Topic: Drum Brake Adjusting

[ChrisV289]

Not sure if it belongs in this section or not but here it goes.  Was driving my 65 to a show the other week and I noticed it was pulling to the left when braking.  So i adjusted the brakes to where the wheel/tire would only do one complete revolution on both the driver and passenger side front wheels.  I also noticed that the paint on the drum on the driver side was flaking off, the passenger side was fine.  I took it out yesterday to a show and at first it was stopping fine but then it started to pull to the left again.  I also noticed the drums were very hot to the touch (driver side and both rears) and relatively cool on the passenger side front.  Is my passenger side not engaging? I'm going to reading the shop manual but thought I'd solicit advice here as well. 

[J_Speegle]

My first thought would be to jack the car up at the front and have someone spin the tire on that side while you depress the brake pedal as a first step

[RoyceP]

Sounds like you have the adjusters swapped, or perhaps two of the same side on left / right. Rule of thumb: Moving the star wheel down makes the brakes tighter if the adjusters are installed properly.

[GT500KR]

I would suspect a problem with the Master cylinder. With age, they can stick, and not allow fluid to return. I had a similar issue, and that was the problem in my case.

[markb0729]

You never mentioned the age of the brake system components.  That could help in the diagnosis.  I would try bleeding the passenger front wheel cylinder to see if there is any improvement.  There could be air in the line and/or wheel cylinder or the brake line could be clogged.  If that doesn't work then you need to pull the passenger front drum to see what's going on.  Take everything apart and clean it up with brake cleaner.  As mentioned, make sure you have the correct springs and hardware for the right front and it needs to be installed correctly.  Make sure the self adjuster is not frozen and the star wheel is not worn down.  Push a bit on both sides of the wheel cylinder to make sure its not frozen.  Both pistons should move back and forth relatively easy.  Be careful not to push too much as the plunger can pop out on either side of the wheel cylinder.  Replace anything that seems questionable.  All parts are readily available.  If everything looks in order use hi-temp grease and put a dab of grease on backing plate where the brake pads make contact (6 spots in total.).  Also grease the threads on the self adjuster then put everything back together.  Here is a good link with pictures showing the correct brake hardware.

http://www.concoursmustang.com/forum/index.php?topic=13659.0

Hope this helps.