Ford 861 Brake Issues (Still)

LBrown

New User
Location
Texas
I made a post a couple of days ago about having brake issues on my 1960 Ford 861 Diesel. I removed the drums and had them turned. Long story short they were trash and I had to get another set out of the junkyard. The new set of drums was turned and came out very nice. I installed them but ran into these problems:

1) I am still getting an uneven wear patten on the brake shoes. Instead of wearing on each break shoe all the across, I am only getting a wear pattern on the back side of the shoes near the brake adjusting screw. The side of the shoes near the brake cross shaft doesn't even have a scratch on it. I thought that the shoes were supposed to contact evenly on the brake drum.

2) When I adjust the brake adjusting screw to get a slight drag on the drum (per the book), I only get a sight drag 3/4 of a turn and then the drum gets really tight.

3) The RH Brake petal is still only 1" off the running board. All of the brake springs have been replaced with no change. I noticed that the end of the brake shoes have about a 1/8" gap between the slotted brake cross shaft. If I put an 1/8" washer between it the petal sits at a 3" height which is much better.

The brake shoes meet the same ford p#.

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.
 
Hmm. You replaced your sixty+ year-old drums with drums that are probably just as old. They might look OK after turning, but they're probably oversize now. YT carries new drums for $104 each.
 
Ok, fair. I probably need new brake drums, but how does that fix the uneven wear pattern and the RH brake petal sitting too low?
 
Ok, fair. I probably need new brake drums, but how does that fix the uneven wear pattern and the RH brake petal sitting too low?
Ok, fair. I probably need new brake drums, but how does that fix the uneven wear pattern and the RH brake petal sitting too low?
The curvature radius of your new brake shoes is significantly less than the radius of your newly-turned drums. Consequently when you tighten the adjuster, the shoes are only contacting the drums near the adjuster while there's a big gap up near the brake pedal cam. That's why most brake drums are marked with a maximum inside diameter; it's not that the drum is too thin if you turn it too far, but rather that your brakes won't work right. Just because your Ford drums aren't marked with a maximum I.D. doesn't mean you can turn them.
 
I made a post a couple of days ago about having brake issues on my 1960 Ford 861 Diesel. I removed the drums and had them turned. Long story short they were trash and I had to get another set out of the junkyard. The new set of drums was turned and came out very nice. I installed them but ran into these problems:

1) I am still getting an uneven wear patten on the brake shoes. Instead of wearing on each break shoe all the across, I am only getting a wear pattern on the back side of the shoes near the brake adjusting screw. The side of the shoes near the brake cross shaft doesn't even have a scratch on it. I thought that the shoes were supposed to contact evenly on the brake drum.

2) When I adjust the brake adjusting screw to get a slight drag on the drum (per the book), I only get a sight drag 3/4 of a turn and then the drum gets really tight.

3) The RH Brake petal is still only 1" off the running board. All of the brake springs have been replaced with no change. I noticed that the end of the brake shoes have about a 1/8" gap between the slotted brake cross shaft. If I put an 1/8" washer between it the petal sits at a 3" height which is much better.

The brake shoes meet the same ford p#.

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.
One other idea. Brake shoes should self center in the drum. Unless the drums were turned way larger than reasonable, the shoes should self center. the pins holding the pivot end are intentionally sloppy to allow that to happen. thus they should be able to be adjusted so they work well. shoes expect new drum size, so new shoes in slightly larger drums are sanded to arc them to the drum curvature. Whacking the drum on its OD with a mallet can let them self center. Jim
 
I'll try that too, just bought new drums. Thanks for yalls help, I'll post back if I'm still having trouble.
 

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