Front brakes locked up

[David from Maine]

Hi everyone,
I am having a problem with my front brakes and need some input to figure it out.
First some background. I rebuilt the front brakes a few years ago with new parts, including a floater kit and new brake drums. They have adjusted and worked fine since I rebuilt them.
I am finishing up some various projects and getting the car ready for the season. I adjusted all of the brakes last week and drove it around the yard. They were all working fine. I washed the car and drove it into the garage and left it for the week, but before I finished up for the day, I tightened the lug nuts to 64 ft lbs as recommended in the Mechanics Handbook.
I started to pull it out of the garage today and found that both front wheels were locked up. I loosened up the brake adjustment wedge for both brakes and one turned freely but the other is still locked up.
Any thoughts on why they suddenly are locked up? Are the lug nuts too tight, which shouldn't affect the brakes, but I guess it is possible. If they are, what foot pound would you recommend that I tighten them too?
Thanks for your assistance.

[bobbader]

Lug nuts are probably not the problem. Washing the car just before moving it into the garage and leaving it for a week might have something to do with it. I'm assuming that when you mentioned "new brake drums" you mean new cast iron drums. If so, while they are still fairly new, they are very prone to attracting rust in a wet environment. Washing the car might just have been that environment. Being in the northeast, I'd also imagine you've had the same rainy weather we've had here on Long Island for the past couple of weeks. Humidity & lower than average air temps and the possibility of some water having splashed inside the drums could just add up to some rust on the drums. Bringing up the brake adjustment would have brought the linings that much closer to the drum surface. This is similar to what happens when a clutch disc sticks to a flywheel.

I'd try to loosen the adjusters a little more. If drum #2 still doesn't budge, just try moving the car back and forth slightly under engine power. If that doesn't work ................. sounds like time to remove the stubborn drum carefully and see what happened. (Even if it does work, removing both drums for a look-see inside to see what happened.)

[TMarsh]

I agree 100 percent with bobbader.

[nkaminar]

Try backing off the adjuster all the way on the one that is still locked up and take the brake rod off so that the arm is as forward as possible. Try working the wheel backward and forward by driving the car backward and forward (wheel still on ground). Take the drums off to inspect the brake action.

[Dr Foot]

You might try tapping stubborn brake drum with a hammer to loosen.

[Will N]

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Hmm, if everything was working correctly the shoes would have retracted from close contact with the brake drum surface when you parked it. Yeah, moisture often gets in between when you wash your car, but would enough rust form to lock up the front wheels to the point it wouldn't easily break loose when you tried backing it out? I think something kept the shoes from retracting. I've seen when loose backing plate bolts allow the backing plates to spin slightly when the brakes are applied, and that causes the shoes to grab hard and maybe they jammed open?

[Marshall V. Daut]

By "floaters", do you mean Ted's or the old floaters from the 1960's? See attached photo. If they are old ones, these were dangerous because they would extend past center when the brakes were applied and stay horizontal, locking up the front brakes. They were finally taken off the market after numerous complaints and even accidents caused by the front brakes locking up. If you have this older floater design, get rid of it post haste!

On the other hand, if you have Ted's improved floater design, that's probably not the cause of your drums locking up. As others have suggested, the problem may be caused by washing the car. Rust forms overnight between the brake shoe lining rivet heads and the fresh cast iron drum surface. Do you have the riveted-on linings ("Scandanavian") or the bonded type? I store my 1928 Phaeton in a ground level garage over the winter. In the springtime when it comes out of hibernation, like clockwork I can count on the front drums being seized against the front brake drums, which are cast iron. The brake shoes are the soft woven riveted style, which apparently causes a chemical reaction between the rivets and the cast iron material. I have to gun the engine and let out the clutch in 1st gear several times before the drums let loose of their death grip of the brake shoes. After that happens, the brakes are good for the rest of the season.

Are your drums moved out a bit from the backing plates, exposing a portion of the brake shoe material? When the edge of the brake drum rubs against the backing plate due to wear on the inner bearing race, the drums will squeal or even lock up. To compensate, some guys put thin washers behind the inner bearing or behind the bearing race to move the drum away from the backing plate. This leaves a gap around the circumference of the drum where water can enter and begin causing havoc. That might be what's going on with your front brakes.
Marshall

[katy]

Quote: " I can count on the front drums being seized against the front brake drums"

???????????

[Marshall V. Daut]

Mistype. 'Should read that the front brake drums are seized against the brake shoes. Too many usages of the work "brake" gets confusing. I'll leave the original error in my post so that your correction is still valid.
M.

[nkaminar]

Marshall,

I put those old style "floaters" on my 29 CCPU because I could not find any wedges. I never liked them. They squealed. I think the year was 1975 or thereabouts. I sold the PU in the mid 1980's without taking them out. The new owner parked it and I don't know what happened to it.

[Keith True]

Something I've run into was from people that did their brakes over in a few previous years.If they used lots of lubriplate,or white grease,it hardens up into a paste.It is no longer a lube,but a protectant.That stuff can bind up the rollers,pins,and the wedge enough so the springs are not enough to overcome it.I've taken drums off and operated the lever by hand,then watched it stay in the expanded position.Squirted any kind of weasel pee on the joints that was handy,and in 20 seconds things were snapping back like normal.

[Lawrie]

another thing, if there is up and down play in the spindle pins, and you adjust the brakes with the car supported by the axle on a jack, or axle stands, then when you let the car down the spindle moves back up as the weight of the car goes back on , the brake adjustment changes.
Lawrie