For beginners, that would be me this truck vintage, any way to know if brakes have one or two wheel cylinders? Short of removing the drum and looking that is. I'm rebuilding all wheels and anticipating the worst in terms of needs. Thanks.

 

1973/75 F250 4WD have drum brakes front and rear with one wheel cylinder per wheel.

 

The drums are duo-servo. They have two pistons per drum but, both pistons are within a single wheel cylinder per drum assembly.

 

With drums, I like to do one side at a time so I always have a reference. Also best to check the reference first against the FSM in case past service was goofed up.

Also, brake lines near the wheel stations usually corrode fastest. When removing the hard lines from the wheel cylinders plenty of penetrating oil helps. If the lines are seized on the nuts and spin, don't fight it. Nip the lines off with a small bolt cutter and plan to make up new line sections.

 

Front and rear brake drum component layout.

 

Y'all have been a big help and I really appreciate it. One follow-up question, for now: Would you explain further what you mean by "have a reference"?

 

Great graphic on the front & rear brakes, ultraranger. Thanks a lot.

 

Take both drums off but only do 1 side at a time. That way if you're not sure what hooked up to where you can look at the untouched side for reference. I snap a couple pics with my phone camera before just to be sure.

 

Inexpensive cell phone cameras and the intertubes, YT videos, downloadable manuals, it's a lot different today for the DIYer. The professional brake shop folks say back in the day just about every car that came in, something was messed up. Drum brakes aren't bad once you get the hang of it but they are a little tricky at first.

Nobody hardly had a manual. Maybe a general repair book from the library. So we did one side at a time, so we could see how the other side went back together when stuck. Today the problem is everything is bad, back then it was just a routine brake job. Now the drums are out of round, wheel cylinders trashed, backing plate pads grooved, hoses bad, hard lines. Pedal's probably OK.