Brake band arc-ing

[maok]

Will this work, or am I wasting my time?

I intended to leave it squeezed (band adjustment nut is tightened) between the drum and band for a few days.

Its a strip of galvanized roof truss bracing that is about 0.040" (1mm) thick and almost the same width as the band.

[hchris]

Cant quite work out what it is you are trying to achieve ?

[maok]

Arc the band to the shape of the drum....

[Spinneyhill]

What is the galv. steel doing? Normally, with internal shoes, one arcs the shoes because they have a rigid mount and cannot bend to conform. With external bands, surely the spring steel backing (with the shoes) conforms to the drum when tightened? If it is too big, you will need to bend it onto something slightly smaller because of the elastic rebound when you release it. i.e. you need to yield the steel to make it conform. But simply mounting it all and adjusting it to suit should be sufficient?

[viv w]

Looking at your picture, have you had the bands relined with modern materials?

These brakes were designed to use soft woven material, the use of modern brake linings will lead to chewing up the brake drums and also poor braking performance, especially if driven in wet conditions.

 Other than that I agree with Spinneyhill above.

[maok]

Sorry guys, I should have defined the problem better.

 

The problem is that the band is not conforming to the drum, they are bowing in the middle of the band which was making it impossible to adjust an even space between the friction material and the drum. My thought process is to use the gal strip as a spacer between the band and the drum while having the band tight against it and keeping it there for a few days to hope it would bend/conform the band to the shape of the drum. I'll take a pic of the rears to show the how bad it is.

 

Regarding the friction material, it is like a woven material but glued on.