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Restoring/repairing the brakes on my 1960, and around the rear brake drum is a large spring that goes around the entire circumference about 1/2 inch from the open face...what is that for? Harmonics? Does it keep chatter or vibrations from getting bad while braking? Also, there is a spring around the R rear drum, but none around the L...I assume there should be one there too? Can't seem to find anything about it in my assembly manual.
RICK
You got it - harmonics. I think Chevrolet calls it an "anti-squeal spring" or something similar. Yes, there should be one on all 4 wheels.
Ready for this? It's still available from Chevrolet. You can walk down to your local Chevrolet dealer and order it. I believe the new ones differ from the originals. The windings on one are round, while on the other, flat. I think flat is original. I think the new one costs around $19. I also believe that these springs were used extensively on other Chevy brakes of the period, so they might be common in junkyards that have old Chevies.
In addition to the above posts, the drum is made with a groove for the spring. If one or more of your drums have been replaced, the replacement(s) may not have the groove for the spring.
Roy,
I have the originals on my 60 and they are round, but pulled some off of a 62 that had the correct part # drums which were made of flat spring steel that was coiled like the round ones. I just always assumed that they switched to the flat ones in later years! does anyone know what the straight scoop on the flat ones?
John your the first person that has ever mentioned seeing a flat spring . But as I always say , who knows , we learn every now and then how much we don't know.
Roy,
I have a full set of 4 in my shop now as well as 2 sets of round ones. I have seen several sets of the flat ones over the years, but never gave much thought to whether they were originals or service replacements as Chris said.
I just checked the archives, and we are not the first persons to ponder this question. Unfortunately, there is no hard answer to the round versus flat spring question. It is interesting to note that the problem spans over to the C2 cars as well! There are about as many people who claim that the round springs are service replacements as there are those who claim the same thing about the flats! This may be one of those questions that may never have a black-or-white answer, but I have both sets incase the judjing standard is ever changed.
My 1961 had Round Springs and I'm sure they have been on the car from the very beginning. During my replacement to new springs, I noticed thar CC offered Brake Drums for 55-62 with and without the brake drum spring groove?
61 and 62 came with both round and flat springs. We have documented those for years. Don't know about earlier. Do know that the drums came with springs already installed--that's why they weren't called out in the AIM. In the AIM in 62, they had been calling them out separately, made the change to them coming installed, and "eliminated" the part. (It came on the drum) Noland years ago made the assumption that meant they were discontinued in usage, when in fact, it simply meant that they were installed on the drums before St. Louis.
All originals had grooves for the springs in the drums.
Mike Ernst
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