[goat guy]

Just took my 62 GP front drums off to do brakes. There are no adjusters? There is a slot in the baking plates. Shouls there be an adjuster? A picture of how it looks would be helpful. they are power drum brakes. Thanks

[Bill Hanlon]

1935-1966 Pontiac Chassis Parts Catalog shows 1959-62 full size Pontiacs used part number 5455768 on passenger side (front and rear) Brake Shoe Adjusting Screw and part number 496351 on the driver's side. The driver's side part was used from 1935-62.

[694.1]

I suspect that you mean no self adjuster? '63 or '64 was the first year & older cars can be upgraded but any new parts kits are likely to be 3rd world of suspect quality.

[Stuart]

Correct, they didn't have self adjusting brakes until 1963. Retrofitting the parts from a 1963 or 1964 brake system would probably be easy enough, if you wanted to make the upgrade. Otherwise you just have to periodically get under the car and adjust them by hand which isn't that big a deal.

[56GMC]

Yep, just manual adjuster in the front of my '62 Catalina.

[61 389-348]

I've sorta got the opposite question. 63 GP and the auto adjusters keep adjusting too tight and then heat warping my 8 lugs. Any idea of what's wrong?

I'm starting a brake job and I wouldn't mind somehow disabling the auto adjusters and just doing it manually. Does anyone have any idea how? I wasn't sure if I could just remove that adjuster arm and be done with it?

[Poncho60]

Are the star wheel adjusters on the correct side of the car? Only supposed to "adjust" when braking while backing up, if I recall correctly.

[61 389-348]

Originally Posted by Poncho60

Are the star wheel adjusters on the correct side of the car? Only supposed to "adjust" when braking while backing up, if I recall correctly.

Yes. I replace the driver's side not long ago. Made sure it was adjusting the right direction. It's just adjusting too much.

[Goatracer1]

If you want to remove adjusting feature all you have to do is remove the adjuster's long link, lever and the little spring

[61 389-348]

Originally Posted by Goatracer1

If you want to remove adjusting feature all you have to do is remove the adjuster's long link, lever and the little spring

Thank you. That's what I needed to know!

[mgarblik]

Probably to really do a deluxe job removing the adjuster, you need to do a little more. If you remove the long link, the return spring won't have anything to attach to. Probably what I would do is the following. You can remove that link. Then you can remove the adjuster arm is you wish or leave it in there. Then you will need another return spring just like the one on the other side. You could run it from the shoe to the anchor pin. It's possible the overadjustment spring and it';s slot are bound-up from old age. That's the spring on the adjuster arm. The little lever is supposed to pivot slightly to prevent overadjustment when the drums are hot. Make sure that stuff is working properly before re-engineering the braking system. But you can certainly make the system non-self-adjusting if you wish.

[cheese country GP]

I have a '62 GP & it does not have self adjusters. I think self adjusters were first used in '63 but have no idea how well they work on 8 lugs. On my '62 I must adjust the brakes till they swish & then back off 12 clicks to keep the shoes from binding as the hubs heat up. Had a lot of vibration at higher speeds before I figured out what to do. Now thy work very well.

[61 389-348]

I have the re-pop 8 lug hubs on front, and one of them wasn't quite round so when the liner was pressed in, it was cut to be round. Hence, I have varying thickness in the liner. You can pretty well guess what happens if you get them too hot. When they cooled, they were semi ok again until you got heat back in them so the self adjuster tightening too tight sure isn't helping. So they're coming off on the front. The rears haven't been a problem and were relines that I got from Larry at J&L. For now I'm going to leave the self adjusters on the back.

[61 389-348]

Something I heard from a local GTO guy is that when they do brakes some owners are getting an extra set of front shoes and using the large shoe on both front and back. This makes sense to me except that the drum still has to dissipate the extra heat so back to the time honored 8 lug issue.

I got an extra set of front shoes so I can do this tomorrow morning if there's value in doing it.

[Poncho60]

Not sure putting the longer shoes on the front is actually safe. The unequal length shoes have a lot to do with the self energizing feature that's part of the actual original design don't they? Not an expert, but I would check into that IMO.

[61 389-348]

Originally Posted by Poncho60

Not sure putting the longer shoes on the front is actually safe. The unequal length shoes have a lot to do with the self energizing feature that's part of the actual original design don't they? Not an expert, but I would check into that IMO.

And although it makes sense to me, on the other hand there's a reason the original engineers did this. Since it's done just about everywhere on everything, I would have to assume that it's a good one. I wouldn't do it without confirmation that others have done it on the b-body successfully.

And potentially it's more load (heat) for the drums so it sort of defeats the purpose. My goal is to reduce the probability that these will heat warp.

[lilabner]

Here is a good info spot:
http://www.pbase.com/nufsed/drumbrake

[61 389-348]

Originally Posted by lilabner

Here is a good info spot:
http://www.pbase.com/nufsed/drumbrake

Yep, that was good alright. It finally sunk through.

"star wheel end goes toward rear shoe. NOTE! Left-hand threaded adjuster screw is for RIGHT (passenger) side brake"

Of course, I had the left on the left and the right on the right and though ALL this time that I had it correct. Makes sense right? NOT !!! Mystery now solved.

Now it all makes sense. I'd aim the car so I didn't have to touch reverse then I'd crank the adjusters in and go for a drive and what do you know, they'd be tight as hell again. Now I know why.

[lilabner]

When I did mine on my 61 I had to grind another slot in each backing plate so the star wheel could be adjusted.. Did it right on the car with my die grinder. Easy job. Just buy four more rubber plugs for the new slots. Mine work fine. The Star will end up opposite of where it was originally.

[61 389-348]

I'm just getting (really) old and sometimes things just don't get through to me. I don't even care as I'm just happy to have figured out what in the hell was going on (thanks to your post)