squeals like a semi's brakes

[Ken 6645]

when i bought my 64 Tbird it came with loud squeal in the front ...No problem ...I put new shoes on it front and rear..No change
I turned the drum's still no change..I tried two used drums from a 64 ..no luck ,worse...Adjusted the rear shoes up a bit snug and tried it..No noise... I put about 50 miles on it in town and the longest drove the front squeal started back a little.. another 20 miles and I was back to square one. I believe the front shoes are heating up and thats what is causing my noise.. Now my question... i'm of the opinion that adding a set of disc brakes to the front most likely will fix my problem.. Will it be necessary or better to add disc's to the rear also...I'm getting low on funds and need to stay with shoes on the rear instead of disc ..Would this be enough braking power in most cases ...thanks for your time Ken

[jopizz]

There's no need to put disc's on the rear. The majority of your braking is done by the front brakes. There are a number of reasons why your brakes are squealing. If they are overheating it's either because the wheel cylinders aren't retracting, the master cylinder isn't retracting or the brake shoes are adjusted too tightly or not installed correctly. If you replaced the shoes and turned the drums my guess is the wheel cylinders or the master cylinder. They didn't squeal when they were new so there's no reason why with all new parts they should squeal now.

John

[simplyconnected]

I will ALWAYS advocate for disk brakes over drum, because they work so much better and they never pull to one side. So, get front disk brakes and a booster that is large enough to run them.

Squeal IS vibrations. Normally a soft shoe or pad compound will never squeal but they wear out faster.

Shoes come in two hardnesses, primary and secondary. Sometimes they are stamped PRI or SEC on the edge. Sometimes they are different colors, gray and darker. Sometimes the linings are different lengths on the shoes. I've seen them installed WRONG in every different combination. Follow your shop manual to the letter to get them right. Pay attention to the pictures as well.

Here is a typical example of a Passenger's Side (RH) rear drum brake. Notice the shoe lining on the right is longer at the top. This is the primary and the primary always faces forward. - Dave