adjusting Front drum brakes

I did the brakes on the front of my 56 Ford 2dr sedan and I am not getting a very good pedal feel. Both front wheel cyl were old and leaking so I changed both of them, one brake hose (the other had been replaced by prev owner), new shoes and had the drums turned. I also replaced the single MC with a dual unit that someone had installed on my Falcon. It has not been used for a couple years but worked fine when I took it off. Anyways, I gravity bled the brakes which worked well but when I try and pressure bleed them I don't get very much pedal feel. I went for a little spin up the block and I have to pump the pedal several times to get a moderate pedal. There is no proportioning valve so the front/rear is separate from each other. I did the rear brakes a couple hundred miles ago (2 years ago).


1. Can the M/C go bad from sitting on the bench for two years?

2. What is the correct adjustment on the front brakes? They are manual adjustment only. I adjusted them up to the point where it just starts to drag. I read there is supposed to be 0.024" clearance but don't have a way of measuring this.

I always adjust them until I feel a slight drag, then backoff just a little until the drag is gone.
Sounds like you still have air in lines.

I have a dual m/c setup from C and C products I was going to try. While tweaking the firewall I noticed that the pedal is hitting the bracket for the brake switch and limiting my pedal travel. I am going to adjust my m/c rod and see how it is tomorrow.

That might be most of your problem,BUT, if you get a better pedal as you pump,I would say you still have air in the lines. remember start bleeding w/the one farthest away and work your way back to LF.

used to have that same problem with my 69f100 if I didn't adjust all 4 at the same time the padel would drop to the floor and I would have to pump them. Front drum is hard to keep in adjustment that is for me, got tried of every month or so adjusting them and put disc on the front.But when I would adjust mine I would do the same thing adjust until I got a hard drag and then back off until drag was gone and i could hear them hit just a very little bit. But you my have some air still in the lines some times it take aliitle driving and rebleeding to get it all out.

Was the bore of both master cyls the same? This can make a big difference. Disc and drum m/cs are different.

My2C

I'd say ya got air or the MC is bleeding between ports. I'm leaning toward air.. So here we go.. You Like Pickles or Peanutbutter?

Get four clean jars. Find some vaccume hose to fit over the bleed screws. Jack the car level. Support the jars below the bleed screws. Pour some Fresh brake fluid in the each jar. About 1/4 up. Place the jars below the hubs. Open all four bleeders and put the hoses in the jars. Mak sure the hose goes to the bottom of the jar.. Don't go crazy opening the bleeders, a half of turn is Ok. Make sure the MC is full and punp away having sombody monitor the MC fluid level and bubbles comming from the wheel cly hoses in the jars.. If ya think it bled tighten up the screws with the hose still attached.. Or on the last pump with the pedal down.. Have your helper tighten all the screws.. If the pedal is still spongy try and open one bleeder screw at a time and pump.. If ya got air bubbles then that's the wheel to look at..

Not sure if this is helpfull?

rear adj will affect pedal hieght as well id check there 2 having to pump pedal to get it should be adj. also bore on M.C. i would check , yes it can go bad sittin on shelf.

I had to adjust the front drums a bunch more and it is a lot better now. I still need to adjust the rears some more but I need to get an actual brake spoon (??) as my screw driver doesn't have enough room.