1960 Brake springs

[Philip P.]

I am in the process of rebuilding the brakes and came upon this in the 1958 passenger car manual page 6-9 (Note: Be certain that the primary and secondary springs are kept separate as they have unequal tension. The secondary spring , which is colored black, has a spring rate of 50 lbs. The primary, which is colored grey, has a spring rate of 40 lbs.) Of course the replacements I bought (Raybestos) are not colored at all. The color of the ones in the car, if they were painted, it is long gone. I also noticed in the 58-60 Corvette Restoration Handbook page 121 shows a front restored brake with 2 black springs and on page 122 a rear brake with 2 grey springs. This may be a 1958 item but there is no change noted in the 59-60 supplement or in the ST-12 that I could find. Any suggestions, opinions, ideas would be appreciated
Phil

[Loren L.]

Re: 1960 Brake springs

First, why are you using information from the 1958 Passenger Service Manual instead of the ST-12 for Corvettes? Surely the '58 psgr SM can offer little insight into what was built 2 years later?

[Philip P.]

Re: 1960 Brake springs

The 1958 Passenger car Manual with the 1959-60 supplement is the main manual for the brake system. the ST-12 covers the items unique to the Corvette.

[Loren L.]

Re: 1960 Brake springs

My ST-12 refers me to the 1061 Passenger Shop Manual.

[Philip P.]

Re: 1960 Brake springs

The brake systems are basically the same 53- 62, I was wondering if anyone has run into this before. Maybe the 61/62 manual has more information, I do not have access to one however. The ST-12 does not identify any differences in the cars 53-62 . If anyone could look at the information in the 61/62 manual and see if it mentions spring color or spring rates. They may have changed the springs after 1958 but they do not make mention of it in the 1959-60 supplement. It appears the replacements, no matter the brand/source, do not supply 2 different springs for either the front or the rear brakes.
Thanks
Phil

[Bill M.]

Re: 1960 Brake springs

The brake systems are basically the same 53- 62, I was wondering if anyone has run into this before. Maybe the 61/62 manual has more information, I do not have access to one however. The ST-12 does not identify any differences in the cars 53-62 . If anyone could look at the information in the 61/62 manual and see if it mentions spring color or spring rates. They may have changed the springs after 1958 but they do not make mention of it in the 1959-60 supplement. It appears the replacements, no matter the brand/source, do not supply 2 different springs for either the front or the rear brakes.
Thanks
Phil

The '61 Passenger Car Shop Manual has the same note about black and gray springs. My '59 Corvette came with black and gray springs and I was able to buy new black and gray springs in 1970. About 10 years later I bought another set of springs from Chevrolet for back-ups, but they weren't black and gray.

[Donald H.]

Re: 1960 Brake springs

Same issue when I did my 1960 brakes. I bought shoes and kit from NAPA and the shoe return springs were all one color. I checked a few online auto supply places and the picture of the kits all seemed to be about the same.

I wondered what the implication is if we use spings of the same tension on the primary and secondary shoes?


Don

[Philip P.]

Re: 1960 Brake springs

Thanks for the information, I remember way back doing the brakes on my 1958 and am sure that no attention was paid to the color if there was any. I was suprised when I read about it in the service manual. It is interesting that the pictures in the 58-60 Corvette restoration Handbook show black springs on the front and grey on the rear. I would think that there is not a problem with using the replacements maybe even keeping the shoes wearing more evenly as one is not engaging easier than the other, this is just my thought, no evidence. Anyway I will put it back together with the new springs. I did not have any probems with the other springs and they all look to be similar. Another day of learning something.
Phil

[Jim L.]

Re: 1960 Brake springs

I wondered what the implication is if we use spings of the same tension on the primary and secondary shoes?


Don

Not much.

The rationale behind having springs of unequal tension was to cause one shoe to begin retracting before the other (shoe with stronger spring obviously retracts first). It's my understanding this was thought necessary in order to prevent some objectionable noise at brake release.... or some such.

In any event, experience shows the Bendix brakes work just fine with springs of equal tension.

Jim

[Philip P.]

Re: 1960 Brake springs

Well I took the brakes apart on one side (drivers front) and the springs (after cleaning) are black and grey the black being 2 1/4 inch long the grey being 2 1/8 inch long. The brake adjuster spring is blue. Who would have thought after all these years. Any thoughts on using the original springs.
Phil