Homemade Brake Shoe Arching

I have a 400 cross front wheel on my Mag. Bought it from vintage husky and the drum was not true...lever pulsing. The cross front wheel is not a double leading and it worked. I trued the drum by putting sand paper on the shoes and turning the wheel. I used the adjuster to tighten the brakes NOT my fingers. If you try arcing the shoes with a drum that is not round, you will always have a problem. Keep in mind what ever you do, you are either making the drum bigger or the shoes smaller. In my case the front wheel was not useable. My front brake will lock up and no pulsing of the lever even when going slow. I am very happy with the results. Jeff

I believe the old time mechanics riveted and fitted new brake shoes on the cars in the early part of the last century. I think it's a forgotten art today.

You will also find out that your new pads on your disc brakes need to be fitted for 100% contact. We developed disc brakes for elevators. The engineers quickly found out the awareness of the caliper bracket to the disc was spot on yet the pad only had 1/3 contact. We sanded the pads till we had 100% of the surface touching.

Even when installing new brake pads on your car they need to wear in. You notice the stopping power improving as we drive the car more.

Thanks! That's what I wanted to hear

It's worth doing on any drum brake. Your getting a higher % of stopping power right away without wearing the shoes in while riding. You have the full rating of the stopping power right away. It's more about safety too. The brakes are spot on.

Fast forward 12 years into the future. Awesome, it STILL works in 2023! Forest Grump