'67 Parking Brake

[John G.]

I recently rebuilt my rear brakes including the parking brakes. It went quite smoothly except that I found that the rear cable was frozen on one side so I had to replace that as well.

I adjusted the parking brake shoes using the star wheel - opening them up all the way and then backing them off 10 notches.

My problem is that the brakes don't grab. Everything seems to works fine from the equalized to the brakes, but, even with the equalizer nuts adjusted all the way up, there is not enough cable tension to hold the brakes.

The front cable looks fine, but I'm wondering if it could have stretched to the point where there is just to much slack to allow the pads to grab.

Has anyone else had such a problem? Any suggestions for a remedy?

Thanks

[Timothy B.]

Re: '67 Parking Brake

John,

Brake shoe is adjusted with the tire installed. Spin the tire and turn the star wheel until you can't turn the wheel then back off 10 notches.

The cable equalizer is then adjusted with the hand lever (inside car) four clicks up to a tension that's in the book, I can't remember the spec.

[Gene M.]

Re: '67 Parking Brake

Make sure you still have some pad left on the shoes. The curvature of the shoe and the drum have to match with new shoes. If still new you may have to "run them in a little" to get the grab then readjust.

[Domenic T.]

Re: '67 Parking Brake

With new shoes I usually turn the tire till it grabs like Tim says but I only back off till I hear a slight rub.

That gives you the max pull and as Ron said the curv may not be the same on the shoe and drum.

The SLIGHT rub will aid in the break in of the shoe and you should not let it rub enough to get the drum hot.

DOM

[John H.]

Re: '67 Parking Brake

John,

Brake shoe is adjusted with the tire installed. Spin the tire and turn the star wheel until you can't turn the wheel then back off 10 notches.

Tim -

How does one adjust the parking brake star wheel with the tire installed when the only access with the adjusting tool is from the outboard side, through the hole in the outer face of the rotor "hat" that aligns with the adjustment hole in the spindle flange?

[Timothy B.]

Re: '67 Parking Brake

That's a good point John, I was thinking about conventional drum brake adjustment, I always spin the tire/wheel and the adjustment opening is in the rear.

The drag will feel different after the tire/rim is installed and if not tight enough the brake will not hold, that's what I was trying to imply.

My adjustment procedure is not possible with the tire installed but my intent was to imply the shoe make a positive contact with the rotor. It was also 6:15 AM with only two cups coffee.

[John G.]

Re: '67 Parking Brake

Thanks for the input guys. I'll get out there today and fiddle with the star adjustment to see how tight the wheel gets when its opened up all the way. Maybe 10 notched is too far to back off. It's a little difficult to "feel" subtle changes in drag (unless I disconnect the half-shafts - which seems a little extreme). I'll update what I find.

John

[John G.]

Re: '67 Parking Brake

I got the parking brake working pretty well. The nut on the equalizer is still almost at the end of the road, but I guess almost is still okay.

Anyway, I used the star wheel adjustment to open the pads as far as they's go. Then I backed them off 5 notches instead of the 8-10 I've read about in articles.

Anyway that seemed to do the trick. If I were brave I might back them off even less, but, I'd rather have a free wheeling rear end that a tight parking brake.

Thanks for the advice.

John

[Gary R.]

Re: '67 Parking Brake

John
I never go by that procedure of counting the clicks because I found the new star wheels a lot of times are too long. I end up machining most of them so I can get the shoes to fully collapse and then start from there. I tighten the shoes until they lock the rotor. Then I back off until the rotor is free, regardless of the # of clicks. Then I check the lever to see how much travel is in it, I like a short throw. I do this to both wheels then pull the handle up to a 45* angle and adjust the equalizer to lock them up there, test them and then if all is good do a short drive to make sure there are no issues. If they are dragging you're going to know by smell.

Note: to those who buy and use SS hardware, check the fit of all the parts first. I have to do this to every kit I get in. Things I've found were spring end radius off where they would not fit flat on the shoe. Hold down pins with rounded ends instead of the "arrowheads", long star wheels causing the shoes to drag when fully collapsed, Levers hitting the spring ends causing the spring to pop off. After installing check the action with several hand operations.

[John G.]

Re: '67 Parking Brake

Thanks Gary,

I wish everyone would read your reply before replacing rear brakes. It's a lot easier to check the radius of the pads before installing them than to try to figure out whats wrong after they are all assembled. I did replace ever thing with stainless. And the radius looked pretty good.

I feel like I've got the parking brake pads in a pretty good position - close but not too close to the drums. Still the adjustment nuts on the equalizer are tightened all the way up. Do you think the cables could have stretched? As mentioned in my original post, I replaced the rear cable, but the front cable is at least 16 years old (when I got the car) and potentially original.

John

[Gary R.]

Re: '67 Parking Brake

Very possible the cable is stretched. The few replacements I used on my cars over the past 15 years have a large cable diameter and ball end if I recall. They will fit but you may have to play with it a bit.