Classic Mustangs List Archive

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Mail From: David J. Hammar (email redacted)

>At 03:20 PM 7/12/97 -0300, "you" wrote:
>>Don't forget that there are some cars that have adjusters and do *not*
>>have "automatic" to them at all. I worked on a friend's mustang and she
>>had the star adjusters _but_ there was no mechanism to do this
>>automatically. Her regular mechanic (who was OOT when I did the
>>adjustment) had her bring the car in once or twice a month and did a
>>manual adjust (no charge since it is a 10 minute job when using a lift).
>>Her car was a 65 coupe and I do not know how many cars/years this
>>applies.

OK, I don't have a '64-1/2, but I find this somewhat hard to believe -- is
this how these brakes are depicted in the '64-1/2 or '65 service manuals?

The "mechanism" to perform the self adjustment is merely a lever, spring,
and small wire cable. If this cable were to break (hardly an unlikely
scenario in a three-decade span) the whole mechanism would fail. The simple
thing to for an unmotivated backyard mechanic would be to throw away the
cable & plate, and just throw a spring across the bottom of the shoes to
hold the whole arrangement together...

There would be no conceivable reason for Ford to design brakes with a star
adjuster if they didn't intend to include the part that *use* the adjuster.

BTW, *all* the self adjusters, *all* hardware and shoe holddowns are
available as a complete kit from National Parts Depot (and other vendors)
for $38.95 per axle (Part #'s: Front - 2A094-10A (V8) or 2A094-11A (I6).
Rear - 2A094-12A (V8) or 2A094-13A)

National Parts Depot: 800-235-3445 (CA), 800-521-6104 (MI), 800-368-6451
(NC), 800-874-7585 (FL)

If you're restoring your brakes, the extra $80 to replace all your worn,
broken or missing hardware will save you many headaches later.
-- Dave H.
aloha.net/~djhamma