I've been getting my brakes ready as well on my 49. I found that I had to not only open my mc, but replace it as well. That old brake fluid will rot the inside cylinder if left too long. Be careful with the cap on the mc, if original, they are fragile aluminum and will break if frozen... hence another reason for my new one. Check your wheel cylinders as well, they are probably crusty too. If the system has sat long enough to crack the soft lines you can guarantee the corrosion has set in...I tried honing all cylinders, but wasn't happy with the results, a little too much pitting.
All the stuff was pretty cheap at napa.

 

Ok... couple new questions came to mind after reading Pells post and thinking about that light dudad...
1) is the brake light switch for the dash light or to hook up tail lights? Seems like it would be for pedal all the way down dash light, or as i called it one spring morning in the vette.. the "OH *****" light.
2) What is a wheel cylinder? Is is like the calliper on a disk brake setup? Never worked on drums before, but been doing disk for a long time.

 

The brake light swith is for the brake lights at the rear of the truck, there wasn't an "Oh S**t" light on the dash of our trucks....lol

Its a basic pressure swith, when it sees a bit of hydraulic pressure it closes the contacts and completes the circuit for the brake lights.

The wheel cylinder is a small hydraulic doo-hickey mounted inside the brake drum between the brake shoes. Its what does the pushing on the shoes. It basically a small cylinder with two pistons, one on either end. When the brakes are applied the pressure pushes the pistons out thereby pushing the brake shoes out to contact the drum.

When you go to start removing brake shoes, etc, do one side of the truck at a time. That way when you forget where the springs came from, or forget if the long shoe was in the front or the rear (and you will forget....lol) you can reference the other side of the truck.

Bobby

 

While i haven't tried it yet, is there a trick to getting the drum off? I bought a "brake spoon" at the parts store over lunch, not sure what to do with it though. Guy said something about some sort of slot in the back and some sort of turnable adjustment screw.

 

You may or may not need the spoon to get the drum off. The tool you bought is used to adjust the brakes. There is a slot near the bottom center of the backing plate, the spoon goes through that hole and allows you to rotate the star wheel on the adjuster. The adjuster is basically a screw that fits between the two brake shoes and holds them apart, as the shoes wear you have to spread the shoes farther apart to make contact with the drum, the adjuster allows you to do this. The spoon you bought is for that purpose....you can also just use a flat blade screwdriver.

Drums come off pretty easy (most of the time) For the fronts its typically easier to pull the drum and hub assy as a unit. To do this, pull the dust cover (if it has one) pull the cotter pin, the little sheet metal nut cover thingy, remove the nut, remove the outer wheel bearing, slide the drrum and hub off of the spindle.

For the rear, just pull the drum....sounds too easy huh? Sometimes a good whack with a rubber mallet is called for around the center section by the lugs. Things can rust up a bit between the drum and the axle flange.

I can't remember for sure but sometimes there are 3 big screws hold the drum to the hub and/or axle flange. If yoru truck has these then you will probably need and impact driver to get them off.

In severe cases the shoes have worn into the drums so far that it has created a lip and the shoes themselves will hold the drum on. In these cases you will have to un-adjust the brakes enough to allow the drum to slip off.

Sounds fun huh?

Bobby

 

heres a simple way I remember where the shoes goes.

The shoe with the longer brake lining is the primary shoe that is for stopping when going forwards. If your working on the front or rear driverside drums that primary shoe goes in the back. The shorter brake lining is the secondary shoe that is for stopping when going backwards as well as using a fulcrum to force the primary shoe into the drum.

If you look at the drum the anchor pin is at the top, the adjustment screw is at the bottom as your driving forward the wheel on the driverside is spinning counter clockwise. You apply the brakes and the secondary shoe hits this rotating drum as well as the primary shoe. This rotating drum causes the free floating bottom of the assembly to slide back jamming the primary shoe into the drum.

This setup is the most efficent and requires the least amount of brake pedal pressure to stop a vehicle since your using the rotating force of the drum to do some of the work. On disc brake cars the caliper is basically squeezing the rotor so you really need power assisted brakes to stop a car with disc brakes unless you dont mind having to stomp real hard on the pedal to make the car stop.

 

Hey guys, this information is AWESOME and I really appreciate you all for taking the time to explain it. I wasn't looking forward to doing my first set of drums, but I have much more confidance now that I at least know some of the basics.

 

Disc brakes are easy compared to drums but the thing is drums are pretty much all the same they usually have the same springs and the same setup. But I wont lie drums are a pia if you dont have the correct tools. Such as a drum brake retaining spring installer, I use plyers but I have done it enough I can get it done quick but its a pain. Then stretching the springs out are hard also, its easier to use a large screwdriver and pry it up to the anchor bolt but sometimes if you have the strength and can get pipe pliers on the spring sometimes you can stretch them into place.

Another thing to remember is take your time and double check everything before you move to installing the next part/spring. I have had to take drum brakes apart again multiple times in the past. It happens, you move along and forget one washer or forget to install the self adjuster cable.

Now it might not be easy for you but what generally is easier for me is to install the shoes first and the springs and then pull the shoes apart and squeeze the adjuster in last. Its easier for me but might not be for you so just go with your gut.

 

LOL...yea they can be a pain. As Rusty said there are some tools that make it easier;
You can get a double ended screwdriver looking thingy that is a big help in pulling and isntalling the brake shoe to backing plate retainers (can also be done with pliers)
And most any auto parts store has a universal brake spring pliers.....looks kinda like channel locks but each end of the handle has a special purpose, one side to remove the springs, the other to re-install them.

Back when I was wrenching for a living and did a lot of breaks I bought the individual tools from Snap-On. The universal pliers thingy works great for the guy who is only going to be doind drum brakes once in a blue moon.

Bobby

 

The one bit of advice I have is to take one wheel apart and reassemble at a time. The first time I did a brake drum system I took everything apart and ended up having four piles of parts that I didn't know what to do with. If you have one complete set up you can use it for a reference. You should still be able to buy either new or relined shoes for your F-1 but if you can't, like a F-2 and larger truck, you'll have to take all of the shoes in to have them relined then you will be forced to remove all of the parts at once. In that case grab your digital camera, everyone seems to have one, and take a bunch of pictures of the brakes, all four wheels, before you dismantle them.

Let me add to my first sentence, I have another strong piece of advice. Get a shop manual for your truck. That can't be said enough. I don't know how anyone can work on any vehicle, especially if you don't have any experience with a certain type of vehicle. The shop manual will provide you with 99% of all of the information you need to work on your truck. The other 1% you can find here.

 

Shop manual is great advice, check ebay they offer pdf digital copies that you can just print out the page you want. Another thing is a digital copy of a ford truck illustration and text cataog. Can find them on ebay fairly cheap too.

Great thing about that is that it covers multiple years and models of trucks. Not only that but it gives you the orignal part number for your specific vehicle that you can ask your parts store to crossreference. Not to mention some restoration sites uses the orignal part number as their product number it helps tracking down the correct part that way too.

 

a basin wrench works just fine for removing
your master cylinder cap & you can buy one
at any home depot-lowes-or local hardware

 

i used a pair of pliers... worked just fine. got brake fluid to both front calipers, having issues using the vaccum tool to suck it to the rear, but i think my forearms got one heck of a workout... tried using the pedal to help push it back but all thta lead me to find is that the cylinder thing in both fronts seems to be leaking somewhere behind it.

 

LOL...yea, welcome to the wondeful world of old trucks....lol

Sounds like you should just go ahead and replace the wheel cylinders. No biggie, they aren't very expensive and you should be able to get them from the local parts house. I know that NAPA carries them. Pull up the website to NAPA auto, checker/kragen, autozone, etc and do a search. They should be somewhere around $10 each. I woldn't bother with buying a rebuild kit and trying to rebuild them, they are cheap enough.....replace them.

Bobby

 

They can be cheap but they can also be expensive. Napa wants $13.29 for one wheel cylinder for my 56 but a rebuild kit I can get for $3.99. In my book if I can save $10 roughly and get the same thing I will do it.

Wheel cylinders are not hard to rebuild and if your lucky they can be honed out. But there are those chances where you cant and you have to break down and get new.

I just wouldnt recomend anyone getting them from a restoration place cause they charge alot more. Carpenter I think it was wanted almost $80 for one wheel cylinder.