Moving to 10" drums in the rear, and the hardware kit didn't come with all the springs behind the drum. According to the 71 service manual, the ones im looking for are called anti-rattle spring and lever spring. Any ideas? Are these the same as the 9" drum setup?

Couldn't find any listings for these... I think the lever spring the book refers to is also commonly called self adjuster spring?

Edit: hmm no its not called the adjuster spring, looking in the catalogue that shows something different.

The anti rattle spring is what goes onto the strut that goes between the shoes (part of the emergency brake system).

Eric, right. The lever spring is the one that holds the metal lever down, the one that makes the tickign sound when you turn the self adjuster (and prevents it from turning backwards unless raised).

Here is a pic of the springs I'm talking about. The bottom two arrows point to the same spring.

Upper left arrow: Anti-Rattle Spring...usually comes with the brake hardware kit, or a quick raid to your local junkyard from most A-bodies, or and FMJ body car...$1 for a handful...

Bottom Two Arrows: 'Lever Spring' attaches to the Adjusting lever which helps self adjust the Adjuster Screw (Star Wheel)...

Autozone $2.89 each part number H428 for 10" drums


I hate it when I can't find something!

-D.Idiot

I didn't open up my hardware kit, I'll have to check it again but peering through the bag I didn't find any.

H428 you say eh....Kragen and autozone show that as "Adjusting Screw Spring". Hmm... too bad they have no photos and they don't show in stock for local stores. Will have to try napa next.

The spring up top was what I was refering to. I don't think I've ever seen one in a hardware kit...just the usual return springs and shoe retainer springs, washers and pins. The spring on the self adjuster cam comes in a seperate, well, self adjuster kit, which may also have the cable in it (get new ones, they stretch over time and become worthless). Get the new cam (or lever) that turns the star wheel. To much wear on them and they are worthless also. Don't ask me how I know.... That reminds me, I gotta change my front shoes and hardware next week....

Hmm, I got the backing plates with the entire setup intact off a parts car. Everything was rusty and dirty from sitting for so long, but intact. I was going to put new shoes and springs on but keep the rest of the hardware (adjuster wheel, lever) but perhaps I should rethink that now. Thanks for the tip on the self adjuster kit, the picture on napa shows it includes the cable, wheel, spring, lever and guide, $15 a wheel though .

Ok, got the self adjuster ktis with the lever spring in them from monument for $11something each.

So I come to take apart the old setup, and the anti-rattle spring decides to come off in two pieces. *sigh* just my luck.

Look what I found though... http://www.partsamerica.com/PartDetails ... 60&PTSet=A

The raybestos equivalent of that part number is usually H1338 but that doesn't turn up anything unfortunately.... chrysler # is 2533822, maybe These are all for the 10" drums by the way. I'll try the dealer because I think they still use the same brake setup in modern cars. Someone told me the drum brakes in the caravan are the same as the 9" in our older mopes.

FWIW, the anti rattle spring is the same one that was used on the 11" drums on my Fury.

My buddy just junked a 1992 Dakota Rear axle and it was a 7 1/4" rear...the drums have the same springs/etc as your picture has...so worst case scenario go to the junkyard and find a Jeep Cherokee/Wrangler Dodge Dakota or Ram up to 1992-ish and strip the springs out of it if they aren't rusted to crap...funny how much money mopar saves by keeping their old designs on newer vehicles....

-D.Idiot

Oh I'm sure I won't have a huge difficulty finding one in a jy but I was trying to avoid traveling 30+ miles for a spring.

70-71 parts book says 9" brakes use part# 2072646 while 10" and 11" use 2533822. I'll have to look at the 9" ones from the spare assemblies I have to see if they can work or not.

Meh, why am I bothering, this would make for a good excuse for a jy trip, I haven't been there in a while

Napa part# 80744, $3 and change for 2. Called the dealer, said part# 2533822 was superceded by another, which was availible for $3 each.

Oy! Somethings always gettin me with this project. So I have all my parts laid out, taking off the 9" backing plate, come to put the 10" one on, and realized I made a huge mistake assuming an 8 3/4" backing plate would fit on a 7 1/4". So I call around.. hmm, no backing plates availible locally. Dealer even told me the part# I gave him from the 70-71 parts catalogue is now invalid/doesn't exist.

Look at my watch, 2:30, hmm JY closes at 5.... so I high tail it over there ... and while there were several 10" drum setups there, all the backing plates either had 5 bolts on them (like the 8 3/4" ones I have that didn't fit my 7 1/4"that has 4 bolts on the flange) or were the wider variety shoes (2.5" I believe instead of 1 3/4"). I thought I could just buy the backing plates for the wider shoes, and swap the shoes at the parts store.. but then I realized I may need different axles/bearings to deal with the offset... so I went back home disappointed. Later I realized I may of been able to use the same axle/bearing because the backing plate would of moved the shoes further back.

So I get home and start to clean up, and in the process I realized, the 5 bolt backing plate I had from the 8 3/4"... the top two bolts would fit perfect, but the bottom two were off (the 5th would stay empty). So I decide to drill out the other two holes. So far so good, but the backing plate doesn't seem to sit in the center... hmm. I assembled the shoes on, and the drum slides over and the studs align with the holes, so I guess either the backing plate was siting in the center, or the shoes moved enough to accomodate the difference.

Tomorrow I'll assemble the other side and take it out for a spin to see whats going to happen. Boy... it never ends... but thats half the fun