1956 olds drum brake help needed...

i just got done redoing my back drum brakes on my 1956 olds...i got a new brake cylinder new brake shoe pads and new brake drums from kanter...problem is when i go to put the new drums on its tight at hell...and when i get it on the wheel wont budge...ive backed off the self adjusting screw till it wont go anymore...what else could it be? am i gonna have to turn the new drums so that there is less metal on it? any help would be great..thanks

 

It appears that in both pics, the rear shoe is not seated. Check your park brake to see if it is set and that the cables to the rear wheels are not siezed up.

 

the center pin that both your springs go to is a cam and can be adjusted by loosening the nut on the back of the backing plate and rotating the pin. the pin is beveled in the back with the top of the bevel being the high side of the cam. that might be your problem?

 

might be..but im thinking now it has to do with the parking brake line like texas john was saying after all that parking brake link i had to get from you that was in it had some damage and fairly fresh..i bet after all that time in the field siezed it up and when i wenched it on the trailer it caused it...it will be intresting to figure this all out being i have never done this and right now not quite sure where to begin to look for the seize up part then what to do to remedy it...but im gonna start this week crawling under the car ect.. i know when i got the car the parking brake pull knob with light was gone

 

and the other thing im wondering if i got the pistons seated in the new cylinder far enough..gonna have to see the best way to seat them in without damaging the cylinder

 

Make sure the shoes are setting on the pads ! I had this issue with my 60 olds.

 

when you refer to the pads..are those the 3 bumps on either side in this pic?

 

and before i start tommorrow can anyone tell me what im looking for when i look for the parking brake seized line? is it rust is it dirt is it too much slack in the line or some bolt come undone ect?

 

easy hammer. Take a rubber hammer and tap the shoes to seat the half round cut out on the top of the shoes to the round mounting anchor. and a little dab of grease on those three mounting pads where the shoe contacts the backing plates.

 

timothale i will give it a shot tomorrow...heck if all fails i will remove the parking brake link too..we will see

 

In the olden days we re arced the shoes. Little asbestos was not known about then. Cough! Cough!. Re arcing basically trimmed the lining on the shoe to fit the arc in the drum to match cir***furence up better. Don't know if anyone does it anymore.
Gerry in Colorado

 

Well tonight i went in the garage and completely took off the parking brake to the rear brakes..so no parking brake issue..the self adjuster is backed as far as it can go...the wheel cylinders are new and everything is aligned perfect..and still the drum wont go on...so i placed the brakes and the self adjusting screw in the new drums on the floor and measured what was left at the top to go around that top circle bracket...the space left is toooo small to fit on there...problem solved..either the drums are a hair too big or the brake pads are..im leaning to the brake pads..but there is nothing i can do about them so im having my new kanter brake drums turned...we will see how that works

 

In the old days shops used to ark brake shoes to fit the drums. They stopped doing that because shoe material was asbestos. Even though brake shoe composition has changed shops won't do this.

 

cobalt,

I'm ***uming 55 and 56 are the same. I got a pair of drums from Kanter and they went on no problems. I put new shoes on before the drums arrived, only a short time though and all's well. I would look at trying to mate the shoes to the drums yourself.

To be honest, I would get the shoes rearched, not the drums turned, as they cost more than the shoes!

Did you check each component against what you took off? Did by some chance you get a wrong set of shoes? or drums?

 

flatoz... i didnt end up getting the drums turned..instead i just notched the brake shoes contact points back a couple hairs...being nobody arcs the pads anymore..and i totally disengaged the parking brake ***embly till i get that fixed too...im glad to see yours went on good..wish mine did...but now they are on and i will worry about all the other **** at a later time..still a year and a half out till it will be driving...my new headliner in coming tomorrow so im off to do that