FC170 rear brakes

[Falcine]

Hello all. New to forum. Long story short is rebuilding a ‘63 FC170 single axle. No chance at keeping it OEM as it showed up with a GM V8, automatic transmission and the Dana 18 divorced. Working on rear axle. Question is how reliable is the original brakes and the eccentric bolts to adjust the brake shoes? No personal experience with this adjustment mechanism. Is it a one and done or do these things loosen with time? Loctite when you are confident the shoes are good? Anybody’s experience would be appreciated and more useful than my friends asking me “what are drum brakes?” Thanks

[LarrBeard]

Welcome to the group.

FC trucks are fairly rare around here, and the big FC-170's are the rarest. Walck is making sheet metal for the FC's if you need some patches or parts. Years ago a lady at work drove an FC-150 and we dubbed her truck "The Mugly Other". We probably should have been ashamed, but we weren't.

Eccentric adjusters for the drum brakes do take a bit of finesse to get them right. I do not have the Shop Manual for the FC-170 so I'm not sure of just how the proper procedure goes for that truck, but on the '48 you adjust and back off, adjust and back off - four times for each wheel. Once you get the lock nuts set on the eccentric shafts, they stay put. In fact, the real issue is more often getting them back off to readjust them later on!

I don't recommend any LocTite to hold things in place. Tension, road dirt and a bit of rust lock things up very nicely.

Post a picture of your truck - they are rare critters!

[bmorgil]

Falcine, definitely not one and done. If you mean are they self adjusting, they are not. So as they wear the pedal will drop. You have to periodically adjust them back "up". Therefore no LOCTITE! As LarrBeard is alluding to "it takes a bit of finesse". I am practicing myself right now. If you check out pelago's post "Well the darn thing is out", you will see he is also enjoying the brakes.

As far as reliable, I think you mean will they come free and adjust. That is a tough one to say. Mine were frozen. My Willys was a nasty muddy rusty piece however. Soak the adjuster cam mechanisms from the back side with penetrating oil first. Let it soak for a while.

I am suffering from not replacing the "cams" and related parts right now. I have a restored original system in my CJ-3A. I did not replace the cams or pins. Everything else except the backing plates is new. Soon I will be going back in and doing it over. I cannot get two of he little bas@#!&^ Cams to adjust. The service manual does have a fairly comprehensive look at the brakes. They are very basic.

[LarrBeard]

" Falcine, definitely not one and done. If you mean are they self adjusting, they are not. So as they wear the pedal will drop. You have to periodically adjust them back "up". "

Well, we said different things but we meant the same thing... .

Once you set the eccentrics, they stay put - but as brakes wear, they will need to readjusted. Have we confused you enough yet?

[Falcine]

Appreciate the answers. I already have the brakes, rear axle and differential apart and distributed throughout the workshop (you probably know the situation). What I worried about is will the eccentric adjuster work as I had no experience. Sounds like the rear brakes are a keeper, just will need to check the eccentric bolts every time I grease and keep them clean. Thanks for the responses.

This project started out as an FC150 project (1957) which is in really bad shape. I saw an “FC150” advertised in great shape and purchased figuring one vehicle for parts. Needless to say as my current project is this FC170, there is some confusion out there. Oh well, a good time is a good time lol

Thanks again.

[Sebastian21]

The FC's do not have enough brake for their weight. You have to apply heavy petal to get them stopped. Install power booster. The kits are not that expensive and it greatly reduces the stopping distance especially in traffic.