69 charger 4 wheel drum brakes

[charger01]

Got the car all back together.  Took it for a drive today.  It has 4 wheel power drum brakes, but has the same stopping problem my old ford pickup has.  The pedal fuctions properly.  doesnt go to floor and isnt hard, but they just dont stop the car very well.  The car wants to over power them.  Think this is an adjustment issue or something else?

[Chryco Psycho]

Drums never stopped cars well , I highly recommend switching to front disc , I have no clue why must Semi truck still use drums 

[bobs66440]

Got the car all back together.  Took it for a drive today.  It has 4 wheel power drum brakes, but has the same stopping problem my old ford pickup has.  The pedal fuctions properly.  doesnt go to floor and isnt hard, but they just dont stop the car very well.  The car wants to over power them.  Think this is an adjustment issue or something else?

Mine has 4-wheel manual drums. They are old, I'm replacing them this winter but they have plenty of power to lock up the wheels. There may be an issue with the booster. Are the drums/shoes new? If they are old and glazed over, they won't work well.

[charger01]

I hope to upgrade to disc eventually, but just think these should function a little better than they do.   I had a 67 fastback mustang a couple years ago with 4 wheel drum brakes and the brakes on it were super sensitive.  The charger I feel like Iam fighting to keep it sitting at a red light, or to slow down for one.

[charger01]

Got the car all back together.  Took it for a drive today.  It has 4 wheel power drum brakes, but has the same stopping problem my old ford pickup has.  The pedal fuctions properly.  doesnt go to floor and isnt hard, but they just dont stop the car very well.  The car wants to over power them.  Think this is an adjustment issue or something else?

Mine has 4-wheel manual drums. They are old, I'm replacing them this winter but they have plenty of power to lock up the wheels. There may be an issue with the booster. Are the drums/shoes new? If they are old and glazed over, they won't work well.

Everything is new except for the proportioning valve.     I got something not right happening.

[bobs66440]

Got the car all back together.  Took it for a drive today.  It has 4 wheel power drum brakes, but has the same stopping problem my old ford pickup has.  The pedal fuctions properly.  doesnt go to floor and isnt hard, but they just dont stop the car very well.  The car wants to over power them.  Think this is an adjustment issue or something else?

Mine has 4-wheel manual drums. They are old, I'm replacing them this winter but they have plenty of power to lock up the wheels. There may be an issue with the booster. Are the drums/shoes new? If they are old and glazed over, they won't work well.

Everything is new except for the proportioning valve.     I got something not right happening.

There may be an issue with the distribution block. There's a shuttle valve in there that's supposed to move to block flow to the front or back in case of a leak. It may be stuck one way or the other, thus blocking pressure to the front or rear.

[tan top]

true drums are not good even when working correctly !!
are yours selfadjusting  or manual adjust ??


they  mostly want to lock the rears also one or both in a panic stop cause the rear end is light & gets unloaded  with the nose dive up front during braking  !!
power drums   lock up good (easy ) but !! your not stopping then , just sliding , that's where discs are better less prone to locking given peddle effort  , V  same with drums  while the discs still slowing the wheel , the drum has lock up & your sliding control -less  , thats a quick description ,
manual drums will lock up at slow speed easy  , mine do , !! & even at  highish  speed (( well  slow till a certain point then lock up ), if you have the foot for it ,
but when that happens , if there is any unloading on the suspension , from road camber etc or  steering input !!  the wheel that has become unloaded will lock first , causing control loss

not trying to hijack this thread   but this applies to drums !
nearly had a head on not long after getting my charger !! i was doing about 45-50 (autually might of been a litte faster , the 2.94. gear swap was making it read slower at the time )))on a two lane country road , just took my foot off the gas  before the road went into a  blind bend  , well not for my side ! for on coming traffic , when all of a sudden  out of no where a black BMW came hammering round the bend on the wrong side of the road  must of been going 60 + !!   i stood on the brakes hard  ,  fronts locked &  just kept sliding & drifting to the left & managed to steer in to an empty side road !   sounds like i had ages to react while typing this  ,  but it was split second  timing  to miss a head on ,  BMW driver never stopped just kept going !!  i parked up , looked at the  road ,  black skid marks !!  the fronts must of been locked up over 30 feet  with would say last 10 drifting ,    that was the first experience i had with drums  all be it manual 11" inchers in emergency situations !! the feeling of not really slowing when the wheels are locked up    & all the cars i had ever driven/ owned then to that point ,were discs  plus few with ABS ,  which had / was just being offered then for run of the mill cars !!!
the tire skid marks  were so heavy ! they were there  for more than 2 years !! all be it very very faint by then !  , till it was resurfaced !!  every time i travel along that bit of road , still think about the day my charger nearly got wiped out & quite possibly me also , must of had it only about 3 weeks then  !

[Rolling_Thunder]

Drums never stopped cars well , I highly recommend switching to front disc , I have no clue why must Semi truck still use drums 

If I remember correctly - I asked that question once and was told the drums have better wear properties and require less to maintain and also allow for an emergency brake system for runaway situations that house a 6ft spring compressed into a cylinder about 1 foot long...    then activated this cylinder opens and the spring puts insane force on the shoes in the hopes of seizing the shoes against the drums - thus stopping the truck. 

[Brightyellow69rtse]

i got drums all the way around on mine. while it dosent stop like a ferrari lol i think its far better than you describe. i definatly think you got something going on. i hope to do disc one day up front too.

[bulleteater]

Well I know I'm in the wrong section but it's a brake related issue.. On my 69 charger I have both disk and drum. I finally got my car running after 6 years and I remember my brakes weren't the greatest and I already replaced the valve on the brake booster and now my brake systems light is on when I turn the key.. I have plenty of brake fluid. Would the light come on if there were an issue with the distribution block? Do I need to get a proportioning valve? And last time I drove my car if I remember the front would lock up because I would have to depress the brake pedal to the floor to stop