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Adjusting external brakes on a 1929


Dave Young

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I'm having a tough time adjusting the external brakes on my '29 Chandler.  There are 3 points of adjustment on these, and they seem pretty much standard equipment on most of the larger 20's autos.  My trouble comes in finding the sweet spot of minimal drag for freewheeling and effective braking at full application.  The midpoint "keeper" of the band has a threaded stud and a cotter pin to hold it at a particular spot.  I just can't seem to get my head around the function of that adjustment.  I've got the Dykes manual, which does into great detail, but still can get to a satisfactory setting.  Has anyone got any good advice?

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I have many books on brakes but only one mentions Chandler and that is about the booster on 28 Chandlers.  However "Vintage Veteran Brake Repair Manual" by C. Perham has several pages on adjusting external contracting brakes.  He says that eccentric brake drums are the biggest cause of erratic brakes.  The out of round should not be more than .010 in.  To adjust the brakes he says to jack up the wheels, snap the brake pedal on and off to be sure the linkage is not sluggish.  Disconnect the pull rods and see that the front and rear band operating levers are against their stops.  The anchor adjustment is done first (that's the one that you are describing).  Turn the anchor adjustment until the lining drags against the drum.  Back off until there is .010 in clearance between the band and drum, at the two mounting points of this adjuster to the lining.  Turn the drum and check that the clearance is the same all the way around.  Then adjust the lower adjustment nut  until the lower half of the band shows .015 to .020 of an inch clearance.  Then adjust the top adjusting nut so that the when the brake is applied the operating lever will be vertical, when released the lever should be parallel to the adjusting pin. When the lever and pin positions have been secured the top half of the band should not exceed .045 in.  The brake pedal should be less than 3/4 of its travel when the wheels are fully locked.

I hope this helps.  I could photocopy the four pages with the illustrations if needed.

Good Luck

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Thank you both.  I will contact the DB club and try to get a newsletter.  Tin Indian, if you could copy that info, I would greatly appreciate it.  Your description of the process is excellent.  There is a lot going on with these old buggers.  My vacuum booster is non-operational, as most are by now.  I plan to tear into it this weekend.  The wheels have to come off to get at these adjustment points.

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  • 8 months later...

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