The Ford Barn

tubman · 09-17-2025, 02:22 PM

I'd try a brake adjustment first. Unlike newer cars (late fifties on up), these older vehicles don't have self-adjusting brakes. They need brake adjustments from time to time to keep the clearances between the shoes and the drums at a reasonable gap. If new shoes were installed during a restoration (or refurbishment) and not "arced" to the drums, they can initially wear quite rapidly as only the high spots are doing the braking.

I can't tell what year your truck is, buy I assume that it has hydraulic brakes from the load you're hauling. (If you have mechanical brakes, you can stop reading now, because I have very little experience with them.) The hydraulic brakes on these Fords can be very easy to do a gross adjustment on. The drum doesn't even have to be removed in most cases. A brake adjustment of this type is beyond the scope of this post, but is well documented many places on this forum. Try it; it may be one of the best, easiest, and cheapest things you can do.

09-17-2025, 02:22 PM	#5
tubman Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Minnesota, Florida Keys Posts: 12,140	Re: 1 ton brake pads I'd try a brake adjustment first. Unlike newer cars (late fifties on up), these older vehicles don't have self-adjusting brakes. They need brake adjustments from time to time to keep the clearances between the shoes and the drums at a reasonable gap. If new shoes were installed during a restoration (or refurbishment) and not "arced" to the drums, they can initially wear quite rapidly as only the high spots are doing the braking. I can't tell what year your truck is, buy I assume that it has hydraulic brakes from the load you're hauling. (If you have mechanical brakes, you can stop reading now, because I have very little experience with them.) The hydraulic brakes on these Fords can be very easy to do a gross adjustment on. The drum doesn't even have to be removed in most cases. A brake adjustment of this type is beyond the scope of this post, but is well documented many places on this forum. Try it; it may be one of the best, easiest, and cheapest things you can do.