1961 rear brake adjuster | Ford Thunderbird club group 1955-2005 T-Bird models

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1961 rear brake adjuster

  • Thread starter Thread starter johnstrow
  • Start date Start date
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johnstrow

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Thunderbird Year
1961
I have recently replaced all brake hardware with new items. One thing I noticed is with the rear brakes assembled as per the shop manual the adjuster does not line up with the adjuster slot in the backing plate. It is forward of it.
The previous owner had the brake hardware mounted pretty much reversed to make the adjuster line up with the slot. You can see the slot in the attached picture of the left rear setup.
What is the answer here; which is correct? Thanks for any wisdom.

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Follow up question: could the backing plates on the rear just have been installed on the wrong sides? I see where the parking brake cable could enter the backing plate from either the rear or front. On the front brakes everything lines up well. Just the rears seem to be reversed which does not allow the adjuster a lot to line up with the adjusters.
PS-everything seems to work well; brakes straight, etc. I did have one of the rears overheat when bedding the brakes due to being what appeared to be initially over adjusted too tightly.

Again, thanks for any help.
 
johnstrow said:
I have recently replaced all brake hardware with new items. One thing I noticed is with the rear brakes assembled as per the shop manual the adjuster does not line up with the adjuster slot in the backing plate. It is forward of it.
The previous owner had the brake hardware mounted pretty much reversed to make the adjuster line up with the slot. You can see the slot in the attached picture of the left rear setup.
What is the answer here; which is correct? Thanks for any wisdom.
Click to expand...
Do you have the primary shoe (short pad) in the correct position it should be in the front I can’t tell by the picture but I believe that’s your problem
 
The primary shoe is on the front, yes. The picture is of the driver’s side (left) rear.
 
I think I have figured out what I have: It looks like someone took 1963 and newer style backing plates and mounted them on the reverse side(s) they were intended for. 1961-62 parking brake cables entered the backing plates from the rear. The 1963 and newer Thunderbirds had the cables entering the plate from the front.
To make the 1963 and up backing plates work with the 1961 set up they had to reverse the plates. This would result in the adjuster slots be I guess too forward of the adjuster to be useful. Everything else would work well, I believe. I just need to make a second adjuster slot in each of the improper backing plates so the adjusters can be accessed. I don’t know if anyone else has run into this situation but this is about the only that makes sense to my simple mind.
 
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