brakes on our trucks

[WOLFMANmike]

so here it is the big question .. Can our trucks in the stock form as in a single bowl master and 4 wheel drum brakes can they still self adjust the rear shoes automaticly with out the Ebrake system hooked up ? i ask because i dont have the ebrake system on my truck and i can not for the life of me get my brakes to stay grabbing and adjusted for me after i put in new shoes and drive on them for a while then all the sudden im only stopping with the fronts and they get so hot so fast that they get spongy enough to almost put the peddle on the floor ... then the next stop light they are nice and firm peddle again ... now here is the kicker all new lines and wheel cylinders and shoes and new master no fluid loss at all only thing not new is the drums so what do you all think ? new drums ? or is the problem the ebrake system not being there ?

[Killer Bee]

I can't answer your question but I'll offer this bit of advice.. don't drive a single reservoir brake system without a working manual emergency brake.. in my brief percentage of years driving single reservoir equipped trucks, I've needed the manual emergency brake three times.. most recently two weeks ago.. both trucks I've experienced total brake loss in were manual trans so pucker factor was minimal but both were also more controllable with manual emergency brakes..

I'll be looking forward to hearing the answers to your questions.. I'll be overhauling the brake system in my 65 C20 sooner than I thought and not decided to keep it original or upgrade to dual reservoir..

good luck and be safe!

[PGSigns]

Are the self adjusters on the correct sides? You may be adjusting them away from the drums as you back up. I would never drive one of these trucks with a single pot for any longer than I absolutely had to! I have wrecked one when the pedal went to the floor and I never had time to pull the brake handle. The E-brake is one thing you should always have no matter what. Take the time to make some upgrades like a duel pot master cylinder and some repairs to your E-brake system.
Jimmy

[Ken Cook]

I have a 63’. The first time I looked at the brakes I relized that it doesn’t have self adjusters. I have been driving it fairly regularly for about a year and have not needed to adjust them.

1963 was the last year with no self adjusters.