Manual drums

[68rrdream]

Hey everyone. I have manual drums on my 67 belevedere. They brake like I'm on ice basically. I have yet to get the chance to take the wheels off and go through them.

I read they have automatic adjusters, however I looked at some photos and they seem to be the basic spindle with a stopper that you adjust from behind with a flathead. Is this correct? Can these brakes feel decent or should I look into front disc's and a booster?

 

[AR67GTX]

If they are 10” drums they should have automatic adjusters. They can also be adjusted manually if necessary. Hard to troubleshoot on a forum. You will need to pull the drum off a wheel or two and examine them. Could be the drums are oversize, shoes are worn or glazed, lines need to be bled, etc. My cars have 11’ drums, one stops great, the other not so much. The one that doesn’t stop well seems to have crystallized pads from overheating. I recently bought NORS asbestos shoes for it but I haven’t had a chance to install them yet.

 

[Sam69sat]

Something to look at.

 

[JimCoronette]

If this car is new to you, just go through everything. Steel lines, rubber lines, shoes, hardware, proportioning valve, add the self adjusters. I did this on my Coronet and it will lock up as good as discs.

If you do decide to go with front discs, your 10" rears and small wheel cylinders will allow discs to bolt on without changing the proportioning valve, or so I've heard.

 

[zyzzyx]

I would replace all of the flexible brake hoses and add a power brake booster and appropriate Master cylinder. New brake fluid too!
Automatic adjusters won't make you stop any better.

 

[oldbee]

My 11” manual adjuster drums work very good. 10” are not nearly as good from what I hear. Pics please when you open up one of them. The brake shoe composition makes all the difference .

 

[BigFlo]

Like above - go thru everything, make sure all lines work, check pads, drums and adjust per the FSM. Then you know what you have.
It doesn’t cost much to freshen up drum brakes. If you don’t like the way it is after everything is in working order, then you can make a decision on discs.
If you do decide to get discs up front, you don’t necessarily need a booster. I’ve got 10”drums in back and discs up front with a manual master cylinder and it stops very well. 65 Belvedere

 

[JonR]

I went through everything on my 66 Coronet with 10 inch drums all the way around and no power brakes. They were marginal and unpredictable before I rebuilt them all. Now they are excellent and straight. I have no desire to convert to discs in front nor to add power brakes. They are better than I expected before going through them.

 

[68rrdream]

So the car is and isn't new to me. Previous owner went through everything on the brakes though I never confirmed, but it stopped poorly then too. Shortly after life happened and the car sat for maybe a year. Being started regularly but not much else.

I just figured manual drums suck. Some reading online led me to believe they're not that bad. Maybe I'll just go through them but tbh for the money discs up front would probably be better.

I'm going to check it out some more on Thursday but I likely won't have time to pull the wheels until next weekend.

 

[Dennis H]

www.musclecarbrakes.com

 

[Don Frelier]

I converted my charger from 10'" manual drums to manual discs.
A huge improvement.

 

[Dennis H]

I converted my charger from 10'" manual drums to manual discs.
A huge improvement.

Even Fred Flintstone has an advantage over 10” manual Drums.

 

[Runner 68]

Even Fred Flintstone has an advantage over 10” manual Drums.

 

[Runner 68]

Baer 13" manual disc system on all 4 corners of my Bird. Would hate to feel what the power version feels like.

 

[cptk3rk]

anyone know where to get good quality wheel cylinders? i bought some oreillys few months later it leaked

 

[Geoff 2]

There is nothing wrong with drum brakes. Get some auto adjusters for them.

 

[Outlawd]

10" drum manual brakes if functioning properly will stop the car just fine.

 

[icetech]

Drums work great, just gotta setup them up properly and make sure they are adjusted right or they will do weird stuff.. Even my '66 new yorker stopped great on drums.. and it was a massive boat.

 

[Don Frelier]

Drums work great, just gotta setup them up properly and make sure they are adjusted right or they will do weird stuff.. I converted to Manual disc on my car and wish i had kept the drums. Every older car i ever had was drums and they all stopped better than manual discs (at least my setup). Although some guys here love manual disc. I don't get it..

Not in a 66 charger your 2nd stop from 70+ is not a good feeling as the brakes fade.

 

[Dennis H]

Difference between 10” and 11” is HUGE.