Technical Another Drum Brake Question.

I know there is no such thing as a dumb question but there is such a thing as a dumb person asking a question and I am living proof of that. So let the **** whooping begin but please try to help this old fart with my question.
When I took the backing plate off the front driver side of my 50 Pontiac there was so much crud built up on the four retaining bolts that I failed to notice that one has a stub on the bolt head.
Since I can't access the p***enger side to see where it goes can anyone here help me with it's correct location? Looking at the bottom right hole in the backing plate it looks like a witness mark from a lock washer but I am pretty sure all four bolts went through the front and the nuts were on the back side of the spindle bracket.

 

wild guess...it's a steering stop, and it goes in from the back, and hits something when you turn the steering all the way one direction.

but that's just a wild guess.

 

X2 thats what I thought when I saw it. Look for a raised flat spot on the backside of the upright that the long bolt head would hit at full lock.

 

I agree, it is a steering hard stop. They are usually mounted on the lower rear of your 4 bolt pattern, but look for an ear tab that is cast into your spindle upright. When you match it up so it makes contact with the upright tab you have it in the correct hole.

 

Thanks for all the replies and special thanks for not getting onto me!

 

I think they are correct in that it goes in the bottom rear hole. That is where I would start. If you look there is probably a spot on the upright were it has been making contact when the car was turned to full lock on a left hand turn.

 

I looked tonight and there is a spot on the knuckle at the bottom rear. I also saw a picture in a shop manual that shows the backside front of the backing plate and the bolts holding it come from the outside in. So this is the only bolt that goes from the backside out?

 

They all go with the nuts on the inside of the backing plate. EDIT!!! I have been shown this is wrong info, the nuts are on the outside! Keep reading the following posts for clarification.

 

Here is the picture from the 49-54 shop manual. It shows the nuts on the backside of the plate but the one with the stud has to have the nut on the outside of the plate in order for the stud to contact the stop.

 

I respectfully disagree......and not just because of the shop manual pic, though that would be reason enough. The ‘stop stud’ aside, in most cases it probably would not matter which way the bolts faced, but most I recall seeing or dealing with, had the bolt head to the brake shoe side. I am sure there are others to be found with the nuts to the inside. In the OP’s case, the shop manual rules..

Ray

 

Sorry for the bad info, I am changing my original post so if someone just reads to that point they don't get bad info. Thanks for correcting me. Brian

 

Hey, you had one right! That's better than what I thought!