Toronado.org

I thought my car was overheating at a red light, but as it turns out it was my brakes smoking. Both fronts drums were absolutely scorching.

Any advice or tips?

One of my friends had this problem with his Eldorado. Loosen the hoses from the calipers and see if any fluid comes out. His hoses were plugged up, almost nothing came out. Just had to put a new hose in. If both of yours are grabbing, could be something higher up, like an obstruction with the proportioning valve. I would start with the hoses though.

waterzap wrote:I would start with the hoses though.

That really sounds like a fine idea. I can replace the brittle hoses and the old nasty fluid in one shot.

It was stuck in place today until the brakes cooled. It wouldnt go forwards or reverse.

Whole brake job is in store for you. New springs, new shoes, new hoses.
Drum brakes dont have a proportioning valve, the only other thing is the master cylinder.

How is the pedal feel?
Were you doing stops from highway speed or just around town?
You probably know that the drum brakes were considered a weakness in the early Toro's, although a well set-up drum system should work passably. just don't expect it to be like your daily driver with 4 wheel discs that weighs 1/3 less.

They felt tight.... I was doing about fifty for fifteen miles or so. I wonder if they were dragging the whole time?

I just spoke with Kanter and discovered the reason why hey discontinued the '66 11 inch disc conversion was because of difficulties.

Back to sourcing used parts for disc brake conversions I guess

For around $300 you can probably replace the whole brake system. New or rebuilt caliper and booster. Shoes, springs, cylinders on all wheels. Might still have drums, but will work much better.

1977 Cutly wrote:I just spoke with Kanter and discovered the reason why hey discontinued the '66 11 inch disc conversion was because of difficulties.

Back to sourcing used parts for disc brake conversions I guess

What difficulties did they speak of?