Removal of brake track swedged rivets

[John Spragg]

Please tell me the best method of removing the brake roller track rivets without purchasing an expensive tool. Thanks John Spragg Australia.

[Mike V. Florida]

Removing the rivets? Use a drill and drill them out. Installing the rivets, most kits come with the tool.

[jw hash]

why do you want to remove the rivets. if it is to replace the roller track. it is easier to just weld the tracks up and grind them down.

[RonC]

If removing try to just drill the head off. Don't drill through plate.

[Tom Wesenberg]

I agree with JW, and would rather weld up the worn area.

If I was to remove the rivets, I'd probably use my Dremel and grind off the heads.

[John Spragg]

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Yes I was hoping to avoid removal of the tracks however I see one has a stress crack and the other backing plate track shows it is badly worn - best to do it properly is my summation at this stage- I do not want to have to do this again later. Thanks John Spragg

[katy]

it is easier to just weld the tracks up and grind them down.

How does one grind the side of the track that faces the backing plate?

[wrndln]

I believe the best method for restoring the roller tracks is to remove the 2 special rivets so the track is easily accessible to weld up and dress down. I take a punch and make a small hole in the center of the peened side of both rivets. Then I use a small drill bit and drill a hole into the rivet and deep enough to clear the backing plate. Then use a slightly larger drill bit to enlarge the hole. You can angle the drill a little to center the hole in the rivet. I usually don't quite get up to 3/16" (backing plate hole size) in drill bits to enlarge the hole in the rivet. Once the hole is close to the 3/16" size of the backing plate hole, the rivet can easily be driven out with a punch. After welding up the worn track and dressing the weld down, I use a case hardening compound with a torch to harden it. I am not sure the hardening is necessary, but it is easy to do if you have the hardening powder, which I bought from a gun supply company. BTW, I bought some replacement rear roller plates and they were not made right and I returned them and restored the original roller tracks.
Rusty Nelson

[redmodelt]

You don't have to grind the back side. The head of the roller pin only rides on the top and face of the track.

[Y-Blockhead]

Originally Posted by jw hash

... It is easier to just weld the tracks up and grind them down.

Do you know (or someone know) measurement for the roller tract. I have seen this measurement (see below) but what part of the pin do you measure from. From the center it seems too low, from the top it seems too high??


"The stock measurement of the track to the spring rivets is 30mm (1.180”) front 34 mm rear (1.338”)."

[160B]

Les Andrews Mechanics Handbook states the dimensions from the bottom of the of the spring stud/rivet as 1-5/16 inch for the front and 1 inch for the rear.





1 inch

[Y-Blockhead]

Interesting... it looks like the measurements I have are reversed from what you have;
Front 1.180" vs 1.313", 1.338" vs 1".

Didn't think to look in the "Red Book".

[Fullraceflathead]

Here is Video I made awhile back.

Model A Ford Brake Shoe Roller Guide Repair.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG7V...jAZ7Z1tGvHpVq-

[H. L. Chauvin]

FWIW:

I always remove Model A brake track steel rivets and Model A chassis steel rivets, just like removal of "vintage" John Deere horse drawn sickle mower triangular blade attaching steel rivets.

They can all be easily sheared with a very "sharp" cold chisel and a small to medium ballpein hammer.

Very carefully insure that the sharp cutting edge of the chisel is placed in the middle of the joint seam where the bottom of the rivet's head contacts the steel surface below.

Allow the cold chisel to be at an angle as close as possible to the horizontal, as perpendicular to the rivet shank as possible, and tap with hammer to wedge open and raise the bottom of the rivet head from the metal below.

Once the rivet head is raised or crushed and deformed, carefully hit harder until the rivet shank can be sheared off and cut clean with top of the rivet hole.

This requires careful blacksmith type concentration until one gets the hang or feel for same.

Finally punch out rivet shank with a flat pointed punch that is a little smaller in diameter than the actual rivet shank.

Just hope this helps.

[Mike V. Florida]

Originally Posted by John Spragg

Yes I was hoping to avoid removal of the tracks however I see one has a stress crack and the other backing plate track shows it is badly worn - best to do it properly is my summation at this stage- I do not want to have to do this again later. Thanks John Spragg

I agree, you are doing the right thing based on the stress crack you see.

[Brian T]

I found it much easier to install new tracks, the kit cost around $20 and took less than an hour to fit, grinding down welded tracks mounted to the back plates is tedious work, Marco recommends making a template to get the correct measurement.

[Y-Blockhead]

Originally Posted by Brian T

I found it much easier to install new tracks, the kit cost around $20...

The fronts yes, but the rear roller tracks are ~$90.00. I can do a lot of welding and grinding for that...

[katy]

You don't have to grind the back side. The head of the roller pin only rides on the top and face of the track.

Thanks to redmodelt for that. I looked at the rear backing plate that I have off right now (waiting for rear end parts) and found that the roller pins were in backwards. I'll have to look at the other 3 brake assemblies to see which way the pins are in them.

Looking at L.A.'s book it doesn't give details on which way the pins go, although ifn one looks closely at the diagrams you can see which way the pins go. I notice that the book is deficient in details on lots of things.

[Y-Blockhead]

I finally found where I saw the incorrect guide measurements. They are in Flat Head Ted's instructions posted in Snyder's online catalog. http://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/Co...tting-8187.pdf

Only posting this so others will be aware that those measurements are incorrect according to the "Model A Mechanics Handbook".