1955 Chevy Series II Rear Axle Refurbish

Ok, I got everything back together, but have one small detail to work out. On the parking brake there seems I'm missing the spring and separator that keep tension on the parking brake. Trying to figure that out now...but I was able to get both sets of springs connector and everything back together properly.

Left is the driver's side, and right is the passenger side.

 

I figured out the last pic is wrong, the parking lever is on the wrong sides. I'm not sure what happened to my spreaders, but I took them off with the spindles as best I can tell, so they are somewhere in the garage...there are some parts that I'm missing which includes the spreaders. 2 of them are in transit and I got the springs from O'Reilly's Auto for $4, free overnight delivery to local store.

My big complaint with O'Reilly's Auto...the cross-reference is not very good for vintage autos, which is kinda understandable, but they often can get the parts, but don't have them listed for trucks, as an example. By '58 it seems the Bendix brakes changed yet again in how they handled the tension/return on the parking brake. The left assembly is for the driver's side, I placed a white paper towel under the cable entrance hole and drew a white line over to the lever. I believe this is how they need to be assembled, my final answer. LOL

Having a 1/4" hex drive cordless impact allowed me to swap the levers around without having to disassemble the springs. cable goes to front, wheel cylinder goes to front, big shoe on rear and spring goes on the front of spreader (opposite the lever). I can only hope I'll wear these shoes out...if so, I'll gladly buy another set.



Tomorrow I will use etching primer and paint the drums black. I have them both taped off from the inside so that no overspray goes inside. You can't see through the steel wheels, so it's not critical what color they are, and I just want to be able to clean them as best I can use brake cleaner. The black is wheel paint.

 

Got the drums primered today, using etching primer.


Then I sprayed them with wheel paint.



And this is what I have, awaiting the parking brake lever spreaders, I have the springs.

 

1955 Chevy Truck Shop Manual
and
1956 Chevy Supplement to Truck Shop Manual

I got these for the axle I'm putting in my '46. Although I will admit that Keith Hardy has these online and eventually I was able to find the pic of the rear Bendix brakes on my Series II axle.

The middle pic on the left of left page, 5-14, my rear axle is identical to that with 6-lug wheel studs.


These manuals are one of the few things that hasn't gone up in price with inflation, unfortunately we can't get a CD or DVD these days with the vintage data on them. I got these for $15/ea with shipping.

 

This project hasn't made much progress, but I just got the Bendix brakes back together after a refurb. I had to file between the spreaders to get them to fit, they were for a '56 Bel Air. The shoe plate may be thicker also, I got them from O'Reilly's.

Been a bit sidetracked on an '88 F-250 4x4 I got recently, but hoping to get the '46 on the road with axle and T5 soon!

 

Looks nice..now take off all the shoes, springs, and adjusters so you can install the e-brake cables in the backing plates on their arms. If you ever decide to install an 8.8 or later rear end that’s metric you can still use the stock e-brake cables if you drill the hole out to 9/16” like your stock ones. The 8.8’s and metrics are slightly smaller.

 

If I have to I will, but was thinking I can get the end of the cable in and on there. I going to take them apart and put the cable on before assembling them then. Is that what you're saying Jimmy, that you can't get the end of the cable on there without them being pulled off. I have the bottom expander out about 1/2", it seemed to be easier to get the upper springs on.

[exit stage left and get the p-brake cables]

EDIT: my original plan was to put the cables on after I install the axle. It seems to move and springs back, so I think the expander up top and springs are working correctly, I think I might be able to get that on there with needle nose.

EDIT2: Damnit, I can't win for losing. The passenger side doesn't spring like the Driver's side, I need to take it apart and file the inside of the spring side a bit more. It's hanging up on the expander bar that hold the shoes apart at the top. That's the side that fits over the new shoe, not the lever.

PS - I am getting better at taking these plates apart and putting the springs back together...I am getting a kinda method.

 

I may have to take them apart yet again. I just reassembled the passenger side and now both operate correctly. The cable feeds in from the opposite side, so from the front and clips onto the bottom of the arm. I'm pretty sure I can secure that, but this is not an e-brake, it's the OEM mechanical parking brake. Maybe you're mixing that up?

I could be wrong, but it looks like the star adjuster on the bottom expands and collapses the bottom of the shoes. The adjustment looks to take up the slack in the expander bar, and then pulls to push the shoes apart, hence tightening on the drum. Do I have that wrong?

 

The star is an adjustable hard set. The moveable is at the top for both hydraulic and mechanical e- brake.
For me, I have always had to have the baking plate on to add the cable to the e-brake lever, left it hanging and done the rest of the assembly attaching it to the rear shoe when needed. Parts/springs go in specific order and placement to work properly, your manuals and photos shows you have it correct for what I see.
For final adjusting, I click the star thru the back hole until I cannot turn the drum by hand and then back off 7 clicks on the star. The e-brake is adjusted from the cable up near the back of the transmission if that’s where it is.

 

So, I mentioned that these shoes were for a '56 Bel Air, I couldn't find the spreader/extender bars, and even the blue springs. I got the extenders off Ebay, and the springs were ordered for another car from O'Reilly's, I forget what they were from.

The one thing is that the shoe steel itself was a bit large to fit in the slot on that extender. So I filed it out inside. Took me 3 times to get it loose enough, and please don't tell anyone I didn't use a handle on my file tang, but didn't stab myself.

The other thing is that the bottom spring, which you can see in the pic, bends over the star. So what I did was to spread the spring off of the star with a large screwdriver and used a second screwdriver to turn the star. Now I was just trying to figure out if I could measure the shoe diameter with a 12" caliper (11" drums) and make the shoes to be just 1-2 mm smaller than the drum. Do you think this method would work, I see some folks doing that so they don't need to go the 7 clicks off on the star.

In the Chevy '55 Truck Manual they show a diagram and kind of explain how to measure the length with the threaded screw that attaches to the front, but it's hard to see what is going on as it's small. In teh digital PDF I have all the pics are too dark to view. This is also another difference, I may need to modify...as I will have the front portion from a '46, but have the e-brake cables are for the '55 Series II. The wheelbase is almost the same so I should have enough adjustment to get it tight, I think it's only 1-2" difference. But it could just work anyway as the cable gets tightened from the center, IOW, the cable pulls through the wrapper and there's a long spring and end to connect to the bottom of the lever.

From your comment, I wasn't sure if I could get that cable end on there or not.