MTFCA Forum

These were on a friend's car when he bought it.
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Fourth He is working on a set for another car.

What drums did he use? Model T drums don’t have much heat capacity.

One of our club members had Chevrolet drum brakes on his centerdoor sedan.

Very nice. Looks better than discs to me.

Very nice. Would appreciate a parts list.

Mid 50's GM passenger car. IMO, using the stock T backing plates is not the best, it may work, but they are too thin and will flex excessively. I'm sure others will disagree.

Hi
I can read the drum part number and the cylinder. I “assume” the shoes and spring hardware match the drum and cylinder?
What master cylinder please???
Thank you very much for your posting

If I can get the parts figured out I will likely buy from Rock Auto as they have good quality at good prices

Dan
What do you think would be thick enough?
I might get some laser cut

I make mine out of 3/16. I just made a batch. Also ,it a really bad idea to set these up without the wheel cylinder piston retainer plate. Without that, if you break an axle and the wheel comes off you loose your braking ability on the other wheel. That plate is an OEM only part and is not available in the aftermarket AFAIK. The large shoe anchor pin passes thru that bracket. I have those also.

Looks very similar to what was on mine when I bought it, except the wheel cylinder is on the side rather than at the bottom. The shoes have angle brackets welded on the back side so that the brake lever actuates them as well as the hydraulics. Mine was using a master cylinder from a 60s era Ford Bronco if I remember right when I had to replace it. I would also like to see the parts list as I would like to do this setup on another car as well.

Dan; If the wheel cylinder piston retainer plate is a OEM only part, and it is not available in the aftermarket, is there a tandem type master cylinder with the two pistons that would work, or is it check with the 55-57 Chevy salvage yards for old parts ?

I wish I had a parts list.
The owner said he thought the master cylinder was 55 T-bird. The parts shown are what he had when I was there except the last photo of the anchor pins which I found on ebay after looking at dozens of photos. They are 55-62 Chevy (maybe Corvette) #3705732 and are being reproduced.
He didn't know what the drums were from.

Did you have any problem with the adjuster clearing the spring perch and if so how did you handle it. Thanks Dennis

Kevin- regarding the piston retainer plate, I simply mill them out of bar shock and cold form the retainer tabs. They look just like the GM part except they are not stamped.

Thanks Dan. I'm not thinking of doing this but the drum brakes sure look more 1920's than the disk brakes.

Assuming the drums wrapped in plastic came in the box labeled 440-1073 then The NAPA site lists these applications for 440-1073:
BUYER'S GUIDE -This part fits the vehicles Ford Bronco 1966 - 1975, Ford F1 1/2 Ton - Pickup 1948 - 1952, Ford F100 1/2 Ton - Pickup 1953 - 1967, Ford P100 1961 - 1967. So need a confirmation about the paert number and if the drums fit without modification.

What do you use for a emergency/park brake? I don't see any way to manually apply for parking.

Dennis, I think you grind the shoe to allow room for the brake cam to clear. The cam will press on the back of the shoe.
I don't know about the adjuster clearance.

Frank, I guess the bolt holes are 5 X 5-1/2' in those drums.
I believe Mid 50's Chevy drums are 5 X 4-3/4". You would have to elongate the existing holes or drill new ones. Is that safe?

Dale, Thank you, using the brake cam makes perfect sense.

My dad used the same drums/shoes/wheel cylinders on my Fordor. Except, he made new backing plates, heavy enough for the job. He also used the GM parking brake parts, actuated by the T parking brake.