Rear Brakes
 

I finally started back on my brake job decided to tackle the rears . What a surprise I was able to remove the axle nuts with my fingers . A little wiggle and off came the brake drums both sides were loose nice paint on the backing plates and carriers everything was nice and clean . The drums look usable just a little surface rust also painted on the outside all put back together with used parts . The brake lining was almost to the rivets this was a rolling painted 1930 frame I purchased a few years ago with pink . I think I have all new parts along with relined brake shoes to do the job sandblasted and painted backing plates and parts ect . I plan on mounting my 1929 standard coupe body on this frame I already rebuilt the front end in including brakes . All it took was rigging up a swamp cooler in my barn to get motivated lol . The smoke from all the wild fires and the heat has kept me in the house and not getting anything done .

Re: Rear Brakes
 

Good idea to rework the brakes and at the same time learn how all the parts work. Also you will be able to take great pride that you did the work yourself! :)

Re: Rear Brakes
 

Back at it again today what a fight to remove backing plate and emergency brake assembly all the cotters were twisted out of shape actuating arms frozen a lot of WD40 and PB Blaster I was able to remove emergency brake arm but the service brake arm pin would not budge . So I removed the radius arm bolts and I was able to wiggle the backing plate and brake assembly off . Also the emergency cross shaft was froze in place will remove in the morning I have another one that works lol . One side to go

Re: Rear Brakes
 

Dennis,

Sounds like you are doing all the right things. I am also working on rear brakes for another Model A owner. Lots of worn out stuff and frozen parts. This evening I took a good look at the pins for the rollers and on one side they had flat spots and on the other side they had worn down to a much smaller diameter. So I ordered new pins and rollers to go with all the other new parts. Tomorrow I will weld up the roller tracks and grind them flat to get the shoes centered. I arced one set of shoes and need to do the other side. I found no grease on the cam shafts or bushings.

Re: Rear Brakes
 

Dennis, you may have some trouble fitting a ‘29 body on a ‘30 frame. I’m thinking hole alignments and radiator/front crossmember issues.

Re: Rear Brakes
 

If you could remove the axle nuts with your fingers that means all of the torque was going through the key. Check the axle for cranks starting to form. If it was me I would have the keyway magna-fluxed.

Charlie Stephens

Re: Rear Brakes
 

Charlie someone had replaced the axle nuts and keys they looked new . I think they opened this mess and slammed it back together the keyways look great . This was a roller when I brought it home all painted to hide all the flaws I'm sure .

Re: Rear Brakes
 

700rpm the only difference I see in this frame from the coupe is the emergency brake cross shaft . But I'm sure there's going to be issues .

Re: Rear Brakes
 

Today I removed the passenger side same problems with cotters and arms frozen this side was worse I removed the radius arm and pulled the pin for emergency brake arm so I could move things around to remove cotters and nuts off retainer popped right off as a complete unit . This one is damaged also and oil soaked is there any reason I could not build the new assembly on the bench ? Then replace as a unit in reverse of what I've done ?

Re: Rear Brakes
 

No reason at all. Some of the vendors sell a loaded rebuilt backing plate. Randy Gross just sent a friend 4 loaded backing plates with cast iron drums all ready to go.

Re: Rear Brakes
 

Thanks Ruth it's been awhile since I worked on rear brakes .

Re: Rear Brakes
 

That backing plate can easily be fixed! It can easily be reshaped with a hammer and dolly. Now if the whole thing is bent and not just that one area, that is a different story.

Re: Rear Brakes
 

Check the rear bearings and seals and see if there is a flat spot on the bottom of the axle housing where the bearing rides.

Re: Rear Brakes
 

Both backing plates are toast bottoms are ground flat from road rash . I have a set I'm rebuilding .

Re: Rear Brakes
 

Thanks I'll check in the morning but the bearings looked and rolled great you can see the photo how nice that area is the seals look bent like someone was prying on them.

Re: Rear Brakes
 

Axle housings looks and feels good I'll check with a bearing . I had a few missing rivets to replace on the brake shoes and find all my brake parts still looking I'm taking a break .

Re: Rear Brakes
 

I had a stack of E- Brake carrier plates all with stuck Toggle Levers including the two I just removed . A little heat WD 40 and a big hammer did the job wire wheel and emery cloth they work fine . The brake rollers were a little thick or the pins a little short tuff time getting a cotter in to mock up the assembly .

Re: Rear Brakes
 

While you have it apart, check the bearing surface in the hub. They have a habit of wearing through the hardening out at the axle nut end. Once they wear, the rear wheel doesn't stand vertical any more - they lean in at the top. That puts a huge bending force on the axle itself and as the wheel turns, that force cycles through 360 degrees with each turn of the wheel. Eventually, the axle fails due to the fatigue this causes. When a Model A breaks a rear axle, it is always at about the inner end of the bearing, just where you'd expect it to be once you understand this.
As usual, nothing should be treated in isolation. Everything affects other components around it.
If the hardening is worn through in the hub, repair it. There are kits available to do that. One involves the use of rollers from the V8 wheel bearings but from what I have read here and other places, the quality of those can be questionable. Do your research and only buy quality here is my advice.