[64cat]

I'm in the process of redoing my brakes on my 1964 pontiac catalina and just noticed the the brake shoes from Kanter are 2" wide and the one's i'm replacing are 2.5". Do I need to call Kanter and get different ones or am I OK. BTW what should I tourqe the nut that holds the drum on to. Attached is a picture ofthe first front brake i did. If some see's something weird please let me know. Thanks in advance for any help.

Karl

[64cat]

I'm in the process of redoing my brakes on my 1964 pontiac catalina and just noticed the the brake shoes from Kanter are 2" wide and the one's i'm replacing are 2.5". Do I need to call Kanter and get different ones or am I OK. BTW what should I tourqe the nut that holds the drum on to. Attached is a picture ofthe first front brake i did. If some see's something weird please let me know. Thanks in advance for any help.

Karl

[64cat]

here's a bigger pic. i hope.

[Stuart]

I'm pretty sure that the brake shoes were the same for all big cars from 1961 through 1964; I checked my '61 shop manual and the front shoes are 2 1/2" wide and the rear are 2" wide. Did you put the rear shoes on the front wheels? Otherwise, it looks like you put all the parts in the right place.

As far as tightening the spindle nut, the shop manual gives two methods:
1) First, tighten it to 325 inch-pounds (27 ft-lbs) to seat the bearings. Loosen the nut, and tighten it again to 30 inch-pounds, then turn the nut just far enough to slip the cotter key through the hole.
2) Without a torque wrench, tighten the nut with an 8" or 10" wrench "using enough arm leverage to ensure parts are properly seated." Basically, this means snug but not real tight. Back off the nut finger loose, then tighten finger tight. Turn the nut with a wrench just until you can slip the cotter key through the hole. Since I don't have an inch-pound torque wrench I use this method and it works fine.

[64cat]

You are coreect sir! I put the back on the front (dummy.) Fixed it and plan to tackle the back tomorrow. Thanks for the help. Where in Minneapolis are you? What cruise nights/shows do you go to?

Karl

[Stuart]

I'm right in Minneapolis, just south of downtown. A block or two from the Black Forest restaurant if you know where that is.

I'll be at the car show/swap meet over at the state fairgrounds on Sunday, if you're going watch for my car.

The show is hosted by the local Buick club, here's a link with more information. http://www.gopherstatebuick.org/

[64cat]

Need some more info. I have put new shoes and springs etc. when i put the front drums on the driver sides spins freely and the passenger side is hard to spin. The star wheels on the adjustment screw is all the way in on both (i haven't turned them out yet.) Do I need to get the passenger side drum looked at since it is hard to spin? Thanks for any help.

Karl

Also how for should the adjustment screw/starwheel be turned? Just enough to make contact with the drums?

[Stuart]

With the star wheels turned all the way in, the shoes shouldn't be touching the drums at all. Check to make sure the shoes are seated properly on the pivot points, there's a little lip there they sometimes get hung up on. Also, check to make sure the little pins are fully seated in the brake cylinder; if the springs are on right they should be pulling on the shoes and pushing the pins into the cylinder by themselves, but try pushing against the shoes by hand to make sure they are all the way in. It will be difficult to do, so push hard and keep pushing as they will be slow to move.

Once the drum is on and the shoes aren't rubbing, turn the wheels until you just hear them scraping on the drums. If you leave the self-adjuster levers in there, when you back up and hit the brakes they will automatically keep the shoes adjusted from then on.