Brakes: 53 C/K self adjusting mechanism

[dnevin]

Hi all,

I put my rear brakes on this weekend. I was comparing the pic in the shop manual with the brakes as they are on the car and noticed that none of my brakes have the self adjusting mechanism. For those more familiar with later cars, these aren't the star wheel adjustment at the base. Here's a pic from the shop manual:



Sorry for the blurry pic. The adjusting mechanism is a spring (#8) and the self-adjusting mechanism (#10).

Was it common to remove these? Should I try to source replacements? I am going with the Turner front disc brake and dual master cylinder kits if that matters (I think I saw on here when I tried to search for this issue that the later disc brake cars didn't have any adjusting mechanisms on the rear drums. . .)

Thanks,
Dave

[rockne10]

Those Champion, and even Commander, brakes were inadequate when they left the factory. Especially if you are putting Turner discs up front, the first thing you will want to do is remove the bolts that hold your rear backing plates to the axle housing and offer those complete rear brakes to someone on Ebay.
More knowledgeable members here will have recommendations for their replacements.

[dnevin]

Those Champion, and even Commander, brakes were inadequate when they left the factory. Especially if you are putting Turner discs up front, the first thing you will want to do is remove the bolts that hold your rear backing plates to the axle housing and offer those complete rear brakes to someone on Ebay.
More knowledgeable members here will have recommendations for their replacements.

Thanks Brad. I see by your profile that you have a 53 Commander. What are you running in the back for brakes? Is your drivetrain otherwise stock?

Right now, I'm just trying to get it mobile to easily move in and out of the garage and to figure out what I need to do mechanically to the car before I start in on the cosmetics. My question was more of a curiosity than anything else. I'm welcome to any and all suggestions--a conversation I had with Bill Cathcart leads me to think that I'll be wanting to at least change rear end ratios if not the entire unit, so if the latter, I'd hopefully end up with better brakes out of the deal. . .

Rapidly relearning my lesson about research before spending--it has been a few years since I worked on something this old.

[rockne10]

What are you running in the back for brakes? Is your drivetrain otherwise stock?

Actually, when I re-assembled the '53, I happened to have a freshly rebuilt 289 and all four finned brakes from a '63 Cruiser; they are self-adjusting. Also had automatic trans and 3.07 TT rear from a '61 Lark VIII. These were all just sitting here so I figured, Why not? Those later V8 brakes are far superior to the ones originally in the '53 but still suffer in comparison to the disc conversion.