1960 brake system

[Rick Krason]

I am trying to get the brakes (cylinders) off of my 60 vette, and am having difficulty. Have the shoes and all the actuation hardware off, and there appears to be a single 1 1/16" bolt holding a backing plate and the rear brake cylinder to the axle housing. The brake fluid line comes right into the back of this. The 1 1/16" bolt appears to have a similar nut on the back of the axel plate.

This needs to come off to replace/restore the brake cylinder, correct?? Is it just one of those WD40 and a couple of hard wacks with a mallet on the wrench, or am I going to forever destroy something?

Should I get the cylinder restored, or buy new ones (4)? Is there a "kit" that has the related hardware as well...the srpings and pins holding the brake shoes on are holding, but quite rusted and should probably be repalced with the rest.
RICK

[Ted S.]

Re: 1960 brake system

Rick,

There should be two bolts directly under the large nut you're describing. Those two bolts hold the wheel cylinder to the backing plate. On my '60 the brake comes in just below those bolts. The backing plate is actually held to the axle housing by 4 bolts behind the axle flange.

As far as the wheel cylinders, if the bores are pitted you can buy a kit to rebuild them. If they are I'd go to the local parts store and pick up some new ones and set the originals back in a box just in case. New ones are relatively cheap and readily available.

Hope this helps,

Ted

[John H.]

Re: 1960 brake system

Rick -

The 1-1/16" bolt/nut is the anchor pin the shoes react against; it rarely ever has to be touched. The wheel cylinder is attached to the backing plate with two 5/16"-18 hex bolts from the inboard side.

[Ed T.]

Re: 1960 brake system

Hi Rick,

You don't need to remove that big nut to get the wheel cylinder off. Just remove the two small bolts next to the big nut. I got one of my big nuts off, but it wiped out the bolt threads in the process. I had to get a replacement backing plate with bolt and nut installed. I would only remove the big nut if something is damaged, or you are doing a full restore...Ed

[Rick Krason]

Re: 1960 brake system...thanks

Thanks to everyone,
I have left the large pivoting bolt in tact, and removed the two smaller ones behind the axle backing plate...no problem getting the cylinders off. I hate to admit it, but had I just chipped away some of the dirt/grime behind the axle plate, I would have seen those two bolts holding the cylinder on...woops.
I have removed all 4 cylinders, and all four look terrible. I don't know how I was even stopping !!! Probably 2 of the 8 pistons were not frozen !! I have already asked this once, but is it worth rebuildling these or just getting 4 new cylinders ? ( I will obvioulsy save these for future needs since they are "original") Do any of the corvette supply/restoration places have full kits to replace all the hardware? The shoes don't look bad, but the springs and retainer hardware could sure stand replacement as well as the cylinders !!!
RICK

[John H.]

Re: 1960 brake system...thanks

Rick -

Corvette Central (and others) have all the hardware, springs, hold-downs, shoes, wheel cylinders and rebuild kits, etc.

[Ted S.]

Re: 1960 brake system...thanks

You can get the wheel cylinders and the spring kits at your local auto parts store. I purchased ones for my '60 at Carquest. These weren't unique to corvettes.

Hope this helps,

Ted

[Ron Bartow]

Re: 1960 brake system

The one thing the rebuild kits won't contain is the pistons. Don't throw those pistons out thinking they are in the rebuild kit. No one reproduces these yet that I've found. They will usually clean up well enough to work since they only act as a hard surface to push against, not as a side wall scraper.