E-Bodies.org Cuda Challenger Forum

The purpose of this thread is for pointers and reference in rear drum brake overhaul. This was done on the extreme side for a customer build. I did completely restore the rear brakes but are not a concourse restoration with numbers and or markings. But a quality show car build for long term durability. You can use this for reference and pick and chose how far you want to go with yours. Top pic shows the tools that will make your life easier doing rear brakes. I recommend borrowing or buying if possible.

I have noticed on many cars that the rear drums are missing the self adjusters and usually have springs in wrong holes. Just like this set here.

Some things to remember. Shorter brake shoe always goes to the front of the car and self adjuster is in the rear. The star wheel should push the shoes apart when the self adjuster arm catches a tooth and pulls the star wheel up. The slots on the backing plates are to adjust the shoes out after drums are installed. You just want the shoes dragging on the drums. Not holding them tight. So don't over do it adjusting these. A screw driver or special lever tool can be used to do this. Be sure and put some small grease dabs on backing plates where drums ride. That will keep them from squeaking when you apply the brakes. It also prevents backing plate wear. 

I cleaned, bead blasted and powder coated the backing plates. Installed a new hardware kit along with wheel cylinders and E brake cables. Painted the wheel cylinders cast finish to keep them from rusting.  I recommend new hardware kit, Shoes and wheel cylinders when rebuilding rear drum brakes along with turning or replacing drums. They will last a long time if done correctly.   

Rear brakes continued. Put the grease dabs where the red circles are.

Continued assembly.

Final adjustment.  Pics show where and how you adjust once your drums are installed on the vehicle. Once you have them properly adjusted install the rubber plugs.

Completed brake pictures are oriented Left (driver side) and Right (passenger side)

Hope this will help some of you guys wrenching on your Mopar!

 :thankyou:   :clapping:  Very nice write up man!!!   :perfect10:  This is one of those things that almost anyone can do if they are just shown a few things.  And now you have shown anyone that wants to do it exactly how it's done.  Thank you so much for taking the time to share this.   :worship:

Excellent pictures :worship:

Quote from: anlauto on September 06, 2017, 09:19:47 AM
Excellent pictures :worship:

Thanks guys.  You can never have to many pictures.  :takepicture: I just hope I covered everything. :thinking:

 :ohyeah: Nice job @Shane Kelley (https://forum.e-bodies.org/mlist/shane-kelley_440)!

Quote from: 340challconvert on December 03, 2017, 10:55:36 AM
Nice review of rear brake rebuild.
Did you rebuild the brake cylinders or buy new?
Mine are probably original and I need to repair/replace
If u bought new, what did u buy?
Thanks and again great pics on your tutorial!

I replaced with new. You definitely want to rebuild or replace. They are fairly inexpensive to replace with new or re manufactured ones compared to rebuilding the ones you have. Different people have opinions on replacement ones or correct markings and all that with originals. Not much difference in price so that will be up to the you if you want originals or not. But you definitely want to address them.   

Great post, just what I needed!  :ohyeah:

Thanks for the pics, it's been awhile since I've done drum brakes and the pics were a great reference.
I think I did it right.

One word of advice, when buying new brake hardware kits make sure you check them and verify all the parts are there. I bought a so called complete 11" rear axle brake hardware kit off E-bay a few months ago from a reputable Mopar vendor and when I went to install it parts were missing, some parts were very poor quality and didn't fit well and I got 2 left hand threaded star adjusters.
I ended up cleaning up some of the original hardware parts and they fit and worked much better.

Moving on to the front disc brake swap next.

Well done brother, we;; done!  :perfect10:

Quote from: GrandpaKevin on May 17, 2018, 05:42:27 PM
Thanks for the pics, it's been awhile since I've done drum brakes and the pics were a great reference.
I think I did it right.

One word of advice, when buying new brake hardware kits make sure you check them and verify all the parts are there. I bought a so called complete 11" rear axle brake hardware kit off E-bay a few months ago from a reputable Mopar vendor and when I went to install it parts were missing, some parts were very poor quality and didn't fit well and I got 2 left hand threaded star adjusters.
I ended up cleaning up some of the original hardware parts and they fit and worked much better.

Moving on to the front disc brake swap next.

I found out the same thing when I redid my rear brakes.
I had to order different vendor kits to get all the parts and I did end up cleaning up and reusing some of the old parts,  Good part is the kits were not that expensive.

One additional thought to add to this terrfic thread: on an episode of "Garage Squad," they included a tip to cover the drum brake shoe surfaces with masking tape during installation to keep dirt and oil off the pads.   The tape is pulled off right before the drum in installed.  I used this tip when I replaced my truck parking brake shoes.  The tape definitely prevented a lot of crap from getting on the shoes. 

The parts kit for my rear drum brake rebuild included a pair of curved ("belleville") washers.  I didn't see thesevamong the parts pictured above and also don't remember seeing them when I dismantled the brakes.  I found a couple of posts elsewhere for other car brands that suggest these washers go under the horseshoe-shaped "c" clip on the pivot arm to provide tension (the hole diameter in the washer would appear to be sized for this).  Seems to be a "nice to do" vs. a "gotta have it" part, but I'd appreciate one of the experts here weighing in. I've included the retaining clip for the shoe spring in the picture just for a size referenece.  Thanks. 

My local fastener store called those wavy washers and they were under the C clips on the parking brake levers on my car.
My hardware kit did not include them so I reused the original ones.

Great write up and workmanship! Thought this would be a good place to add this post . Kinda like one stop shopping for drum brakes.
https://forum.e-bodies.org/wheels-tires-brakes-suspension-and-steering/12/rear-drum-brakes-locking-up-before-fronts-try-truck-rear-wheel-cylinders/3018/msg43894#msg43894

Rear Drum brakes locking up before the front discs? Seems to be a common problem so I thought I'd add what worked for me.
I used the truck wheel cylinders when I had drum brakes. Worked great with no lock up before front wheels locked up Stock bore is 15/16" and the trucks is 7/8" (Raybestos WC37236, DORMAN  W37236).

Application.
CHRYSLER   IMPERIAL   1968-1969
DODGE   B100   1971-1977
DODGE   B200   1971-1977
DODGE   B300   1973-1977
DODGE   D100 PICKUP   1972-1977
DODGE   D150 PICKUP   1977
FARGO   B200 VAN   1971-1972
FARGO   D100 PICKUP   1972
PLYMOUTH   PB100   1975-1977
PLYMOUTH   PB100 VAN   1974
PLYMOUTH   PB200   1975-1977
PLYMOUTH   PB200 VAN   1974

Good advice :twothumbsup:

I put the 7/8" truck type rear wheel cylinders on my wife's Challenger's 4 wheel drum to front disc brake conversion with Dr. Diff's A body proportioning valve and aluminum master cylinder.
http://www.doctordiff.com/1-piece-proportioning-valve.html

I was very happy with the results so I bought the same 7/8" rear wheel cylinders, Dr. Diff valve, master cylinder and front disc brake conversion kit for my Challenger.

Both cars are manual brakes.

Adding pic of "Wavy washer" installed under "c" clip.

Thanks very much for posting these detailed pictures.  They will help me a lot since I have never done a brake job.  I have had my car for 6 months and with 61K miles on it want to replace my brakes over the winter.  My '70 Cuda came with heavy duty 11" power drum brakes on all fours.  I see that you are rebuilding the brakes with the backing plate removed which allowed you to clean and powder coat it.  Not sure what mine looks like but would like to be able to do that as well, however I can't find any info on this site or on line regarding how to remove the brake backing plates.  Do you have any info or pictures that show that? 

Thanks!

You have to unbolt the axle retainer plates and pull the axles out, then the backing plates off. It is a good time to relube the axle bearings as well.

Thanks Shane, and all others contributors.  I was getting a little intimidated about this job until I found this post.  I did find one minor thing with regard to the anti-rattle springs.  The FSM spends some time highlighting how to orient the springs.  I'm not sure how big a difference it will make, but I think they should be like this, at least for 11" rears.

Pics 1+2 = Left side
Pics 3+4 = Right side

Great series; definitely a nice reference... thanks :bigthumb:

Just something minor. Make sure that the contact pads on the backing plate do not have grooves worn into the pads. If they do either file them smooth or if too deep weld and hand grind them back flat. Use a dab of Lithium or synthetic grease on the pads before installing the shoes.

Interesting how the fronts don't have the anti rattle springs/bar. Wonder the rationale for that.

Proves my point about experience. The bar on the rear is the emergency brake actuator . E-brakes are only on the rear.

Quote from: MoparLeo on June 06, 2020, 06:12:39 PM
Proves my point about experience. The bar on the rear is the emergency brake actuator . E-brakes are only on the rear.

What's up with your power trips lately? Are you extremely bored and just want to come crap on threads?

You came on the distributor thread that I created (and solved) and absolutely are 100% wrong when it comes to rotor positioning on advance vs retarded timing. Where's your experience there? It's OK to own up to things, you know.

I KNOW the "parking" brake is in the rear. You can call it "emergency" brake if you want, too. Don't assume I didn't know that. When I see something called "anti-rattle spring", I think of normal operation of the drum, needing a spring to stop "rattle" tolerance noises during normal operation. That was my question. Sorry if it was more confusing by me saying "anti-rattle bar/spring", but my point was about the "anti-rattle" part. I suppose since the additional linkage is there for the parking break, a spring is needed to keep it stable while the rest is performing the normal operation. Maybe that's the reason.

You do great work on hinges. I go out of my way (use search function) to have recommended you a few times. But lose the power trip. This is not the a-bodies forum.

KILLER thread by the way, don't mind our bickering. MoparLeo has it out for me.

I am definitely not a tune-up guy and I think I corrected that thread. I thought( assumed) that you were looking at the picture of the spring, that is attached to the bar. My mistake.  The real emergency brakes had a handle to pull on so you could regulate the braking force. Remember or not, that brake systems only used a single line/single bowl master cylinder until the late sixties. Any loss of fluid was a complete brake failure. Modern systems are redundant. you only lose 1/2 the brake system if you have a hydraulic failure of a hose, caliper, wheel cylinder etc... The Parking brake is even labeled "Parking Brake" go look at one.

Hello guys,

Can someone please tell me how this this backing plate called? I'm trying to locate those and order but apparently there is no reproduction out there. Maybe some of you are able to help locating a pair of this plates? I believe they are called anchor plates but I'm not sure about it

BAM - are you looking for just the small plate with a post where the springs mount, or do you want the entire backing plate for the rear drum?    There are multiple sources for the entire plate including the United State version of eBay.   I can not find the small plate for sale separately.

Quote from: Dakota on February 28, 2022, 02:36:06 AM
BAM - are you looking for just the small plate with a post where the springs mount, or do you want the entire backing plate for the rear drum?    There are multiple sources for the entire plate including the United State version of eBay.   I can not find the small plate for sale separately.

I was looking at the small plate only. I already bought the whole backing plate and everything else. This small plate is impossible to find for some reason

This Dorman plate may work.  Napa sells them too as # 6751547

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/rnb-13896?seid=srese1&gclid=CjwKCAiAgvKQBhBbEiwAaPQw3CKyHl2YJBpkneuI-d8mJe68XEUt86B-LCdtJQoKUnqWdLUUEn4xrhoCbcMQAvD_BwE

Quote from: BAM on February 28, 2022, 05:58:04 AM

Quote from: Dakota on February 28, 2022, 02:36:06 AM
BAM - are you looking for just the small plate with a post where the springs mount, or do you want the entire backing plate for the rear drum?    There are multiple sources for the entire plate including the United State version of eBay.   I can not find the small plate for sale separately.

I was looking at the small plate only. I already bought the whole backing plate and everything else. This small plate is impossible to find for some reason

Quote from: BAM on February 28, 2022, 05:58:04 AM

Quote from: Dakota on February 28, 2022, 02:36:06 AM
BAM - are you looking for just the small plate with a post where the springs mount, or do you want the entire backing plate for the rear drum?    There are multiple sources for the entire plate including the United State version of eBay.   I can not find the small plate for sale separately.

I was looking at the small plate only. I already bought the whole backing plate and everything else. This small plate is impossible to find for some reason

You guys seem very creative over there and handy with your hands...it's likely something that you could make pretty quick in my opinion  :twothumbsup::alan2cents: