CMP brake question

[Phil Waterman]

One of the things discovered was that only one washer should be used as using more than one spring reduces the torque needed to turn the adjuster.

I tested two different types of spring from two different suppliers and found that they both yielded about the same results with the adjuster bolts when installed and the springs compressed short of being coil bound or totally tight of 10-15 Ft.LBs. of turning torque (initial torque to get the adjuster moving was around 20 Ft.LBs)

Cam 6.jpg

Do not paint or grease the contact sides of the cam plate or backing plate as this greatly reduces the force to turn the adjuster. Which was the problem with the broken springs.

Now how to attach new bolt to cam plate while holding tension on the spring, I when simple put a nut on the bolt thread tighten it down, but with a spacer that would allow me to weld the bolt to the cam plate. Then with Mig welder turned up welded one side of the bolt and then the other.

Cam 5.jpg Cam 7.jpg

Then just cut off the excess to make clearance on the back side of the brake shoe and it is done.

Cam 8.jpg Cam 9.jpg

The adjustments now take a nice steady force to turn so I expect that the backing off of the adjusters will be a thing of the past. Yes, I’m going to give both adjuster a horizontal witness line so that any movement will be easy to spot.

There is only one bad thing about crawling around under the truck and having the wheels off the ground, you spot other things that need attention. See Loose Universal Ends.


Loose Universal Ends