Can You Help Identify These Mismatched Brakes?

dedline · Jun 3, 2020

Hello everyone,

My dad and I just bought a 1969 Plymouth GTX and one of the first things we are doing is the brakes. We are trying to figure out if these brakes require self adjusters or not. They are 11" drums, and are currently fitted with manual adjusters. Looking at the maintenance manual, it appears only heavy duty brakes had manual adjusters. The brake shoes look like they are for standard brakes, given the number of holes in the bottom of the shoes. Any ideas?

Here is what the maintince manual shows for 11" and heavy duty brakes respectively:
11"

Heavy duty

1 Wild R/T · Jun 3, 2020

68 didn't have self adjusters, I can't say if 69 did or not... 70 does & would match your shop manual....

Actually the lower picture Police & HD has no self adjusters... 11" Drums are considered HD so there ya go..

Go buy new shoes & see if you can find shoes without self adjuster holes... They fit, they work, they are what you can buy..

dadsbee · Jun 3, 2020

Same as the OE's on my '69 Bee.. shoes have been replaced a time or two with generic backing plates (extra holes). Edited to show a correct picture of the lower spring.

dedline · Jun 3, 2020

Thanks for the info! The confusing part was the maintenance manual having a listing for heavy duty/police brakes and 11” drums.
We can’t tell what it was originally setup for. We were thinking someone just installed the wrong parts. And since the shoes have those extra holes in the bottom, we thought it was supposed to have the self adjust.

mobileparts · Jun 3, 2020

Can square you away with everything --- the 100 % correct brake shoes in N.O.S. ++ Asbestos ++ the correct wheel cylinders, all the 100 % correct brake hardware, the Brake Drums, and anything else you may want or need....
See your P.M....Yours, Craig....

R413 · Jun 4, 2020

Post #1 those are the correct brakes for 69 GTX. What is mismatched?

They were all manual adjust 11” drums standard. And Front disc with 10” rears optional.

66Satellite47 · Jun 4, 2020

Is my memory correct, were there 2 widths of 11" brake? 2 1/2" and 3"?

mobileparts · Jun 4, 2020

Big Block cars had:
11" x 3" in the Front...
11" x 2 1/2" in the Rear.....

66Satellite47 · Jun 4, 2020

mobileparts said:
Big Block cars had:
11" x 3" in the Front...
11" x 2 1/2" in the Rear.....

Thanks

dadsbee · Jun 4, 2020

R413 said:
Dads bee you have the wrong spring over that adjuster wheel.

Yep, spring that came in the hardware kit. Same strength and diameter as the correct OE that is shorter and hooks in the first holes on the shoes. Wasn't gonna chance using the 50 year old one so put what I had in, seems to work just fine.

Ernie ingling · Jun 4, 2020

Anyone notice shoes are on wrong in first pic ie. Big shoe. Little shoe

dadsbee · Jun 4, 2020

Ernie ingling said:
Anyone notice shoes are on wrong in first pic ie. Big shoe. Little shoe

It's correct. Passenger side, short shoe forward.

dedline · Jun 4, 2020

Thanks for the help everyone. We are confident in our brake setup now!

dedline · Jun 4, 2020

R413 said:
Post #1 those are the correct brakes for 69 GTX. What is mismatched?

They were all manual adjust 11” drums standard. And Front disc with 10” rears optional.

Dads bee you have the wrong spring over that adjuster wheel.

And to answer R413’s question. We thought they were mismatched because the shoes looked different than what the manual showed. According to the manual this is a heavy duty / manual adjuster shoe:

And this is a self adjusting setups brake shoe:

The shoes on our car look like the shoes used for self adjusters.

451Mopar · Jun 4, 2020

The 11" drums in 1969 did not have self adjusters, but in 1970 they did. When I rebuilt the brakes on my '69 Coronet, I got the spring and adjuster kit for the 1970 11" drum brakes that have the self adjusters.

66Satellite47 · Jun 4, 2020

Shoes probably not original. Most aftermarket shoes use cores that may not be same as the OE for that year.

dadsbee · Jun 4, 2020

Swapped my picture out in post#2 so there's no confusion on correct spring. Inserted pic from my car tear down.

dedline · Jun 16, 2020

Thanks for the help, everyone. Brakes are working well, and we left the original setup now that we know it's factory.

Can You Help Identify These Mismatched Brakes?

dedline

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1 Wild R/T

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dadsbee

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dedline

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mobileparts

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R413

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66Satellite47

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mobileparts

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66Satellite47

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dadsbee

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Ernie ingling

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dadsbee

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dedline

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dedline

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451Mopar

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dadsbee

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dedline

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