66 Valiant, rear brake questions

I have a full upgrade for all the running gear on the car, but I'm not ready to take the plunge quite yet. This will include new rear end, new front end, brand new and better brakes all around, etc. The current brakes were leaking badly so to buy some time I replaced all the leaky wheel cylinders. First brake job I've done in about 40 years, it went better than I expected. It's back together, all I need to do is adjust the shoes and bleed the system. After this adventure, I have two questions.

Here are the rear brakes, first the right side, then the left. The right side has a short cable attaching to the adjustment star, the left side does not. Why is this? I would expect both sides to be the same. (The return spring on the left adjustment star is broken so it's missing in the photo - a replacement should be here tomorrow.)



And lastly, when I got done buttoning up the left rear, I found this clip right where I was working. I didn't see it during either assembly or re-assembly, but it's clear it came from somewhere on the brakes. It is about 3/4" tall by 3/8" wide, and appears to some kind of keeper clip. Does anyone know what it is?

The "clip" is one coil of the brake shoe separator bar spring. The right side has four coils, the left only three. Also, the self adjuster cable and cable holder are both simply missing. You can get all of that in a master brake hardware kit. Under 20 bucks for sure.

You have two of the same springs one on the top of the shoes... There should be one of each spring on the top of the brake... Each side should have one blue spring (long) and one of the other spring (short)...

The star wheel is backwards on one side, the "star" should be toward the rear and then the cable and lever should also be to the rear of the brake and ride on the "star"... That is the self adjuster...

If you need new springs for the strut lever (the bracket that goes between the two shoes), go to NAPA and order part number 80744 and it will come with two of the strut lever springs... She lever should be installed so the spring is on the front side of the brake...

You are also missing the return spring on the bottom of the left brake which is used to pull the bottom of the brake shoes together when the brakes are applied... The way it's set up now, the bottom of that brake will not return like it should... One side of the spring goes to the hole in the bottom of the front brake shoe, and the other end attaches to the adjusting lever which is not installed on that side....

You need to fix these issues for the brakes to work right... Please don't drive it until you get it fixed properly, it can be dangerous that way...

RustyRatRod said:

The "clip" is one coil of the brake shoe separator bar spring. The right side has four coils, the left only three.

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RRR, you are correct, and get an Eagle Eye Award. I would not have puzzled that one out.

RustyRatRod said:

Also, the self adjuster cable and cable holder are both simply missing.

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Duh. I was wondering why they didn't match up, and it's been so long since I did a brake job, it didn't occur to me one of the PO's butchered the brakes. Which clearly, they did.

krazykuda said:

You have two of the same springs one on the top of the shoes... There should be one of each spring on the top of the brake... Each side should have one blue spring (long) and one of the other spring (short)...

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Thanks. I was trying to do a thrifty brake job to get it operational, but I'm not going to cheap out on brakes. New spring kits are ordered all around.

krazykuda said:

The star wheel is backwards on one side, the "star" should be toward the rear and then the cable and lever should also be to the rear of the brake and ride on the "star"... That is the self adjuster...

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Yup. No wonder what I have doesn't match the photos on the FSM. It was making me buggy trying to figure out what's going on. That's the orientation I had in my pre-repair photos so I put it back the same way.

krazykuda said:

You are also missing the return spring on the bottom of the left brake which is used to pull the bottom of the brake shoes together when the brakes are applied.

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This one I knew, the broken return spring was there and I ordered a replacement. After getting into this "thrifty" job, I'm now into it for about $150. Turns out only one of my brakes had a self-adjuster mechanism. The other three are simply missing. I assume some crappy shade-tree mechanic decided to shlock this together. No wonder it didn't stop real well. Full rebuild kits are on order all the way around. Many thanks for the help.

The good news, having taken this mess apart and put it together at all four holes, I know how to do it right and quickly - the correct rebuild will be a snap!

krazykuda said:

You need to fix these issues for the brakes to work right... Please don't drive it until you get it fixed properly, it can be dangerous that way...

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Agreed, I'm going to do it right before driving it.

Oh, and as if I'm not having enough financial fun, the really good looking tires I bought on the aftermarket wheels turned out to be over TWENTY years old. Holy Crap, Batman! I will be getting new skins before taking this on the road again. Good tires and brakes are non-negotiable in my book.