The new shoes are slightly narrower by about 0.15"

Nate - Madison, Wisconsin

 

56 Ford Customline Sedan

 

check width of brake shoes, compare to shoes removed

Roy

che

check width of brake shoes

One thing I always made sure to grind off the ridge on the edge of the drum, if your shoes are slightly wider they could be riding on the ridge. Every time I tried to have drums turned they said sorry, to thin. Either they didn't want to do it, or to sell new ones.:





thanks, Mark

Hey Hoosier, I don't have any "cams" that I could tell.  The brake set-up was pretty simple, two return springs, and one spring above the adjusting screw.  Not much in the backing plate excpet holes for the little hold-down spring pins and the little rubber access plug for the adjusting screw.

I used part number 228 for shoes from Checker/O'Reilly's Autoparts.  They are listed as 11 x 2.07 inches.  The shoes that were on the car measured about 2.25 inches wide so these were slightly narrower.

Nate - Madison, Wisconsin

 

56 Ford Customline Sedan

 

Nate:

Some later Fords had shoes that are for 11 1/32 diameter drums instead of 11".  All other aspects of the shoes are identical except maybe the hole for the hold down springs.  Later holes are a little larger because of the self adjusting mechanism.  Anyway, if your drums have never been turned, the 11 1/32 shoes will not fit the drums.  Maybe that is what your problem is.  Turning the drums and arcing the shoes will fix it.  Early '55s also had cam adjusters in addition to the lower adjusting screw.  Does yours have these, one for each shoe?  Have you backed them off to their minimum setting?  These adjusters are just above the hold down springs, have an 11/16" headed bolt on the outside of the backing plate for adjusting them. 

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Like they say - welcome to the club.......its amazing the things you find out about this "restoration" process as you go along. Those rear wheel cylinders - from the Mustangs - come in several different bore sizes (as was necessary to change the application force as the drums got sized larger). Often the sizes are listed in the Mustang restoration parts catalogs - and due to their popularity the Mustang parts are often way easier to access. The little ponies had 14 inch wheels and 15 inch wheels - and 1.75 width drums and 2.00 width drums - and a lot of hardware along the way.

One bit of wisdom I can relate though - keep a record of the part numbers, or model and type of vehicle you are pirating your parts from. My cheat sheets are now usually stuck in the back of my trusty shop manual and without them, it would be hard to negotiate with the commercial parts computers that are not loaded with the same quality of information

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

Oldcar, they are the same wheel cylinders?  Man oh man! They have 68 mustang wheel cylinders in stock at my local store (I just looked)!  They have a different part numbers than what I got for the 56, but they sure look the same in the picture.  Are they exactly the same or are they "also fit" parts?  Jeez, that would've saved me a ton of time to know that this past Friday.

Nate - Madison, Wisconsin

 

56 Ford Customline Sedan

 

You're right Old car, I will get some new springs, but the stores in town had to order the "Kit" as they didn't carry it in stock.  I've done two drum brake jobs before this one and they were both rear drum/front disc cars.  This is the first time I've had real drum brake tools!  What a difference! That little tool for un-hooking the re-turn springs makes it a snap!  So it'll be easy to replace the springs when I get a set.  Back in high school (in 1997) I had 69 marquis convertible I was using pliers and screw drivers to get the springs off and on, what a pain!

Nate - Madison, Wisconsin

 

56 Ford Customline Sedan

 

Grizzly, you're right older cars present unique challenges, but I seem to experience the same phenomenon whether I'm installing a closet organizer for my wife, or repairing my 99 escort, I spend more time driving around than actually doing the project! Some of it is unavoidable as a DIYer, but some is inexcusable.

The most recent phenomenon is that you can find parts on the part-store website, and even determine of they have the part in stock at the store in your neighborhood.  However when you get to the store, the staff at the store don't have acess to the same data that is on the website so unless I brought the part number with me, they can't always find the same part on the computers in the store!!  I had to drive back home to look up the part number on the company's OWN webiste, then drive back to the store and give them the part number so they can give me the part!  There is no excuse for that.

The brake shoes are only $20 for two sets (both front wheels), do places really still re-line the shoes for less than that?

I'll do some research on Tuesday to try and find a place to turn the drums, I took them both off now so I can take them in with the shoes and have it all "done up" properly.  I can't wait to drive around again, and it will be a different experience with confidence in my brakes!

Nate - Madison, Wisconsin

 

56 Ford Customline Sedan

 

Nate, welcome to car restoration. If it was easy everyone would be doing it. I'll ditto the "take your drums and shoes and get the drums machined and the shoes arced". A good brake place would have relined your old shoes at fraction of the cost of new. Did your hubs turn freely before you installed the drums? 

Cheers

Warren

Grizzly (Aussie Mainline)