rear brake drum adjustment clearence drag ? problem ? 74 valiant
hi , need help or ideas with a brake issue i am having .
trying to get the valiant road / trip worthy for Carlisle on friday morning . which is about a 2 1/2 hours one way . i got a bunch of other stuff done , this is the last thing ( i hope ) . 3 days left .
what has happened so far is i was trying to adjust the brakes ( which , by the way , i have very little experience with ) because they were pulling to one side during braking and a thought they might be dragging. i was kinda in a hurry which i know is not the smartest or safest . so , i backed ALL 4 drums off as far as i could ( the fronts backed off alot , the rears , not much at all . drove it like that for short trips , like 2 to 6 miles and worked ok , as in not dangerous ( i wouldn't drive it if it was ) . stopped well , still pulled a little , but i thought not dragging.
then i took it for about a 40 minute ride , ( moderate amount of braking ) when i got back the rear drums were hot , even the wheel covers were hot , fronts were fine . so i then adjusted the fronts properly ( i think ) . going all the way tight , then backing off till spins freely with a very slight drag .
then i removed the rear wheels , just to have a look and the drivers side drum would not come off . i backed the star adjuster all the way off , which was barely a few turns/clicks and it was still hard to come off but did . passenger side same , but backed off a few turns more .
ok , so here's the thing , with the star adjusters all the way off as much as they can be , and the tops of the shoes tight to the post ( which i think would mean the wheel cylinders are also as far as they can go inward ) . there still does not feel like there is enough clearence . has anybody ever heard of this ? i have not had the car long and don't know what was done to it . i checked the parking brake and it seamed to work fine . brakes got tight , and when released , had slight slack in the cable , and brakes back to where the drum would come off and go back on again .
i left both of them backed off as the one side seamed too tight already , they both did spin a little . like if i grabbed the top a quickly spun it a half turn , it would go another half turn before stopping . but unless i am missing something , is there any other way to get more room ?
i thought of getting the drums cut to get some more space , but is that crazy ? the drums opening is exactly 9 inches with a regular tape measure . ( all i have for measuring ) shoes from outside to outside were about 1/16" less then 9 inches with and even less accurate eyeballing the measuring tape in front of axle . drums appear to be flat ( on countertop , all i have for flatness checking , sorry ) material on shoes looks like they are still thick .
also , i drove it like that for 20 miles and used the brakes almost not at all and all the drums were warm with the drivers rear being slightly warmer . not sure what normal is though , i know there should be some heat .
any thoughts or suggestions ?
i will try to add a few pics . maybe you might see something wrong .
sorry for the run on sentences and rambling , i been out in the hot heat and sun for 4 days now .
thanks !
hi , need help or ideas with a brake issue i am having .
trying to get the valiant road / trip worthy for Carlisle on friday morning . which is about a 2 1/2 hours one way . i got a bunch of other stuff done , this is the last thing ( i hope ) . 3 days left .
what has happened so far is i was trying to adjust the brakes ( which , by the way , i have very little experience with ) because they were pulling to one side during braking and a thought they might be dragging. i was kinda in a hurry which i know is not the smartest or safest . so , i backed ALL 4 drums off as far as i could ( the fronts backed off alot , the rears , not much at all . drove it like that for short trips , like 2 to 6 miles and worked ok , as in not dangerous ( i wouldn't drive it if it was ) . stopped well , still pulled a little , but i thought not dragging.
then i took it for about a 40 minute ride , ( moderate amount of braking ) when i got back the rear drums were hot , even the wheel covers were hot , fronts were fine . so i then adjusted the fronts properly ( i think ) . going all the way tight , then backing off till spins freely with a very slight drag .
then i removed the rear wheels , just to have a look and the drivers side drum would not come off . i backed the star adjuster all the way off , which was barely a few turns/clicks and it was still hard to come off but did . passenger side same , but backed off a few turns more .
ok , so here's the thing , with the star adjusters all the way off as much as they can be , and the tops of the shoes tight to the post ( which i think would mean the wheel cylinders are also as far as they can go inward ) . there still does not feel like there is enough clearence . has anybody ever heard of this ? i have not had the car long and don't know what was done to it . i checked the parking brake and it seamed to work fine . brakes got tight , and when released , had slight slack in the cable , and brakes back to where the drum would come off and go back on again .
i left both of them backed off as the one side seamed too tight already , they both did spin a little . like if i grabbed the top a quickly spun it a half turn , it would go another half turn before stopping . but unless i am missing something , is there any other way to get more room ?
i thought of getting the drums cut to get some more space , but is that crazy ? the drums opening is exactly 9 inches with a regular tape measure . ( all i have for measuring ) shoes from outside to outside were about 1/16" less then 9 inches with and even less accurate eyeballing the measuring tape in front of axle . drums appear to be flat ( on countertop , all i have for flatness checking , sorry ) material on shoes looks like they are still thick .
also , i drove it like that for 20 miles and used the brakes almost not at all and all the drums were warm with the drivers rear being slightly warmer . not sure what normal is though , i know there should be some heat .
any thoughts or suggestions ?
i will try to add a few pics . maybe you might see something wrong .
sorry for the run on sentences and rambling , i been out in the hot heat and sun for 4 days now .
thanks !