Sold lots of Lincoln drum brakes over the last few years and used quite a few sets. Seems like on a long trip you need to adjust them after a 1000 miles or so. I asked Boling Bros but can't remember what they said? Anyone on here develop a way to add self adjusting hardware to these drum brakes?
Get all the self adjusting parts for a 1969 Buick LeSabre, and install them? ( I looked up the Boling Bros. kit, picture shows the number 340 on a shoe, looked up 340 Shoe, application is 60s Buicks)
Your idea is sound but finding all the parts in usable condition from a 55 year old car might be a challenge?
Equally as challenging, but I believe Cadilliac may be the same, I used trimmed Buick backing plates on the rear of my avatar but without the self-adjusters.
yeah, it might not be easy to find used parts, but it is a way to get where you want to go. Cadillac used 12" brakes on the later cars with self adjusters, but they're wider, and have a different hole layout on the shoe web
If Dorman still makes them and you can find them. They had a line of completion kits, they usually came with the adjusters, extra pieces and levers you don't usually get in a regular brake kit.
You should be able to buy ALL the Bendix self adjusting hardware through multiple manufacturing sources. Let me do some digging
I looked in some older Bendix and Wagner catalogs, they didn't have self adjusting hardware available for them back then.
You need to contour the shoes to fit the drums. Old time brake shops had a brake lathe to do this. You may have to do it by hand. Put the brakes together and adjust, you will probably have to adjust again after a week or 2, but once they are bedded in should hold their adjustment for 10,000 to 20,000 miles, maybe more depending on traffic conditions and how hard you use them.
having got only 20k miles out of set of brake shoes, I think that might be optimistic? But a few thousand miles once they're "worn in" sound reasonable.
I just sourced practically all the hardware for a set of original Lincoln braked through Raybestos. You have to do some searching in the older catalogs for the various parts but they are available. I started with Ford pickup parts from the 60's.
Perhaps here: https://www.chicagomusclecarparts.com/collections/1964-81-gm-cars-rear-drum-brake-parts I am unsure what interchanges. @squirrel might know.
Your mileage may vary. But 20,000 miles on a set of brake shoes, suggests you do a lot of driving in city traffic. In that case you may need to adjust brakes every 5000 miles or so.
maybe this will help https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/model-a-lincoln-brakes.965517/ the self adjusting parts are from the era (1967? to whenever discs became common) I got the small parts kits from Oreilly Auto. I used Ford parts
These are the parts I've used for adding self-adjusting stuff to 12" Ford Bendix brakes. There being a difference in anchor pin center to axle center between GM Bendix and Ford Bendix, but since 12" GM self-adjuster parts are a little hard to locate, I really don't see why the Ford/Dodge/IHC/Jeep style parts wouldn't work. The cable guide on the right side of the shoe is sitting in the wrong place in the picture should fit three holes up where the retract spring goes. The purple spring in the picture is included in H-7139 kit I use for the retract springs & hold stuff.
I did some searching and can't find the correct 69 Buick adjuster arms/levers. Those kits that rich B showed works, is simple and years of doing brakes say that parts are pretty easy to find. 12.50 for each side from Amazon for the kits. I can't remember if odd or even means left or right but you need one of each. You might be able to get them locally though.
even number is driver side, part numbers say both fit 12 inch x 2 inch front brake. do you think they will work on the rears too? i have lincoln style brakes on all four corners.
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