Drum locking issue.

I'm pretty sure this probably isn't it but it may be worth bring up, with options dwindling. You didn't happen to mix up the primary and secondary shoes? I've done it and learned from it. One time the brake shoes I bought had three primary and one secondary shoes in the box! Lol
 
I'm pretty sure this probably isn't it but it may be worth bring up, with options dwindling. You didn't happen to mix up the primary and secondary shoes? I've done it and learned from it. One time the brake shoes I bought had three primary and one secondary shoes in the box! Lol
primary and secondary? not being an *** but Ive never heard of it...educate me please. and yes that does look to be a very clean setup....by chance did you reverse the front and rear brake line on the master? bad residual valves?
 
primary and secondary? not being an *** but Ive never heard of it...educate me please. and yes that does look to be a very clean setup....by chance did you reverse the front and rear brake line on the master? bad residual valves?

Brake shoes are different, the primary shoe which is the smaller of the two is made of different, stickier material and mounts to the forward side of the backing plate. This shoe is designed to grab the drum and put lots of pressure on the secondary shoe. The secondary shoe has a longer lining and is made of a hard friction material and provides most of the braking action. If the shoes are reversed, erratic braking and wheel locking will usually occur and the brakes will overheat.

Dave
 
Did you change your porportioning valve when upgrading to dual pot??

All that needs to be changed on a '66 or older Mopar single brake system is the distribution block. A photo of the correct unit is below and an after market proportioning valve does not need to be added with drum brakes because you want to keep equal pressure to both the front and rear brakes. Proportioning valve will just mess that up. Essential for front disc and front disc conversions but not desirable with drums.

Dave

split brake valve.jpg
 
No. Block is stock. It's both sides, so it's not a block issue. I'll go back and recheck all shoes all around and see if I reversed anything...but I doubt it. When I took them apart, I kept them on the sides of which they came off...but it doesn't hurt to tick it off the list.

I'm really dead on that it might be a fluid issue. I had both chambers filled to top. I can see this would be a problem with the fluid getting hot...like boiling water...no place to go so it pushed out the wheel cylinders. I'll know tomorrow...and will definitely check all the stuff everyone mentioned. Hate to see this issue rear its head anymore.
 
Just wanted to post a thanks. I drained out about 1/4" of fluid from both sides of the reservoir and adjusted the booster push rod 2 full turns back. That seemed to have helped. Did about 2 hours of driving on the same route as the other day and pedal is good. Responsive and some play before it engages the brakes. I stopped hard a few times, and simulated some traffic stop and go. Seems like it's doing as it should. I'll keep an eye on it as the days and miles pile up.

Here's what I suspect happened. Since I did the single to dual conversion, I've been fighting a leaking left front line at the block. To keep on top of it, I've been topping up the reservoir as I've been working the issue. I finally fixed it with some small copper flare crush gaskets I found on line. Stainless Steel lines look great, but what a PIA they can be to get sealed. So leak is fixed. But what I didn't realise is the leak was allowing the fluid to relieve pressure, like a relief valve. Once I fixed the leak, I didn't drain the reservoir giving the hot fluid no place to go but expanded everything ...like a freakin pressure cooker.

Needless to say...once again.. I learned about this old gal the hard way. There is no pressure relief valve in the system...I had no idea this was a totally sealed system. Well.. now I know

Thanks again for the help and great suggestions by you all.
 
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