How well do/should MF-135 brakes work?

New to Masseys. Have a 135 that had bad seals
on the axles and leaked oil all over brakes.
Replaced seals the other day, then went to my
usual brake shoe de-contamination procedure
that usually works and the linings looked
barely used. Deglazed the shoes and the drums.
Adjusted per manual. While the tractor now
stops, brakes seem pretty weak. Putting all my
weight on them, they will not lock on gravel or
grass. Have to get on them pretty hard to just
stop. Don't grip enough to stall the tractor in
1st low. Lots of hard foot pressure hold it on
a modest hill and have to stand on them to come
to a long stop on same modest hill. (not a hill
the skinniest kid could sled on) Is this
typical of the brakes for this model or time to
admit defeat and buy a new set of shoes? Thanks

It will stop real good with new brake shoes, should be to lock the back tires up without too much effort. Once they get oil soaked they are junk no matter how much you try to clean them.

Hi,
As ptfarmer has said once the shoes have come into contact with oil and you have cleaned them they will still give poor braking performance. Don't waste time. Have them relined or renewed.
In addition to this you will almost certainly have worn shoe cams. When the brakes are applied take a close look at the arms that the brake rods connect to. If they are leaning forward past the vertical point that is a sure sign. In this position you will have passed the point of maximum leverage on the shoes and no matter how much pressure you put on the pedal you will not improve the efficiency.
Remove the shoes and look at the bars on the end of the brake shafts. You will almost certainly see wear from shoe contact. Grind this back and build it up with weld and then grind back to smooth and parallel on both sides.
If you search on here you will find my posts about the correct adjustment procedure. This is ESSENTIAL. When done correctly you will find that the tractor would as we say 'stop on a sixpence' but for you it will probably be 'stop on a dime'.
The photo shows the built-up cams.
Let us know how you get on.

DavidP, South Wales

I resealed the axles on my TO 35 diesel about two months ago and cleaned up the oil soaked drums and shoes and the brakes work great. Used a propane torch to boil out the oil in the shoe lining. Instead of welding the brake shaft tabs I swapped them side to side since both were apart. Maybe I got lucky, but the shoes and drums looked like new after a good cleaning, and it will slide the tires now. I would try it again, and even if it did not work it's not hard to replace the shoes anyway.

Thanks for the good info all. I cleaned the shoes with gas, then burned the oil off with a torch to the point no more oil seeped and they looked bone dry. Thought we would be good but since the consensus is they should work pretty well I think whatever material the linings are just did not respond as I wished. Will have to check the arms to see where they locate upon force, but the square cams inside the drums looked brand new. Pretty low hour tractor 1,600hrs. Guess I have one more question. Do the 3pt. lift arms fall with gravity with nothing attached? Mine stay up unless I push them down with my hand when nothing is attached. They will fall on their own, but it takes a day. Thanks

Hi,
You are lucky if they take a day to go down. The arms falling over a period of time 12 to 24 hours is quite normal. They can be as little as a few minutes but an average time is in the region of 2 to 4 hours. If the arms do not fall on their own check for any tightness in the main cross-shaft in the hydraulic cover. Earlier tractors had grease nipples either side of the cover. If you do grease them, apply no more than 4 shots of grease to each one. Any more and over a period of time it is possible for the excess grease to block the hydraulic filter.
DavidP