I have a 69 cutlass and have some guys doing a little work on it. The called me and said that the front brakes are missing the brake shoe spreader bar and they cant locate one. My question is does anyone have a picture of this? and is it a spreader bar or spacer bar. Also, if anyone has any front bumper brackets they are looking to sell please let me know.


Thanks

 

Are they confusing the front with the back brakes which use such a bar for the emergency brake's manual activation?

 

no.. I asked them twice and they said the front. I believe it is called a space bar.

 

I wouldn't trust those "guys" doing your brake work, doesn't seem like they have any brake work experience. Only the rear shoes use the bar........

 

Pretty sure you mean this "bar / Spacer" right?

 

front drums are different from rear drums
Buy 'em a Chilton's?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chiltons-Rep...item25916e4dc4

 

If it is the flat bar with a slot in each end, has a spring on one end and is above the axle it is used on the rears only. Nice that they observed the difference between the front and rear; however, they may lack experience on cars with front drum brakes.

Hopefully they know that on each wheel there is a smaller shoe and a larger one. On each wheel the shoe with less lining goes forward. The backing/shoe that the friction material is mounted is often the same and it is easy to make the mistake of putting them on reversed.

 

Good point. The old leading/ trailing different shoe length trick.

Plus, the fronts are typically much wider.

LH thread adjusters on the RH side of the vehicle... proper way around...

Any mechanic should understand the function of the parts they are working with. If you understand the function of that "spreader bar" then you know why there isn't one on the front brakes.