63 front brake question

[Rob M.]

Since the liners and drums of the '63 brakes are a little wider I suspect the wrong pins have been delivered in the rebuild set (including all the springs, pins and other little goodies).

The included pins are appr. 2" long (5cm) and seems to be to short to secure the brake shoes. They are so tight that they can't be depressed enough (especially the rear liner).

See the included picture of the pin to clarify what I'm referring too...

What length should these pins be for 63 front brakes?

regards,
rob.

[Stuart F.]

Re: 63 front brake question

Rob;

I went out to the garage and checked both a new hardware kit and my old ones from my brake work of last year. Each set included (2) long pins @ 2-7/16" (top of head on pin over crimped end), and (6) @ 2-3/16". This seems to jibe with your noting that you can't get them to work on the trailing shoe of the front brakes (if I understand you correctly). Without looking at an installation, I suspect that the backing plate differs in that area and it requires a longer pin at those (2) locations. I suggest you check them all for measurement as I had a hard time to differentiate the short from the long as they lay together even.

Best of luck. It's not an easy task, but worthwhile.

Stu Fox

[Joel T.]

Re: 63 front brake question

Rob;

I'll go measure some from my '63... I did keep all the old ones.. As I recall however, when I bought the rebuilding sets from LI Corvette, they included two sets of "nails', one set long and one set short. I needed to use the longer set to make it work.

OK, just measured what I have in my parts bin.... unfortunately, three different sizes.

* 2 1/8" - These are new which tells me that I did not use them and they were the shorter ones

* 2 1/4" used

* 2 1/2" used

My guess is that 2 1/4" tip to tip is probably what you need.

Hope this helps..

Joel

[Rob M.]

Re: 63 front brake question

Hi Stuart,

I ordered a rebuild set just for the front brakes which included these "short" pins. I guess I need to reorder some longer ones. I hope I'll be able to order just those separately somewhere...

regards,
Rob.

[Stuart F.]

Re: 63 front brake question

Joel;

Interesting measurements. I couldn't call my short ones 2-1/8" because they were slightly longer. Same goes for the my longer ones which were slightly longer than 2-3/8", so I called them 2-3/16" and 2-7/16" respectively. However, in both new and old kits, only (2) pins were long and (6) were short. That leads me to believe that for some reason, longer pins are indeed used in two places only - perhaps the trailing shoes on the front.

Stu Fox

[Rob M.]

Re: 63 front brake question

PS what I got in the kit is 5.8 cm from head to tail (2.283"). It seems that the rear liners of the front brakes need longer pins for sure but the front one could us a little longer ones as well...

regards,
Rob.

[Stuart F.]

Re: 63 front brake question

Rob;

Send me a PM with your address and I'll drop two in the mail for you. It will probably be by First class Mail and not FEDEX though. This past week I sent an express envelope to Thailand and it cost me over U.S. $73.00, and that was just some documents - ouch!

Stu Fox

[Bob J.]

Re: 63 front brake question

PS what I got in the kit is 5.8 cm from head to tail (2.283"). It seems that the rear liners of the front brakes need longer pins for sure but the front one could us a little longer ones as well...

regards,
Rob.

Rob, all the hardware kits I've ever bought had an ID number on the ends of the pins, either stamped in or embossed in. Bob

[Rob M.]

Re: 63 front brake question

There is a 4 on mine. I've no idea what that means though...

regards,
Rob.

[Rob M.]

Re: 63 front brake question

Stu,

I've send you a mail, thanks for helping me out on this one...

regards,
Rob.

[Troy P.]

Re: 63 front brake question

Nice guesture! It's great to see members helping each other.

[Stuart F.]

Re: 63 front brake question

Rob;

I am mailing out today 2 #6 (@ 2-7/16") and 2 #4 (@ 2-3/16") pins. I guess you may have some #4's, but this is a matched set for the front. I find that the rears use #8's (@ 2-1/16") and I have 4 of those if ever you need them.

Hope these work for you - and we all learned something in the process.

Stu Fox

[Rob M.]

Re: 63 front brake question

Hi Stu,

Thanks again, my rear brakes weren't a problem since they aren't so wide so I think they are ok. I appreciate you are sending me the suiting pins for the front brakes!!! I love this club!!!

regards,
Rob.