Problem adjusting one of the front brakes

[burner31]

Originally Posted by jquinlan

BINGO !!!

The brakes now adjust ! Last night when I posted this I was completely exhausted and frustrated. Today fresh and with the tips I got from this post, I was able to fix the problem.

I have a bunch of spare parts I bought from someone so I dug through them this morning and found some "pills" , dust covers and most importantly a nice adjusting wedge. I took everything apart and cleaned and inspected all the parts. They looked pretty good with no out of round pieces. I think the new adjuster wedge (on top) did the trick but the pill I added was without a doubt needed to properly adjust with a 15 degree tilt.

Thanks everyone for all your help. Putting the pills on were a breeze with the step by step provided here. Most importantly by doing and redoing that side of the brakes I became fairly confident with that procedure and those components which is my goal.

Will count this as a win...

[old31]

Jim, nice job. It always feels great when you are able to fix a problem.

You are now a Model A brake expert!

[Rob Doe]

Originally Posted by Synchro909

A shot here from waaaay out in left field. You are turning the adjuster the right way, aren't you?

Okay, I might need some egucatin' here myself. I turn the adjusting wedge to the right to tighten the shoes regardless of which side of the car I'm on correct? "righty tighty, lefty loosy??" correct?


I must say, the devil is always in the details for a beginner...I've been checking the fronts after a drive with my IR heat gun. Loosen the warm one and tighten the cool one. Twice I've done one click each. They're within 8 degrees of each other. They started at 15 degrees.


The car is new to me, and it supposedly has all new brake components as it was converted back to stock from hydraulics. The brakes work fairly well.

[mgambuzza]

Great timing and irony on this post! Last night I wanted to check my brakes and I found the drivers side would adjust, and the passenger would not (at least well). I was going to place an order today as definitely the passenger side needs a new pair of shoes (the bottoms are about 1/4" meat left, tops about 3/8). Found similar results as jquinlan where it seems no matter what direction would not bind. I did discover when I did turn in the one direction it was spinning into the drum and eventually it did catch - but applying the brake it didn't really catch. I'll use these and the book to troubleshoot and get them back in service. Thanks to all for your advice!