New to the forum, and I tried to search for this info already but didn't seem to find anything.

Working on my girlfriends Newport and would like to pull, inspect and probably replace the from brakes. I've worked on plenty of drums but never on a front set up. Can anyone give me a two cent tour of removing and replacing drum? It looks like I will have to pull the bearing too to get the drum off the spindle. What torque specs do I use to put it back together?

Thanks alot and nice forum

 

You pretty much have it already. Remove the grease cap, pull cotter pin, remove nut cover, unscrew nut pull off drum. You should pull out the inner bearing as well and will need a seal. #8121S fit my 68 New Port. Clean and inspect the bearings. Either replace or repack with grease. I will guess here, that you have not packed bearings befor as you stated only rear drum experiance. Just put some grease in your palm, Rub the greas into the bearing, make sure it is full of grease. There is a tool for this but not needed if you aren't going to grease a lot of bearings. Then it's just the same as the rears, but no parking brake.
Putting it back together just snug up the bearing nut untill you get a little resistance and put the cap and cotter pin back on. If you over tighten 'em you will ruin the bearings. Just snug and no wobble, with a little drag.
Should be good to go.

 

Since you are replacing seals When you pull the drum,remove the outer brg, leave the Nut on the spindle. When you pull the drum off You can catch the inner brg and pull it and the seal off at the same time.
BE CAREFUL you probably have absetos brake material. You do not want to breath the dust. Wash it with some soap & water, do not use an air hose. If the backing plate it is bare metal spray it with some wd40 or paint it.. I usuall tighten the Nut to 15-20 ft lbs to seat the brg, then back the nut off until it is finger tight. If you need to align the washer for the cotter pin move it in the tight direction - should not need much if any. Move the washer around to find the best match for the cotter pin hole. Check at the local AutoZone or ? see if they have a brake drum adjusting gauge (big set of calipers)

 

Excellent info guys. I've read about replacing the drum with discs but think I will stay with as much with original as possible. The car is in really good shape especially considering the years, but obviously it's just a weekend car so it doesn't see many miles.

Maybe another question if you got time. The paint is in real good shape, few chips and no rust to speak off, but obviously it's faded. Do you think it's best to to give it a good wax first to see how much dead paint comes off before going to the extent of using more aggressive compounds?

When I met my girlfriend it had been sitting for several years in the driveway. She and her dad had bought it at an auction, driven it a few times and left it sit. I came along, put a new fuel pump, cleaned the carb, oil change and new battery. Since then I've changed plugs, dist cap and tranny flush and a couple of new tires. It's been a lot of fun, but since my blood is Ford Blue it's been a learning experience.


Thanks alot for your help.

 

Sounds like a cool project, post some pics!

One thing worth clearing up that bboogieart touched on....make sure when you pack the bearings, you can see the grease go all the way from one side to the other, just rubbing grease on the outside isn't good enough.

should look like this:

http://img123.echo.cx/img123/9991/packpushout7br.jpg

See the grease went all the way into it and is coming out the top?

 

Ok a litle update. I went to replace the drivers side tire the other day. No way in heck could I budge the nuts. Tried everything, Liquid Wrench, heat, nothing helped UNTIL I guessed they might be left handed nuts....BINGO!!!!

Now the question is ......what the heck were the Chrysler engineers thinking in putting reverse threaded nuts on the left side and regular nuts on the right side?

Any idea what years this "Great" idea took place. Someone said AMC also did the same thing.

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of mopars. I get a kick every time I see this. Used to be common knowledge. Chrysler was known for over engineering in those days. 1/2 inch bolt where 7/16's would do five bolts instead of four. This type of thing. The thought behind left hand threads was that the rotation would keep 'em snugged up tight. Big trucks and semi's still use this method. I knew a guy once junked a nice 69 dart cuz the bolts wouldn't come off, he broke 4 out of 5 and got pissed. Left hand thread on all 60's mopars and into the early 70's. Not sure of the year begining ( 50's?) or the change (70's).
I just reuse them if they are serviceable, but many prefer to replace 'em with right hand studs.

There is a guy selling chrome left hand and right thread Lug Nut sets at moparts.

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/...=0#Post6660368

Brand new sets of lug nuts in RH/LH thread. Acorn seat chrome nuts in 1/2" (also have 7/16" for A bodies too!) set of 10 LH and 10 RH.
$35 a set including priority mail shipping in the US.

 

Excellent info...thanks. I detailed the heck out of the trunk today. Still had a bad taste in my mouth from the wheels so I left them alone...lol. Got it looking pretty good, but the original trunk mat is in looking sad. Have to find one somewhere.