Centering Brake Shoes

[CHS]

Amen to that. My mechanic had a time of it, when I had the brakes changed on my 55 Plymouth.

[Scott55Ply]

Thank you all for your input.    Certainly more complicated than I hoped for.   But I do like to do it right the first time! 

Thanks again,
Scott Grundy

[JimCno]

Follow this link to see a simple, homemade brake centering tool...
http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/showthread.php?t=7468&highlight=brake+tool

[bigaadams]

I had the cut away drum..but you must keep in mind to do this and do it effectively every time the cuataway drum should not only be trued..but use a drum that can be turned to max diameter and adjust the shoes by feeler guage against the known difference in the drum diameter you have on your car..the man who trues you drums will be able to give you the over size for you to compensate for if you do not have a brake guage...  The use of the proper tools has the means to take all this into account when setting up as you will guage your drum at the get go..one can even do the hit and miss on the major/minor adustments and get fairly good brakes and no pulling but I assure you the wear of the shoes will be affected.  This is why the tool is so important, at the cost of redoing the old brakes these days one will want to be able to get the most even wear possible over time..once set up correctly the brakes are just as good as any other..it is only the time and effort to do the originals that makes the experience an unpleasant one for most folks and has led to the idea the brakes are not trustworthy..

[Wm Steed]

As you have found out with your poor brakes, it is very important that the brake shoes be "centered". As a general rule the only place that the proper adjusting tool was ever found was in the dealership shops. Chrysler was not the only brand that had this problem, the early Ford hydraulic brakes from '39 to '41 had the same problem. In '42 and later Ford went to 'floating" lower pivots in lieu of fixed.
A satisfactory substitute tool can be made out of a brake drum by cutting away several areas of the drum face, retaining enough to hold the hub in place.. Of course you will need two drums, one for the front and one for the rear. The adjusting drum is mounted onto the hub then a feeler gauge can be used to set the center of the shoes.. Of course it should go without saying that the adjusting drum should be machined true in spite of the fact that it is only going to be used for adjusting and centering the shoes.
The normal adjusting nut can be used to re-adjust the shoes for normal wear... Bill

[Scott55Ply]

Understand that replacement brake shoes must be centered on a 1955 Plymouth.  My service manual shows a special tool (MT-19).  I have never seen such a tool available.   Can a similar tool be rented?  Or is there a reference somewhere how to adjust without a special tool?  I want to do this correctly.  My brakes are terriable and the two-speed Powerflite AT offers no resistance on steep downgrages; in fact, the car speeds up!  Thanks for your input.  Scott