72 c-20 rear drum problem

[Bigcatfixer]

Hello all. My name is Gordon, and I recently picked up my first 67-72 chevy truck (all of my others had been 73 up models) and I'm in the process of fixing the brakes on this old girl. The problem I'm having is that nobody seems to have the self adjuster repair kits for a 12 x 2 1/2" rear drum anymore. The last monkey that owned this truck apparantly decicded that it didn't need the self adjusting arm on the right side (the left was intact...thank god). I've looked just about everywhere, and none of the kits that fit the other brake sizes available have anything that is remotely close. Does anybody have any ideas before I start scrounging wrecking yards? Any help is greatly appreciated.

1972 c-20.
Leaf Springs w/Dana 60 axle

[Ace in the hole]

Hello and welcome. 3/4 t brake parts are harder to find for these old trucks but you should still be able to find something. If nothing else uys on this board will help you out. Check out some of the board venders or even here- http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/cb/full.aspx?Page=152

[special-K]

Did you check napa/The last brake job I did they had everything.

[Tx Firefighter]

The man has got a point. I went to my online parts haunts and the smaller 11 inch brake parts are readily available. The bigger 12 inch system that he has is much less common and parts are not readily available that I can find.

[Bigcatfixer]

I've checked just about everywhere...LMC, Carquest, NAPA, and even some of the clearance houses like RockAuto that I've had good luck finding finding old and obsolete parts in the past. I'll keep digging, and if I do find out where I can pick this stuff up I'll post it just in case someone else runs into this problem.

[monte0185]

Welcome and good luck. Those Brakes are a pain to find anything for. Last time i did a set Napa had the parts at the disto hub here in memphis but that was like 5 years ago.

[Bigcatfixer]

The shoes and basic hardware kit weren't too hard to dig up the parts.....just the self adjusting stuff. Napa doesn't even show it in their catalog. The adjusting screw is the same for the 11 and the 12" brakes though. The next time it needs brakes it's gonna get discs in the back. Time to crack open a beer and do a bit more googleing before I hit the wrecking yards.

[Bigcatfixer]

Well, I figured it out. I paid a visit to the guy that relines our forklift brake shoes and right off the top of his head he told me that my truck was FMSI #419. For those that don’t know FMSI stands for Friction Material Standards Institute. As far as I know all brake assemblies are assigned a number by them in order to facilitate easy interchange for brake parts…..especially since the same assembly can be used on many different vehicles. Even though some vehicles may use the same shoe cores as others, they are assigned a different FMSI number if there is a difference in brake drums, backing plate bolt patterns, or friction material. According to him FMSI #419 uses the same shoe core as #366 (which came on some full size cadillacs from the 70’s into the 90’s) and #127 (which was used on some caddy’s in the 70’s). A quick check on Dorman’s website for a self adjuster kit for a 72 Deville gave Hardware kit numbers of HW2554 and HW2555. In their detailed applications page for this Hardware kit they listed #419 as one of its uses. Here's the link:

https://www.dormanproducts.com/cgi-b...rid=0x00496503

My local Carquest crossed the numbers over, I had the parts the same day, and they work great. I guess my truck's application was something that all of the parts manufacturers have overlooked over the years as this brake assembly is uncommon on chevy trucks (I’m guessing it was only used on Dana 60 C-20’s with leaf springs as none of the trucks that I came across with the Eaton rear had these brakes). On a side note, the available hardware kits didn’t have both of the adjuster arm pieces in the right side kit (it is a two piece arm). However, both pieces are included in the left side kit. I’m not sure why this is, but make sure you don’t throw the upper part of the right side arm away. This happened to be one of the parts I was missing, and I had to scour pick-a-part yards to get it. I checked all of the major manufacturers, but since most hardware kits are only made by a few companies….and reboxed , I think the upper right side arm is probably unavailable at this point.

[69GMCLonghorn]

Hey, Tx, I used to live in Ft Worth and knew some folks out in your neck o' the woods (Springtown). Their names were Joanie and Buck (I think... It's been 13 years). I think a friend of theirs was some guy named Lannie that drove around in an ice cream truck with booze in the freezer... Good times!