I am upgrading the front brakes on my 1952 champion with 11 inch drum brakes off of a 63 hawk. I have taken the backing plates apart to clean and paint them. I am not sure if I have them back together correctly. As I look at the reassembled backer platesm I am not sure how to tell the right side from the left. I reassembled the plates identical to each other, which I think is wrong. I am thinking the plates should be mirror images of each other. I noticed the shoes are different lengths. I believe the longer shoe goes to the front and the shorter to the rear. If that is the case, I think once I mount the plate on the front axles and put the big shoes in front then that would straighten out my dilemma. Does it matter which way the triangular tab is oriented between the ends of the brake shoes on the backer plate pin? I noticed it wasn't symmetric, which would indicate that it should be turned a certain way. Help.
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Sounds like you could use a good shop manual rocketeer!
First, very important, the short shoe ALWAYS goes to the front of the car, on BOTH sides. The brakes will bind badly if the long shoe is put on the front side. Clean the triangular tab on a motorized wire brush or lightly sandpaper it, because it has an arrow that should always point to the front of the car on both sides. I can't remember if the front backer plates are exactly the same, but somewhere in the back of my brain I'm getting a no, (the rear backers are obviously right and left as indicated by the emergency brake cable). I don't have the shop manual right here so I can check that tomorrow for you.
Sonny
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Ok rocket, I checked the front backer plates off a 'Lark V8, they are definitely not the same. It should be easy to figure out which goes where. They mount with 5 bolts, three on one side, two on the other. Just line up the holes and you should be fine. Make sure that short shoe is in the front for both sides too.
Sonny
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Hey Sonny, I finally had the chance to install the 11" brakes on the front of my Stude. You were right on the mark about the arrow. Thanks for the great Advice.
I have 10" brakes for the rear of the Stude and I read a Studebaker article that said you would have to modify the emergency brake but it didn't go into any details. If you have any advice, please let me know.
P.S. Thanks again. And the Stude really stops well.Comment
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Great, glad I could help. The stock Stude V8 brakes ARE very good, no need for disc brakes unless you're into high performance. As far as the emergency brake, There's actually two emergency brake cables in the system, the front cable, (a single cable, connected to the emergency brake handle, and the rear cable, connected to each rear brake. I saved the rear emergency brake from the donor car, (a '63 if I remember correctly), and it worked perfectly. I dunno what has to be changed, unless you'd try to use the original, rear brake cable, and it won't work with the later backer plates. Please Lemme know what you find.
Sonny
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