How to Repair 1974 Dodge Truck Brakes

The 1974 Dodge pickup truck series was manufactured with four-wheel drum brakes, which use hydraulic wheel cylinders to actuate shoes onto the interior surface of a drum to stop the truck. The average backyard mechanic can repair the brakes of a Dodge in about an hour and a half.

Instructions

1

Raise the truck with the floor jack and place the jack stands on the frame rails, supporting one end of the truck in the air.

2

Remove both raised wheels by turning their lug nuts counterclockwise, then pulling the wheels from the hub. Set them aside, away from the truck.

3

Remove the drums by pulling them free, or first removing the keeper bolts, if applicable. Some later replacement parts added keeper bolts (off-center bolts to hold the drum to the hub) to restrict the drum when the wheels are removed. Set the drums aside if resurfacing them.

4

Remove the shoes by levering their long springs from the hooks with a screwdriver, turning the primary spring bolt (center of the shoe) counterclockwise, then sliding the shoe away from the hub.

5

Replace the shoes with new units, then press them into the brake assembly. Secure the primary spring bolt by turning it clockwise, then replace the long springs by levering them onto the hooks with a screwdriver.

6

Replace the drum with a new or resurfaced unit by sliding it over the shoes, then securing the keeper bolt by turning it clockwise, if applicable.

7

Replace the wheels by turning the lug nuts clockwise, in an alternating pattern.

8

Lower the truck from the jack stands by using the floor jack, turning the pressure screw on the jack counterclockwise to lower the truck.

9

Repeat steps 1 through 8 on the opposite axle.