I'm trying to help my mother in law with this. It's a '67 Galaxie 500 390 auto four door car, four wheel drum brakes. From what I can tell her brother replaced the front pads, drums, shoes, wheel cylinders, and possibly master cylinder/booster. I wish I had more info but they're feuding. The complaint was that the front right brake drags and gets hot. I replaced the old brake hose and the not so old wheel cylinder, this didn't change anything. I've verified the bigger pad is towards the rear of the car. With the tire off the ground I can spin the wheel backwards with some effort but it's very hard to spin forwards. The drivers side tire spins fine. If I crack open the bleeder fluid comes out and I can then spin the wheel.

I don't know what else could be wrong, there's some kind of block that is under the master cylinder that both front and rear brake lines go to but I don't know what it does. The master cylinder has a bigger reservoir for the front brakes(which is the rear reservoir). I thought on the drum brake cars the two reservoirs where the same and only disc brake cars were unequal?


Also this thing has power steering but I'm not sure it's working. Maneuvering into a parking spot is a difficult affair with both hands manhandling the steering wheel. I would have thought an old boat like this would have the over-boosted steering for little old ladies? Any idea where to start there?


Thanks

 

The power steering reservoir was empty so that might be solved.😑

 

Something you might try,
Trace the brake line back to the master cyl so you know the fluids exact path. Then after a brake application loosen that line working your way up to the master cyl. Each time you will need to charge that line. There are a few places where the problem may lie, but I believe you will eventually find a connection where there will be no pressure to release. If it is present all the way up to the master cyl we don't know if the stroke of the rod going from the brake pedal thru the booster on to the master has been changed.To confirm if that could be the problem just loosen the 2 nuts that hold the master to the booster and move it toward the front of the vehicle a little . If that releases the pressure shorten the rod slightly.or you may be able to adjust the pedal return stop position..

Make sure you use "Power Steering Fluid " in the reservoir It can better handle the heat.

 

That makes sense, I’ll start cracking the lines open, hopefully nothing breaks.

As as for the power steering, whoops, I already filled it up with atf because that’s what the dipstick says to use.

 

The power steering fluid is pouring out the shaft on the bottom where the steering linkage bolts on. Does anyone know if that’s a serviceable seal?

 

If I understand exactly where you are indicating, yes the seal is replaceable. It is called the sector shaft seal. If you are planning to attempt its replacement, you might consider the following;
Clean the area well
notice there are alignment marks on the shaft end and the sector arm that is held on the sector shaft splines. On reinstallation those alignment marks must go back in the same place as before removal. It is not a difficult job , just take your time. You might need to drill a hole or two in the seal to install 2 screws to pry it out. Careful and even installation will provide a good seal. Just make sure the shaft surface is clean and smooth. Good practice is to make sure you have the correct seal before starting removal.

 

Yes it’s the sector shaft seal. I’ll see if I can find one. I have a feeling getting the pitman arm off will be the hardest part.

 

Once you remove the bolt holding the arm on the shaft , you might want to rent a pitman arm puller from one of your local auto stores. It can make the job much easier and quicker..

 

I would have thought that by 67 she would have disc in front.
but if she has drums, were all the springs replaced with new
The 2 upper springs in the drum pull the shoes back which forces the fluid back into the master..
if the springs are old and weak,, they just don't work
also it could be the drum is out of round... if new drums are needed. don't buy made in China...you will be sorry
Yes Im American
Pads are for Discs, shoes for drums...

 

I did not have any success trying to replace the sector shaft seal, and the bearing there was bad anyway so the power steering gearbox has been replaced. There is a ford style box, a Saginaw(GM?) box, and some weird hydrolic ram style. I had the Ford style. Works great now.

The front brakes seem to be fine, I put new springs in and polished up the backing plate where the shoes rub. They were really grooved there and the shoes were getting hung up.

Well now the back brakes started dragging too, both sides. I've been working on it off and on over the summer.
To start with I opened them up and there's new shoes, new cylinders, old hardware, old drums. This looks like my mother in law's brother's work (uncle in law?). I replaced the springs with new and I again polished up the backing plates where the shoes rub, again they were grooved. I found two long shoes on the drivers side and two shorts on the passenger side...(uncle in law's work for sure). I put the two long shoes on the back and two shorts on the front, I think. I was hoping this was gonna be the fix. It wasn't, they're still dragging.

At this point I was suspecting the brake hose was bad since it's the only thing left I could think of and also I had to crack open the bleeder to get the new springs to retract the wheel cylinder when I was putting everything back together.

I replaced the rear brake hose(finding a rear brake hose wasn't easy, nobody in town even has a part number for it. I ended up ordering a brake hose for a thunderbird off Ebay($50) because the picture looked right and it turned out to be a direct replacement.

I still have to bleed it and test drive, fingers crossed.