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While I had the 63 F85 in the air for some suspension work I decided to service the front drum brakes and found a couple surprises. I pulled the passenger side drum first which pulled right off since the adjuster was all the way collapsed.
When I pulled the drum I saw a spring sitting inside it and found one of the retaining clips hanging off the top of the rear shoe. While trying to understand what was going on, I noticed that there was no bar across the top (not sure what the name is) like the rear drums have (circled in red in rear drum pic below). I wasn't 100% sure if the fronts have that bar like the rear since the brakes had been "working", so I went to the driver side to compare but that drum wont come off. The adjuster is all the way in and the drum spins easy by hand but it wont pull off at all. A friend suggested that the drum could be attached to the hub and Id need to remove the spindle nut and remove together, or that the lugs are pressed through the drum and would need to be hammered out before the drum will come off.
Question #1. Should there be a notched bar across the top inside the drum like the rear has and if so is that something I can buy?
Question #2. How does the driver side drum come off or what could be hanging it up from pulling off?
pics of the driver side
Last edited by Jake707; June 10th, 2024 at 11:04 AM.
It seems the one drum had already been separated from the hub for one reason or another. In order to remove the other you must remove it as an assy with the hub.
It seems the one drum had already been separated from the hub for one reason or another. In order to remove the other you must remove it as an assy with the hub.
ok would that entail removing the center spindle nut, cover and bearing then it will slide off or the full assembly would need to be unbolted from the A arms?
Take the cotter pin out, undo the castle nut and slide the hub and brake drum off. The bearing will come out with the spindle. This would be a good time to repack the front wheel bearings.
ok would that entail removing the center spindle nut, cover and bearing then it will slide off or the full assembly would need to be unbolted from the A arms?
Yes, pull the dust cover, cotter pin, spindle nut, retaining washer, and outside wheel bearing, then slide the hub/drum off.
Got it! It kept catching the brake shoes so I got in there with some kroil and used a pry bar to spin the drum while I pulled. I ended up half way in the street when it finally came free lol.
Timken bearings look good, lil empty and the grease is old and black but not rusted or damaged looking so should be able to repack those. Decent amount of old grease in the hub, not sure if I should get that out and fill it back with new grease or just leave it alone.
Still not seeing why the passenger side adjuster arm is not under tension like the driver side. Can’t see anything I’m missing or anything done differently but driver side is pulled tight and snaps back on top of the adjuster sprocket while the passenger side is loose and I can remove the top spring easy
I see the upper springs are installed differently between the two, but I don't know if that would cause your issue.
With drum brakes, you have to ensure the shoes are sitting correctly. When the drum is on it aligns everything, but with the drum off the shoes can slip to the side and make the springs loose.
Got both sides back together and driver side is good but the passenger side still will not lock the adjuster. I tried applying some brake pressure when the drums were on to see if it “settled” anything in and no change.
The top of the arm needs to be pulled tighter as the double hook comes on and off by hand so there’s no downward pressure on to the star adjuster to lock it in place.
Think I figured out the problem and what caused issues on this side in the first place.
Bottom spring above the adjuster was stretched a bit and not pulling the bottom of the shoes together as tight as the driver side. Bent the eye back in a bit and it fits together as it should with that auto adjuster arm riding on top of the star adjuster.
Then found that it would adjust in with each click but when trying to expand the shoes it would lock against that arm which seemed backwards. So I took the adjuster back off and found I have two left side adjusters on the front end. The right side needs to spin opposite of the driver side but both mine spin the same and are marked "L" under the removable clip. So I robbed the adjuster from the right side of the original rear end and it spins reverse which should work.
So I think since it wouldn’t hold the tension setting, it collapsed and created enough slack for the spring to fall out and destroy the original drum.
What a PIA haha. Still working through 60 years of shade tree mechanics and finding their “fixes”. Good thing I kept the original rear end after the S10 swap to rob from, and who knew a 1/4” stretch in that spring eye would create such a problem. Haha.
June 10th, 2024, 10:58 AM
