleted. The top was off for 40 years. The fiberglass was damaged. The metal had extra holes. I rebuilt the top, headliner too. IT now looks as it was made and is solid.

Now I am concentrating on making it drive good enough to be safe. I may take it to the shop in Stockton for assessment. I think that it may be worthwhile to rebuild the drive train. It is all pretty worn out and sloppy. Probably do the body and engine mounts too. I would also explore re installing a correct engine.

Anyway, I get frustrated with it sometimes. You all are a great resource,

Thanks,
Scot

 

[middlecalf]

Hang in there Scot, you’re making a lot of progress. These pesky things will eventually work their way out. At least that’s what I keep telling myself .

Here’s pics of my setups for this front driver’s side brake line (the year’s are earlier but I think similar enough for comparison). Maybe you have enough length to flex the line into a better position?

’65 FJ40 (sorry for the fuzzed up pic but I think you can see the line orientation)

’63 FJ45

 

[middlecalf]

And wrt those drum screws (“bolt, set” 90113-10007), I think I have a few missing on one or more of my wheels. My guess as to their purpose is to keep the drum from getting pulled off when you pull a wheel/rim. Drums can be a pain to put back on out in the boonies. But I’ve found that most of the time I have to “convince” (aka use a BFH) those drums off anyhow so those screws are superfluous, unless there’s some other purpose for them .

on edit: maybe simply an alignment aid

 

[charliemeyer007]

I have all my drum retaining screws, I anti seize them, so they don't rust in place.