brake adjuster slots

[Doug Scarrow]

   Has anyone drilled the backing plates and made the slots that allow brake adjustments without removing the wheel?  I have always hated the slots in the drums.

[Tony and Ginny 429]

Doug 

I am in complete agreement that adjusting the brakes with  the slots on the front of the brake drums are more work than they could be due to  moving around the very large tires and rims on our cars adding to the task 

Been on here daily since 2006 and no one I know of has cut slots in the back plate to answer your question 

There are stock self adjusting brakes on our cars unless they  have been eliminated 

When the self adjusters are working as they should  all you need to do is back up and feel the brake peddle get harder to the touch 

I do all my own brake work on all my cars over the years and find that I only have adjusted the brakes on my 64  from the slots only  after I did brake work on my 64 ( replaced brake shoes etc ) to get the brakes adjusted correctly at that time only 

The self adjusters however can cause problems when not working as they should by tightening up the brakes and causing them to drag causing excessive  heat issues and damage the brake shoe material or making the brake to loose to be effective as well 

Self adjusters not working as they should  can cause wheel pulling issues regarding the cars steering which is a problem 

I myself have never thought about or considered cutting slots in the back plate as the self adjusters have kept my brake adjustments in good form for myself 

I would recommend replacing all brake springs when doing a brake job on our  old cars as the spring  fatigue due to the constant heat and cooling they are constantly subject to causing the self adjusters to not as they should be over time 

Enjoy