I'm reassembling the Lockheed brakes (on an AV8) and encountering a dickens of a time getting the bottom of the shoes aligned with the backing plate so that the anchor pins and eccentric washers (a.k.a. adjuster cams) will go in. This is with everything on the axle. Short of pulling the hubs and backing plates off to enable doing this on a bench, is there some other trick to making this task easier in situ? So far, I've only been able to get one of four wheels done properly. Getting frustrated! Thx!
Much easier to assemble on the axle than loose on a workbench. Put the shoes into the side hooks, then do the accentrics on the bottom. Then pull the top of the shoes out and bolt in the cylinder. Last put the spring on.
Do you know what year car the Lockheed brakes you have are from? Here's some more helpful information that tells and shows how it's done. how to adjust ford lockheed brakes - Search and Adjusting Brakes for a 39 – 41 Ford - The Ford Barn and Proper way to adjust brakes - The Ford Barn First photo ( above) is of pass. side rear 1940 Ford. 2nd photo (below) is of driver side front 1940 Ford. Long shoe and larger dia. of wheel cylinder face forward on all wheels.
'39-42 Put the shoes in the guides, put the bolts thru the anchors, wrap a bungee cord around the shoes and hook up the spring. '46-'48 Put the shoes over the anchor pins, slip them under the guides, wrap a bungee cord around them and hook up the springs. On either style rear brakes, I hook a wire onto the one of the spring to keep it from getting lost behind the cross bar.
The method I use is assembling the lower anchors and shoes all together and then stabbing the lower bolts in place as an entire unit, spin the nuts on the backside and then the return spring. Is it the right way? I don't know, but I have done it many times that way without fuss.
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