Rear brake rods bent again??

[Rb63]

Hey guys, newly ? I found the rear brake rods bent with a hook shape near the stock shock. Put new ones on just to find its happening again.
Any feed back would be helpful.
Thx

[Benson]

Better photo would help ...

Maybe someone welded an extension onto the adjusting valve on the shock or it might not be a Model A shock and the rod is catching on the shock valve when axle comes up or body goes down.

Might be able to heat the lever on the backing plate and bend it so it clears the shock.

Bending should be a last resort ... better photo might show it is not a Model A shock.

There is a later V8 or Model B shock that is taller and bolts on the Model A frame.

[RawhideKid]

*rolls eyes* Yes, you have a problem with the arm on the backing plate being bent away from the backing plate, When you connect the brake rod, the shock hits it on the up thrust and bends it.

Looking at that picture, are there spacers between the shock and the frame? This may have been the cause.

[jw hash]

one of our club members had the same problem. he had installed the service brake arms on the rear backing plate on back wards. so they stepped out not in. take a picture of the arms.

[1955cj5]

Here is a picture of my rear brake arms.....you can see the long one, the service brake arm, bends towards the backing plate up where the rod attaches.......

[johnbuckley]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Originally Posted by Rb63

.... I found the rear brake rods bent with a hook shape near the stock shock. Put new ones on just to find its happening again.
Any feed back would be helpful.
Thx

The rods have hit the shock absorber body. This problem is not uncommon in the UK where we have competions driving old cars up very steep very muddy slopes (we call it trialling). We put extra weight in the back and get rear passengers to bounce up and down for extra traction. This together with the car leaning one way or the other and possibly weak springs leads to the rods getting bent just as you describe.

[larrys40]

I concur with John above. Your rods are hitting your shocks after they've had a hard bump.
Check again and make sure the levers are on the correct sides. I have worked on cars where this is the case. The arms are forged.. I corrected the problem by undoing the rods and using a punch the same size as the clevis hole and just bent them the other direction with the backing plates on. It was the sensible thing to do. and handled it fairly quickly without getting into more brake issues. Bend them cold, no heat if this is the case. Alternative is to remove backing plates and hubs drums and swap all one side to other.
Who knows what else you may run into but maybe that's the best course for you.

If you are running 32 or later V8 shocks they are a little taller and put the arms out more. It is very possible. The 32 shocks have a line cross pattern on the back, A's are smooth.
You can have a bent shock arm as well. Check it out and let us know.
Larry Shepard

[Rb63]

Hey guys. Wow thanks for the great feed back, just got some more pics. Maybe these arms are on backwards?

[RawhideKid]

EXACTLY !! they need to bend in toward the backing plate.

[1955cj5]

Here is a picture looking down .....

[Jim Mason]

Note that the service brake rods are outside the e brake rods

[JDupuis]

Rb63, yes they are mounted backwards. Keep in mind, they are also left and right hand sided. Double check which side you are remounting. Good luck. Jeff

[jw hash]

RB don`t feel bad, you are not the first one to do this. you have the arms on the correct side just on back wards.

[Rb63]

Thanks so much for the feed back, I will turn them around 😉👍🏻