• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Drum Brakes Grabbing - SOLVED!

Most of the ones I see the problem is in the adjustment. The shoes need to anchor and if the parking brake is partially on due to stuck cables or adjustment they will not anchor. The correct procedure is parking brake backed off, shoes centered and anchored then the service brake is adjusted. After that the parking brake can be adjusted. I have seen the different linings for ever and have never considered that to be a problem. Axle lube leaks and oversize drums would also be an issue.
Hi pnora, little history on my 70 with grabby rears. Took my drums off to blast and repaint and noticed broken cable adjusters ( one on each side of rears ) one adjuster froze (fixed) and broken spring. Time for hardware kit and then installed. Now grabby brakes. Would over adjusting them out cause this? Drums slip on with some drag. Other thing is I stole my disc set up from my 70 Charger and rebuilt calipers, booster, and disc master with new. This was years ago and hardware kit 3 years ago and never drive the car til last 2 weeks ( work and life got in the way and only drove sparingly around the neighborhood) Added adjustable Porp valve but never had issues with the adjustment I set it at so thinking maybe I adjusted too far out on adjusters. Only variable is the hardware kit. Please let me know your thoughts on above and mega thanks!!!
 
Well I am still struggling with this puzzle a bit. I found some local shoes with the primary lining where it should be but now noticed that these new ones AND the crappy ones I just took off don't have tabs or little bent areas on the shoe plate that line up with the contact areas on the backing plate. These are plain old 10x2.5 1964 Fury brakes. Did they make different contact locations for 10x2.5 brakes?? Yes I have the shoes in the right location. I ordered these the picture looks like it might work,
DYNAMIC FRICTION1903058100

View attachment 1319017
I put a set of these 581s on the rear of my car this spring and have been battling hot drums ever since. I’ve changed out the entire hydraulic system believing it was a pressure release problem. i put in manual adjusters and even backed them all the way off but they still drag and heat up. I called Dynamic Friction and the Tech guy told me the only difference between the 581 and 333 shoes was the latter having the hole for the new style adjuster stud and a longer slide pad at the top. He didn’t think I have a shoe problem he thought hydraulic… Since the shoes are the only thing I’ve not changed I ordered a set of the 333s last night. I’ll let you know how they work out….
 
Never any trouble back when we arced the shoes to fit the drums, no so called breakin period.


Machine the drum, line the drum with sticky back sandpaper, run the shoe around the inside of the drum.
 
Machine the drum, line the drum with sticky back sandpaper, run the shoe around the inside of the drum.
Good idea but I was taught to turn a drum on the rough side, it would seat in the shoes.
 
Good idea but I was taught to turn a drum on the rough side, it would seat in the shoes.
That doesn't match the arch of the shoe to the drum. They work really well when they are matched from the start. And they seat really fast.
 
That doesn't match the arch of the shoe to the drum. They work really well when they are matched from the start. And they seat really fast.
And of all I ever put on it was on and go, never a problem. Never had to match the ‘arch’ of shoe to a drum.
 
And of all I ever put on it was on and go, never a problem. Never had to match the ‘arch’ of shoe to a drum.

It's so nice when it works that way.
If it always did there would have been no need for shoe arching machines back in the day.
I don't think the quality of the shoes have improved to the point that it's a perfect fit every time.
You might be surprised how nice the brakes work when the shoes are perfectly arched to start with.
 
It's so nice when it works that way.
If it always did there would have been no need for shoe arching machines back in the day.
I don't think the quality of the shoes have improved to the point that it's a perfect fit every time.
You might be surprised how nice the brakes work when the shoes are perfectly arched to start with.
How far back in the day, 60s 70s, in a big Dodge dealership and we had no shoe ‘archer’
 
How far back in the day, 60s 70s, in a big Dodge dealership and we had no shoe ‘archer’

Dodge dealer service departments used good factory stuff. Didn't need any grinding.
The stuff from the parts stores? Waves, bends and twist to beat the band. Same as the china stuff we get now.
 
I’ve read through this thread and have seen some different springs. The issue that I’ve been having is when brakes were applied, the right front would grab for a second before the left. I put brakes on from my parts car many years ago and put them on the way they came off. Anyway, the right front was way too tight when I attempted to take the drum off and I had to back off the adjuster, which is not easy for this old guy laying on the ground.
The drum and shoes were all gunked up. So I ordered shoes, adjuster kit and wheel cylinders from O’reily’s (333 shoes). Cleaned things up a bit and started with the shoes and adjuster. Decided to wait on putting the China cylinders on. I went to put the front spring on and where the old one went into a hole, the new shoe had some kind of rectangular hole. The parts store guy told me to just put the spring in the hole further down. That spring is not going to stretch that far. Do I need to get a spring like the yellow one in the first photo?
The second pic is comparing old and new shoes.

IMG_3520.jpeg


IMG_3523.jpeg
 
I think that’s the same issue I ran into, you can see at the end of this thread:
Well this may be a stupid brake question: where to measure to determine if I have 10 or 11s?

Short version is I used the the spring that looked closest to what should be there but longer from an extra spring kit, they are cheap on rockauto so I bought springs for both 10 and 11 inch brakes. So far it seems fine and my brakes haven’t been grabby since I did it, but to be fair I’ve only done very local driving.
 
You have the newer version brake shoes. That oblong hole is for the park brake lever that goes in the hole and rotates 1/4 turn to secure it. I had a 78 Fury with these type shoes and levers. Real quick to change shoes on these type.

The early 70's and back have all round holes in the shoes, the park brake lever has a pin and a clip to secure it to the shoe. But that takes time the change shoes so,they switched to the style above.
 
Auto Transport Service
Back
Top