brake problem

[gary haberman]

Last month, prior to getting my '66 on the road and plated, I changed the front drums, shoes, brake cylinders, hoses, tubing, springs, axle nut and master cylinder; bred and tested-all nice. Had it inspected, passed and I've been driving it for about six weeks. However, when I did the brakes, I noticed that the leaf springs that maintain the stars' position were missing, not having a welder, I ordered a pair of backing plates from WW to be installed at a later date. Today I disassembled the front right brake hardware and reinstalled with replacement backing plate-when I went to tighten down the axle nut to where the thrust washer is properly adjusted (and no 6/12 o'clock play),it sounds like the shoes are rubbing up against the drum (the shoes are totally backed down). I also took the opportunity to replace the bearings but I put back the old ones thinking they were somehow causing the rubbing but that wasn't it. When I loosen the axle nut there is no shoe/drum noise. I'm stumped-I'm either overlooking something or there is an anomaly in the new backing plate.
Advice anyone?

[elrockk]

check for Rust on the Spindle area where the Backing Plate and Spindle Meet this could make things off by a little bit

[gary haberman]

Wish it was as easy as that-I had removed the original backing plate, wire brushed all the rust, painted and reinstalled it (also cleaned off the spindle as well)-brakes worked fine but, like I stated, was missing the leaf spring. I know the leaf spring is not entirely necessary but six weeks later, I went and purchased new backing plates from WW and installed the one on the right side and now I have this new problem. It wouldn't be the first time that I purchased after market hardware and it had a "fit" issue. After I made my initial post, I decided to install a replacement leaf spring on the old backing plate-not having a welder, I drilled and tapped it in with a 4-40 machine screw as recommended in a Samba post. I'll swap it out tomorrow and see if my problem goes away.

[gary haberman]

An update-put back original backplate with the screwed in (not welded in) leaf spring and all is well. While the new backplate was a lot prettier than the old one (even when it was wire wheeled and painted), it apparently didn't fit. At least I have leaf springs...now for the left wheel. I will have to redouble my efforts to try to only use original parts whenever possible.