1963 Parking Brake Question

[Joel T.]

Hi all;

Here is a question for all you 1963 guys.

This weekend I replaced both rear backing plates on my drum brake car.. The "thump" I had been writing about is finally gone. Turns out that whoever did the trailing arms last did not put in the correct studs.. they would spin in place and not permit the nuts to tighten.. hence loose backing plates! A new set of LI Corvette studs, pounded in place, did the trick... now everything is as it should be!

Anyway, I've got her all back together... My right parking brake is tighter than the left.. I still get some dragging back there when I drive. Now, when reinstalling the brakes I noticed that the cable to the left had more free play than did the cable on the right which leads me to believe why the one side is tighter..

Question... is there any way to deal with this and get the two sides "balanced" so to speak??? The entire parking brake cable system is new...

Thanks,

Joel

[Stuart F.]

Re: 1963 Parking Brake Question

Joel;

I'm surprised you didn't get some replies to this by now. I had a similar situation with mine when I did the brakes last year. I had a local brake shop do some of the initial work due to my having the drums turned there. They had, as I discovered, not connected the E-Brake bar link between the front and back shoe in the right rear. All the parts were there, but they never engaged the bar. I doubt that this is your problem, but just thought I'd mention it. If nothing else, just check to make sure everything is installed correctly. Look at pictures, etc. I took a bunch before I started the work to refer to during reassembly.

Stu Fox

[Joel T.]

Re: 1963 Parking Brake Question

Hi Stu;

Thanks for the reply and for pushing me up the list again...

I checked the E Brake bars and they are there and in place. What I think is happening is that the right shoe gets tighter for some reason than the left. When I drive the car, with E Brake released, my right rear brake will get hot... noticeably hotter than the left rear. Everything in the braking system is new or rebuilt...

When I reassembled the rear brakes this weekend I noticed that the right E brake cable appeared tighter than the left... I disconnected the cable assembly mid-way up the car so as to create slack at the cable ends. What I noticed was that the left cable had about 2" of slack between the spring and the cable end while the right cable had no slack between the spring and cable end... I'm thinking this might suggest that the cable is not "centered" properly which causes it to tighten the right E brake more than the left....

Does this make any sense?

Thanks,

Joel

[Stuart F.]

Re: 1963 Parking Brake Question

Joel;

I believe that is the only thing that makes sense.

Stu Fox