[Fot] Brakes

[william r tobin]

Hi, this a follow up to my braking problems at Mid Ohio. What started out as a
leaking rear wheel cylinder (it had just been replaced) kind of snowballed. I
replaced cylinder and the rear linings at the track, but the drums didn't want
to fit on. I marked the ends of the shoes and filed off a small amount of
metal at the end contact points and got the drums on. They worked but not to
my liking.
When I got home, I arc-ground the linings with an AMMCO Safe Arc grinder that
I had bought at an auction for $10 years ago but never used. That helped a lot
to have the linings flat with the drums, which I had lightly turned just to
clean up. After everything was back together, the brakes worked much better.
    The manual says to "offer up" the shoes after the springs are put in the
holes. Usually during the offering up, the springs fall out, nasty words are
said, and you start again! I took some 1/4" wooden dowel pins and sanded a
taper in 4 of them. I put the spring ends in the holes in the shoe and tap a
dowel in the hole to keep the springs in place. Works great and makes the
offering up much easier and quicker.
    Dr Dave from TRF gave me a good tip on installing the wheel cylinder
locking plate; ignore the manual and install the middle locking plate from the
rear last. Saves a lot of grief.
    Thanks to all who replyed a couple weeks ago.
Cheers, Bill