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Shoe Steadying Springs

Bill_Reid

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Just how important are those shoe steadying springs that supposedly hold the brake shoes in place on a '60 Sprite? Can I do without them or will bad stuff happen if I leave them off? If necessary, how do I attach them? To date, I have sent several flying around the garage, caused two major wounds to my thumb, and have scratched up my newly painted backing plates. Help, guys................Thanks!
 
If i remember, i located the top of the shoes in the slots of the wheel cylinder, then attached the springs to the shoes then stretched the bottom of the shoes into the adjustment slots. And, yes, you need them.
 
Yep, the ones that secure the shoes to the backing plate.
 
These are the small conical springs with a hook that passes thru a hole in the shoe and hooks to an eye on the backing plate.
 
Bill_Reid said:
These are the small conical springs with a hook that passes thru a hole in the shoe and hooks to an eye on the backing plate.

Yep, you need all your brake parts.
 
The repro springs for early bugeye/midget type brakes are defective and need to be modified in order to work. You have to shorten the 'L' on the spring that holds it to the brake backplate. I had similar problems until I got hip to a memo from Moss on the subject. Hope this helps.

Slickwillie2
 
I'm with you SlickWilly...modified the hook and opened up the space between the coils so I could feed it onto the brakeshoe. Seems to work.
 
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