Brake shoe arcing

[Divco one]

So far I have called eleven brake shops and most think I'm asking about welding. Where in western Pa can I have this done?

[Kevin in NJ]

You would be better off asking clubs.
Check with both the A clubs and AACA clubs. Maybe go over to the AACA website and ask on their forums.

[Tom Wesenberg]

When I worked at the GM dealership in the 70's and 80's I arced brake shoes on customer cars, but I've never arced my own brake shoes and have never had a problem. If they aren't a perfect fit, they will wear in soon and might need an adjustment to bring them closer, but that's easy enough to do.

Motor's Manual recommends easy braking for the first 1000 miles of new linings. They have said that hard braking can cause grooves in the drums.

[Mitch//pa]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

When I worked at the GM dealership in the 70's and 80's I arced brake shoes on customer cars, but I've never arced my own brake shoes and have never had a problem. If they aren't a perfect fit, they will wear in soon and might need an adjustment to bring them closer, but that's easy enough to do.

Motor's Manual recommends easy braking for the first 1000 miles of new linings. They have said that hard braking can cause grooves in the drums.

This is a common sense REAL WORLD reply....

Times 2

[George Miller]

In my dads garage many years ago we never arced brake shoes. we never had a problem. My Dad always said it was a waist of brake lining and time. Just take it easy for the first few miles.

[Patrick L.]

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If you're worried about the shoe fit then you can do it yourself. I've used sandpaper inside the drum and carefully sanded the shoes to fit.

[Kevin in NJ]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

When I worked at the GM dealership in the 70's and 80's I arced brake shoes on customer cars, but I've never arced my own brake shoes and have never had a problem. If they aren't a perfect fit, they will wear in soon and might need an adjustment to bring them closer, but that's easy enough to do.

Motor's Manual recommends easy braking for the first 1000 miles of new linings. They have said that hard braking can cause grooves in the drums.

Not to rain on the parade (I get accused of this often) but my recent experience with shoes says NO you can not do this anymore.

First off we have to understand that letting shoe wear in on a car not driven everyday will take quiet a while. What might take a week of everyday driving might take months to years on a car driven occasionally.

In the last month I put shoes on my 65 Mustang. I measured my drums and my brother put them on the brake grinder. He was surprised to find the surface was not flat. There were high spots and they were far from standard. It took a bit of work to get them to round and then down to size. This was for mostly oversized drums.

I would very seriously recommend that all cars get the shoes sized to the drums. It is good to have 100% braking right off the lift with minimal adjusting later.

With the A it is much more important to have the shoes sized to the drums because of how you need to center and adjust them. That is if you are concerned about having good brakes right off the lift and not wait for a long time for them to wear in to the drums.

Some more considerations for doing newer cars. I could not get name brake wheel cylinders anymore. Wagner does not even list the 65 Must 6 Cyl brake cylinders. There is a made in China company using the Wagner numbers. As usual, I visually inspected the cylinders. I was not happy to find the bleeder hole not at the top for the rears. The hole was about 1/8" down from the top, so much for being able to properly bleed the brakes. The Wagner cylinders were not that bad so I honed them lightly and put them back together.

Nothing is easy anymore. You can bet I will be buying old production new wheel cylinders for the Mustang to have in stock.

[Jim Brierley]

When I worked as a truck mechanic we always arced the shoes, about .020" smaller than the drums as I recall. It would surprise you how uneven new shoes are. If you don't arc them they will of course wear-in but they may pull to one side until that happens.

[PC/SR]

Agree with JB to arc the linings slightly smaller than the drum. Recently put new shoes and lining on new drums, had them arced at a local shop to same diameter as the drums. The front brakes grabbed and chattered. Took some 80 grit and sanded down the linings from the center to the ends so there was a slight bit of clearance. End of grabbing. Not much is necessary. Also suggest a steep bevel from the end rivits to the end of the lining. I think this is Purdy's recommendation originally. Drive it a few hundred miles and readjust everything.

[Charlie Stephens]

The last time I went through arcing was with a set of NOS drums and shoes from the retailer that had been arced .030 since that was what they expected most people to have. I took them back to the retailer who sent them back to the manufacturer that had relined them to be arced to my NOS drums. I have since located a shop that still does it. They had invested the money to upgrade their machine. Too bad you are not in Los Angeles. I agree with the suggestion to contact local A and early V8 clubs to see if they know of anybody local.

Charlie Stephens

[hangarb7]

There is two ways to arch the shoes. One way is to sand them and test fit, the other is to actually bend the shoe to fit. I built my own bender using a small hydraulic jack and easily bent the shoes to fit, allowing as others had suggested, the center of the shoe to touch with the outside ends about .020" away. They work great and were easy to center.

So I am in Western PA. Where are you? send me a PM or to my e-mail [email protected]

JackD
1930 Tudor
Three River Model A Club (MARC)

[rexrogers]

When i relined my shoes last winter i used a shrinker stretcher to get the shoes to fit the drums, i did have to grind a little bit on the leading edge on the new shoes. the new parking brake band gave me the most fits, i should have left it alone and just adjusted it out.

[Rich in Tucson]

Floaters permit self-centering by wear and I find it takes less time than most arm chair speculators believe to accomplish.

[Mike V. Florida]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

Motor's Manual recommends easy braking for the first 1000 miles of new linings. They have said that hard braking can cause grooves in the drums.

For a lot of A owners 1000 miles would take years.

[SwansEarlyFord]

The folks at Swan's Early Ford can help. we are here in VA. (540) 849-9334

[john in illinois]

Shops that service large truck brakes still arc shoes. A local NAPA dealer has a truck brake shop and he has done several club model A's.
John

[Dick Steinkamp]

Unlimited Service here in Bellingham, WA is in the process of arcing mine. They do a lot of shoes from other parts of the country (and the world).

[H. L. Chauvin]

Not just arcing ..... but centering is a wise decision for safety.

1. I sent all (8) used brake shoes and (4) used hubs with used steel drums to Mr. Mel Gros who installed (4) new cast iron drums, installed new brake bands on shoes, and marked all parts with matching numbers, and arced and trued all shoes to new drums.

2. At same time I installed "all" new parts on backing plates.

3. Bought Bratton's Brake Shoe Centering Tool for under $40.00 and found new shoes slightly off-center after testing by marking new bands with chalk.

4. Carefully sanded brake bands slightly for a near perfect fit.

5. Went out for first drive with new brakes, with my wife.

6. Third car ahead slammed on brakes in front of a grocery store ...... car immediately ahead slide sideways ....... I fortunately stopped within 10 feet of the car ahead.

7. Best $40.00 I ever spent ..... glad I centered brake bands ...... all (4) tires stopped dry ...... best part was I did not have to bring my wife to the hospital or replace (2) front fenders and a radiator.

8. I will definitely use this same brake centering tool on my next total brake job.

9. Ever notice some people still smoke .....

[Kevin in NJ]

I must correct some advice given earlier.

I check the documentation on brake grinding.

Per the Barrett Brake Doktor manual:

The Model A shoes are to be ground the same size as the drum.
The cable brake Ford (37-38) .005 to .007" under.
The later juice brakes .010"



The Ammco manual had you set the drum size.