1957 Fairlane Front Brake Drums

[chapingo17]

That could have been. Not sure what book was the sells guy from Gotham auto sales is looking at.

[chapingo17]

Maybe? I'm talking to Gotham Auto Stores and he said the following:

This is from the 1949 1959 Ford passenger car parts and accessories catalog

Granted this book was printed in 1964 and it may not reflect exactly what was done in 1957, but if you look at the very last line of the page, you will see that spring listed for Model "A" which refers to full-size Ford cars, and model "S" which is the T-bird, with no exceptions.


 

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/LO0AAOSwfOBkEelw/s-l1600.jpg
 
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/B50AAOSwQphkEehJ/s-l1600.jpg

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ZZQAAOSwynlkEehJ/s-l1600.jpg

You can see where they specify about the shoe to shoe spring with part #.

[lalessi1]

I have that book too! It goes with an illustrations book that shows the parts as assembled. My versions are electronic reproductions and they are a little tedious to use. I looked up the illustration for the front brakes and it clearly shows that spring with no notes as to running changes. That spring goes in the same holes as the two top springs which I was surprised to see. My car had disc brakes on the front when I bought it and I have no explanation as to why the Shop Manual does not show that spring. The rear brakes do not use that spring which still makes me wonder why it is needed on the front and not the back. I just recently did my rear drum brakes. Glad you found one!

[chapingo17]

Right on! I was able to order spring thru National Parts Depo. Interesting, spring anchors thru retracting springs go thru.

[chapingo17]

That particular spring measures 7 3/4" its a little long go between retracting springs.

[hiball3985]

I'm not surprised the 57 manual doesn't show it. Many of the pictures are either generic or from previous years.

[cokefirst]

I recently did the brakes on my 1957 Skyliner and it had that spring in place when I changed the brakes.  I bought the kit from Gotham for the job.  If you contact him outside Ebay, you can save 5% since it saves him the ebay fees.  His kits are very good and complete. 

[chapingo17]

I tried to order individual spring from Gotham Auto Stores but, he sell the whole spring kit. I was able to find an individual spring set (middle retracting) from NPD.