Bendix now offers pre-assembled brake shoe kits for some cars

[Astro14]

Originally Posted by Trav
And 3 wheel cylinders.

If only it were that simple!

Lever arm.

Operated by cable (which needs to be balanced left to right once each drum is adjusted). Rear brake bias is afforded by a slider on the crossover shaft that operates the four cables. One for each drum.

The real trick for three shoes is getting the clearance right. Balancing the eccentric and the floating pin so that the leading shoe forces the middle shoe tightly into the drum under braking.

That is your mechanical advantage. The "boost" in the system.

http://dmacweb.com/tech/brakes/bendix/BENDIX.htm

The system might pre-date even your mechanical beginnings...

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted by demarpaint
I still have those tools. The brake pliers, retaining spring tool, and brake spoons still see use on my van, only once every decade or so. LOL

I still have them as well, but haven't touched drums in about 20 years. The last times the F-150 had brakes done, it was just replacement of lifetime warranty pads from my local brake guy, so he played with it. Last drums I actually touched myself probably would have been the taxis back in the day. The Town Car almost certainly had rear drums, but I had almost solely highway miles, so never touched the brakes.

 

[HangFire]

I just used my spring cup tool and adjuster spoons to do the Pilot parking brake shoes. I used cheap Wagner shoes and they worked fine. Really easy, there's no self-adjuster and so no reverse threads on one side. When I was done one side was too tight, so I got to get in there and adjust it down again.

The result was quite satisfying, a high and hard parking brake. Next time I'm in my other vehicle's rear brakes I'm going to make a point of ratcheting up the adjuster and getting the parking brake firm again.

I suspect many vehicles go to the junk yard with the original in-rotor parking brake shoes, unadjusted.

 

[Trav]

Astro, that is interesting! Yes its long before my time but I would love to see how it works on a vehicle.
Some old Italian cars used 3 wheel cylinders and were still a bugger to adjust for max brake contact without smoking a shoe.

Some old technic was overly complex like some loaded knee action shocks.