Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

I don't have a 55-56 Junior backing plate to examine, but the 48-54 parts book shows anchor pins serviced in Gr. 1.405 for the earlier cars, while no such group exists for 55-56.

The guide plates (big washer) for the anchor pins, however, carry over into 55-56.

My memory may be fuzzy, but I think the anchor pins were "peened" to the backing plate on my 56 Seniors, and I strongly suspect same of Juniors.

Bendix 11 and 12 inch self-energenizing brakes were made both in eccentric and fixed anchor configurations, giving car manufacturers the choice. Sounds like Packard may have changed for 1955.

Brake systems with the ADJUSTABLE upper anchor are usualy only on cars with a wheel cylinder (one or more) or mechanical shoe cams opposite the anchor. The adjustable anchor on the 54 and earlier with wheel cylinder or shoe activator cam directly adjacent to the anchor pin is probably just some carry over from much earlier years. Altho i'm suprised the carry over lasted that long.

If the 54 wheel cylinder is directly under the anchor pin then i don't see how any adjustemnt of the anchor pin could obtain. If the shoes happen to set slightly closer to the rear for example then when the rear shoe hits the drum resistance sets in and the front piston of wheel cylinder moves the front shoe out to compensate.

Unless the 54 wheel cylinder is opposite the anchor then the anchor pin adjustemnt is 90% moot point or just fine tuning that would only have benefit at very high speeds of say 70 - 100 mph HARD braking.

Seems to me that some of my 56 drums or some kind of later drums i have around here do have the feeler gauge adjustment hole slot in the drum. I've never used it. I just set like the 55-56 manaual instructs regardless of year. Too much trouble to remove wheel just for a quick adjustment. I hav'nt had any trouble stopping any cars adjusted that way.

The anchor/eccentric pin sits above the cylinder. Adjusting the pin does make a huge difference in how the rear shoe contacts the drum. Moving the anchor eccentric moves the shoes not only forward and backward, but also up and down in respect to their centering in the drum.

On one of my wheels, the top of the rear shoe was contacting the drum, even the with adjuster loosen up quite a bit. So I had to rotate the eccentric to bring the top of that shoe forward (which brings the bottom of that shoe rearwards).

Thanks Mal, there's no hiding from you by the look of it. That photo was taken the week before I decided to repack the wheel bearings, which ultimately led to this thread being started. Just on the anchor issue, the anchors on my car are round (both sides of the backing plate) and fixed, which means no adjustment at this point. Brakes still have to be manually adjusted through the slot in the backing plate though. Oh, and I cleaned the linings before installing the shoes and the composition of the lining material looked the same to me on both shoes, so maybe the issue of colour of the brake springs is not an issue at all. No matter, it's been done by the book now. Cheers, John