8n Ford Brakes

I just recently bought a 1948 Ford 8n tractor. It has been completely gone through and painted, all except for the brakes. The right brake works well, but the left brake seems to not have excessive play but you can stand on it and it just doesn't work at all. I need to check out and replace the brakes as needed. Can anyone give me any helpful hints as to what to check, or any do's and dont's. I've never worked on an 8n before. Thanks for any response!

Start w/ tip # 39. Get the manuals!

Then, adjust the brakes.

If that doesn't work, time to pull the drum & see what's going on.

Jack up the tractor rear, remove the tire (carefully; it's big & heavy).

Remove the drum screws.***

Loosen the adjuster.

Get a BF hammer; rap the drum a few times. It should come off.



*** There are four ways that I’ve used to remove the brake drum screws & all four worked for me.

1. Soak the screws overnight w/ PB Blaster. Use a hand-held impact driver & a BF hammer. If they don’t come out in 2 or 3 whacks, move on to the next method of removal or you will break the bit. They will come out this way only if someone else took them out in the last 10 years or so.

2. Get a cold chisel & the BF hammer. Put the tip of the chisel on one side of the screw slot & hit it w/ the hammer in a direction that will turn the bolt counter clockwise (unscrewing it).

3. Put the chisel in the screw slot & hold it there w/ vice grips. Have a very good friend swing a BFH and hit the end of the chisel while you have pressure to back the screw out on the vice grips, counter clockwise (unscrewing it).

4. Put a cold chisel in the appropriate size socket, put the socket on your air impact wrench go to it using the chisel like a screw driver.



Having used all four methods, I just skip ahead to # 4. I’ve never had to drill them out, but some folks have.
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