On Sat, 29 Nov 1997, Tory Johnson wrote:
> Hi,
>
> i own a 78 spit. When i first got the car the brakes would go all the
> way to the floor and had no stopping ability. After inspecting the
> master cylender, i found a clip loose. i reattached the clip and bled
> the brakes. I now have brakes, but the pedal still goes all the way to
> the floor. Is there some adjustment i don't know about? Or, can someone
> suggest what the problem might be?...........Thanks..............Troy
Troy, there's a good chance that all you need to do is to adjust the rear
brakes. There's a square peg on each backing plate, pretty much at the
bottom inside of the plate. You need a deep-jawed 1/4" wrench (such as a
spoke wrench), or you can use a large adjustable wrench, or the drive
side of a 1/4" drive socket, or any other tool that you can get to fit
snugly on the peg.
Hopefully it will move, btw. You make the adjustment "clockwise" in
quarter-turn increments (don't be fooled the first time the drum becomes
hard to turn; you're likely "on top of the adjusting cam peaks" at that
point, as that adjusting cam has the general appearance of a weathered
pyramid. Basically, just adjust until the drum doesn't move, then back
off a quarter-turn or two until the drum is just free. That should
restore your pedal.
BTW, if this assembly is rusted solid, don't try too hard to force it
with a wrench or whatever. Pull the drum, remove the shoes, and then the
adjustor will come out after removing two small nuts. Some penetrating
oil (or, at the worst, a couple of minutes' torture from a propane torch)
should free it all up. Then disassemble everything, clean it up and
reassemble it with a little white lithium grease. In fact, this might be
worth doing regardless!
--Andy
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